'We had one little blanket on the bed so we always ended up with everything we had on the bed to keep warm'

'We had one little blanket on the bed so we always ended up with everything we had on the bed to keep warm'

Margaret describes starting her training in the GPO and being transferred to Aldborough where she lived in a hostel throughout her training.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1949

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Margaret McLoughlin

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

Dromahair, Co. Sligo

1920s

At seventeen I got the Civil Service exam and came to Dublin. I started work in the GPO on the 8th August 1949. I stayed with my Aunt in Blackrock for a few months. I remember having to memorise different areas on the route in and out of the city. I joined a Gaelic League class while I was there and we had a choir. We ended up singing on Radio Eireann. I think the studio was somewhere around Dame St. In the Canteen of the GPO there was a table kept for the Radio Eireann crowd as it was based there so we used to see all the stars there. The dinners were very cheap. I remember there was a rissole dinner on a Thursday was 7p and I loved it. It was great because we had no money by then. After three months I was transferred to Aldborough which was the Stores Branch of the PO and as my Aunt was moving house I went to live in a Hostel in Parnell Sq. It was called St. Kevin's and was owned by the Dominicans and run by two ladies. It is now where the Moving Cribs is located . We all had our own rooms cubicles I should say as the big rooms were divided into five. It just held a bed wash stand with basin and jug. We had to go to the basement for cold water. The bath was also housed there and we had to book it when we wanted a bath. We had one little blanket on the bed so we always ended up with everything we had on the bed to keep warm. The food was pretty sparcy also . On a Friday they cooked boiled whiting and by the end of our stay there we couldn't go near it as we could smell it walking up the square. On a Saturday we had a fry which consisted off rasher and sausage or egg and sausage we never got the three together. We had no supper so we always went to the gate Caf� and got something and played the Juke Box. There was one fire in a back room but I don't think I ever sat at it if you didn't finish your teas quickly the chairs beside the fire were gone. It didn't bother me as by then I had met Margo who came from Monaghan a month or two after me. We joined the Legion of Mary so were always out . The Hostel had rules we had to be in at 11oclock in the Winter and 11.30 in the Summer as the doors were locked. One night myself and Margo were locked out and ended up walking to Drumcondra where a girl that I worked with had a flat. She lived opposite The Bishops Palace. Every Friday we got an envelope for our rent. One didn't get passed the hall on a Friday night to go out as the Matron sat at a table so we couldn't pass without handing it it. In one way it was great training for us.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)