'I kept students during the Summer. I think I must have had the first foreign students'

'I kept students during the Summer. I think I must have had the first foreign students'

Margaret describes how she and her family played host to foreign students and tourists during the summer.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1965

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Margaret McLoughlin

Marriage and Family

Life Story

Dublin

1990s

We had four children 3 boys and one girl. Sean worked in the Sorting Office in Amiens St so could come home every day for his dinner. We have now got nine grandchildren whom we love very much. We lived on Brookwood Ave at first and after moved to Brookwood Heights as I wanted a fireplace in the kitchen. We both worked hard. I kept students during the Summer. I think I must have had the first foreign students. Sean brother was Jesuit and brought a Spanish priest to visit. He asked us to take a girl. Anna was her name and she lived with us for nine months. She had no English but I got her lessons with a nun in the Holy Faith convent. She married an officer in the Spanish army and invited us to her wedding but of course we couldn't go as it was too expensive. My sister Rose was a teacher in St Anne's in Raheny and Anna's brother in law who had also visited us asked her to spend the summer with them teaching the children English. He also wanted me to take his boys when they grew up but as my own were growing up then I declined. I also kept English visitors who came for holidays. Some man had set up an agency and we knew how many we were getting and the date they were coming. We met a lovely lot of people. Some of them said the best part of the holiday was after the evening meal when we would play cards with them . My sister Rose came to dinner every day as she was in St Anne's. She lived with my other sister Anna who had a flat on the Howth Rd.

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

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)