Breda St Ledger: Blackpool, Childhood Games, Family Life,

Breda St Ledger: Blackpool, Childhood Games, Family Life,

Life History:

Breda (b. 1949) grew up in Thomas Davis Avenue, in Blackpool. The houses were built new in the 1960s. They lived with a relative who told her and her brother scary stories. She went to the North Presentation Convent school.

She talks briefly about the practice of grandmothers’ rearing a child of the family.
Her brothers seasoned chestnuts to play conkers. The girls played scraps – making cut out shapes. She says that children were never bored and had lots to do, like picking blackberries, or making a place to swim in; she contrasts them with today’s bored teenagers.

Breda talks about some of the memorable characters who lived in her area.
She remembers the gas man coming to collect money for their use of gas, but who might repay money, too. Food was bought on a daily basis, and her mother paid for things on a weekly basis, having an account in a number of shops; these included Dunleas, Miss Healy's, Cantys, Dan Lyons, Mary Welsh, Kingston's, O’Leary’s butcher's shop.

Clothes were sent from relatives in America. The family was well fed but there was nothing extra.

3 August 2010

CFP_SR00394_stledger_2010

Cork, Ireland, 1950s-2010s

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Cork Folklore Project

English

Sound

1 .wav File

62min 11sec

Farrancleary, Cork

.wav

24bit / 48kHz

The following is a short extract from the interview transcript, copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material for this interview or other interviews please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com

B StL: And then when the – when the gas man -- everybody had a gas meter for their gas and you’d have to put money in, you know. Your gas would go if the money went down, like petrol in your car and you’d have to top it up, put money in and the gas would be on again. But every -- I don’t know how often it would have been, the gas man would come and you’d nearly always, your mother would nearly always get money back. But I don’t think it was the fact that my mother was getting money, I was always fascinated at how quickly the gas men could count the money. I used be foolish and they’d be putting it into the bags, and tying the bags and into their bag then, you know, and then your mother would get a receipt for how much gas was used and what money was over then, she’d get back. And he might only do half the lane. They’d be all ‘the gas man is coming, the gas man will be here’ you know and whoever -- like supposing you lived across the road -- the – the lane from me an he came to me an I maybe got four pound back, but he’d be coming to you tomorrow but you’d have no money. So like you’d – you’d get money from me until he gave you yours tomorrow, do you know. When the gas man came ‘twas like Santa, that they got money back [laugh]. Those kinds of memories really are what you’d have, do you know.