Margaret Farmer & Eileen O’Sullivan: Toys, Christmas, Nosey Keefe’s
Title
Margaret Farmer & Eileen O’Sullivan: Toys, Christmas, Nosey Keefe’s
Subject
Life History; Childhood;
Description
Margaret Farmer was born in 1914 and talks very briefly about Christmas. and Nosey Keefe’s shop.
Eileen O’Sullivan also talks Christmas and about Woollams’ toy shop, and about Hadji Bey, an Armenian who sold Turkish Delight on McCurtain St.
Eileen O’Sullivan also talks Christmas and about Woollams’ toy shop, and about Hadji Bey, an Armenian who sold Turkish Delight on McCurtain St.
Date
16 December 1997
Identifier
CFP_SR00104_farmer & osullivan_1997
Coverage
Cork; Ireland; 1900s
Relation
Published Material:
Hunter, Stephen (1999), Life Journeys: Living Folklore in Ireland Today, Cork: The Northside Folklore Project.
Hunter, Stephen (1999), Life Journeys: Living Folklore in Ireland Today, Cork: The Northside Folklore Project.
Source
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Cork Folklore Project
Language
English
Type
Sound
Format
.wav
Interviewer
Duration
12min 29sec
Location
O'Connell Court, Windmill Road, Cork
Original Format
Cassette
Transcription
The following is a short extract from the interview transcript relating to the audio extract above. Copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com
L.C. Eileen, can you remember any of the toy shops in Cork, when you were growing up?
E.O'S Well, I can, I tell you what, there was a little shop in Princes Street, "Jays", there was "Woolams" then, we used to call it King Street, it's now McCurtain Street, I suppose it was Kings Street when the British were here. But 'em they used to have beautiful toys in the Grand Parade, you know, and I suppose they had them in Cash's. The Munster Arcade was renowned for toys, big toys too, tricycles and scooters and the like, and Roches Stores, but they didn't go in for toys in as big a way as the Munster Arcade.
L.C. Do you remember some of the games you played when you were younger in the street.?
E.O'S. Well, we used to have hoops, you know you just rolled them along, and we used to have tops, different types of tops ( spinning tops ) one was a racer, you'd hit it with a stick, you'd buy the stick, it would have a leather type of whip, and you'd hit it and the top would fly along. Hoops, marbles, of course, a very general thing, marbles, called glassyalleys, oh and skipping ropes with handles
L.C. What year would that have been about? ( 1920/ 21 )
E.O'S. Oh Lord, I suppose when I was about six or seven, nearly seventy years ago, ha! ha! but 'em there's a shop there where we used to get most of our things, it was at the corner of Oliver Plunkett Street, at the Grand Parade end. They specialised in hoops and tops, and the thing that you whipped the top along with, that was leather on a stick ( a top whip ), hoops, tops, marbles, what else had we?
E.O'S Well, I can, I tell you what, there was a little shop in Princes Street, "Jays", there was "Woolams" then, we used to call it King Street, it's now McCurtain Street, I suppose it was Kings Street when the British were here. But 'em they used to have beautiful toys in the Grand Parade, you know, and I suppose they had them in Cash's. The Munster Arcade was renowned for toys, big toys too, tricycles and scooters and the like, and Roches Stores, but they didn't go in for toys in as big a way as the Munster Arcade.
L.C. Do you remember some of the games you played when you were younger in the street.?
E.O'S. Well, we used to have hoops, you know you just rolled them along, and we used to have tops, different types of tops ( spinning tops ) one was a racer, you'd hit it with a stick, you'd buy the stick, it would have a leather type of whip, and you'd hit it and the top would fly along. Hoops, marbles, of course, a very general thing, marbles, called glassyalleys, oh and skipping ropes with handles
L.C. What year would that have been about? ( 1920/ 21 )
E.O'S. Oh Lord, I suppose when I was about six or seven, nearly seventy years ago, ha! ha! but 'em there's a shop there where we used to get most of our things, it was at the corner of Oliver Plunkett Street, at the Grand Parade end. They specialised in hoops and tops, and the thing that you whipped the top along with, that was leather on a stick ( a top whip ), hoops, tops, marbles, what else had we?
Citation
Cork Folklore Project , “Margaret Farmer & Eileen O’Sullivan: Toys, Christmas, Nosey Keefe’s,” accessed April 23, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/200.