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Bernard Casey: Cathedral Road, Childhood, Cork Jazz Festival

Bernard, at the time of this interview, was the chairman of the Cork Jazz festival.
He recalls air raid shelters in Cork during the 1940s. He talks about his routine as an altar boy. The first housing developments of Cathedral Road. The countryside…

Tags: 1940s, 1950s, Alter Boy, Bernard Casey, Blackberry-picking, Cathedral Road, Cork Jazz festival, Slogging Apples

Bernie McLoughlin: Turner's Cross, Ford's, UCC,

Bernie was born in 1939 and reared in Turner’s Cross. His mother had been a bookkeeper and his father was a supervisor in the post office. He had an older brother and an older sister, and he spent a lot of time with his parents.
He remembers queues…

Tags: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Bernie McLoughlin, Childhood, Cork Opera House, Ford, Schooldays, Sullivan’s Quay, Turner’s Cross, UCC, University College Cork

Billy McCarthy: Childhood, Catholicism, GAA.

Billy, a one-time Cork Folklore Project member of staff and long-term collaborator, was born in Cork in 1941 and grew up with his six siblings in Quaker Road. His mother was born in Cork and his father came from Dunmanway. Billy attended St Marie’s…

Billy McCarthy: Quaker Road, Public Baths, Childhood

Billy was born in 1941. His mother, Mary Ann Cronin, was from Mayfield; her father, William Cronin served with the British army during the First World War, and later became a postman. His father’s family came from Dunmanway, West Cork. His father,…

Tags: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Eglington Street Baths, Kiley’s Chip Shop, Milk and Cake Shops, Murphy’s Bacon Factory, Piggeries, Polio, Public Baths, The Lee Baths

Breda McNamara: Orthopaedic Hospital

Breda details her earliest memories. She says her family moved to Templeacre when she was 1 or 2. There were not many houses around then. The houses were new and surrounded by lots of fields. The Orthopaedic Hospital was up the road in a field. They…

Tags: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Breda McNamara, Gurranabraher, Healthcare, St Mary's Orthopeadic Hospital

Breda McShane: Orthopaedic Hospital

Breda grew up in Dungarvan Co. Waterford. She moved to Cork in 1975 after getting a job as a clerical worker for the Southern Health Board. Breda moved to Hollyhill in 1980. Six years later she got a transfer to the Orthopedic hospital payroll…

Tags: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Breda McShane, Gurranabraher, Magic Mushrooms, St Mary's Orthopeadic Hospital, Working life

Breda Sheehan: Blackpool, Childhood games, Lido cinema, Spring Lane.

Breda grew up in Spring Lane, off Thomas Davis Street, Blackpool. She grew up with five sisters. Her father was a soldier in the Irish Army and was away a lot.
She grew up in a row of cottages that she believes dated back to the Seventeenth Century.…

Tags: 1960s, 1970s, Blackpool, Breda Sheehan, Childhood Games, Cinema, Ellis’s, Family, Goulding's, Scraps, Spring Lane, The Lido

Breda Sheehan: Blackpool, Childhood Games, Slogging for Apples

Breda (born circa 1950) grew up in Spring Lane, Blackpool. It was an industrial area with Goulding’s fertilizer factory and Ellis’s quarry.
She remembers a childhood game of swinging on a rope put up an ESB electricity pole. She remembers a number…

Tags: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Breda Sheehan, Goulding’s Glen, Placenames, Slaughterhouses, Spring Lane, Thomas Davis Street

Breda Sheehan: Halloween Games, Childhood Games, Family

Breda (born circa 1950) grew up in Spring Lane, Blackpool. As a child she used to play in The Glen, which was then in the countryside. The neighbourhood houses were small, with an outside toilet, so that every Saturday the children were washed in a…

Tags: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, All Saints’ Night, Breda Sheehan, Childhood Games, Christmas, Dancing, Dating, Ellis’s Lodge, Halloween, Pawn Shops, The One Day a Week

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

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…

Tags: Blackpool, Breda St Ledger, Child Rearing, Childhood, Conkers, Food, Scraps, Shopping

Brenda McCarthy: Schooldays; Communion; Dating

Brenda (b. 1963), had 5 sisters and 6 brothers; she was the youngest child in her family. Her mother was from Boyce’s Street. Her father was from near Macroom, and his family was well-off. She always lived on the Northside.
She recalls her…

Tags: 1960s, 1970s, Brenda McCarthy, Communion, Marriage, Schooldays, Social Class

Brenda Stillwell: Crawford Art College, Irish language, Slang

Brenda moved to Cork when she was 17, to go to Art College. She remembers hearing people conversing in Irish. She has lived in Cork for 30 years.

Tags: 1980s, Brenda Stillwell, Crawford Art College, Inchigeela Dairy, Irish Language, Sir Henry’s

Brenda Twomey: Coal Quay, Peg Twomey's, Childhood Games

Brenda talks about the Coal Quay, and about her family’s shop Peggy Twomey’s , also known as the Food Emporium. She describes the business as her mother’s concern. She talks about the family nature of the business. She feels that Cork Corporation has…

Tags: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Brenda Twomey, Childhood Games, Coal Quay, Peggy Twomey

Brigid Carmody: Traveling Community, Tradition, Change,

Brigid is a Traveller. She talks about her childhood within an extended family, and about Traveller heritage and culture.
Brigid talks about growing up quickly within an extended family. She describes adult life in a caravan and the difficulties of…

Tags: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Barrel Top Wagon, Change, Childhood Games, Cork 2005, Tradition, Traveling Community, Travellers

Brother Con Higgins: Christian brothers, Education, Sport

Brother Higgins describes his childhood and praises his education at the North Mon school. He later became a teacher at the school, and he comments on education and on religious life.
Brother Higgins (born circa 1956) grew up in Madden’s Buildings,…

Tags: Brother Higgins, Christian Brothers, Communion, Confirmation, Education, GAA, Hurling, Irish Language, Murphy’s Rock, Sister de Lourdes, The North Mon, The North Monastery School

Carmel Hartnett & Maeve O’Sullivan: Nano Nagle, Bill Parfrey, Presentation Sisters, South Pres, South Presentation Convent,

A group of religious sisters talk about Nano Nagle, her life and work and miracles attributed to praying to her. They talk about the modern schooling needs of the area, and the role of the South Presentation building.

Note: This interview was…

Tags: Bill Parfrey, Built Heritage, Carmel Hartnett, Douglas Street, Evergreen Street, If the Walls Could Talk, Maeve O’Sullivan, Material Culture, Nano Nagle, Presentation Sisters, South Pres, South Presentation Convent

Cathal Kerrigan: Activism, Gay Scene, Quay Co-op,

Cathal speaks about first becoming aware of his sexual orientation in his teens. Mayfield mixed secondary school. Eglington St Baths. His father Patrick Kerrigan, Labour TD and senator and Cork Lord Mayor. The Irish literary magazine Hibernia. RTE TV…

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