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Tommy Rooney: Second City Jazzband, Cork Academy School of Music
Tommy Rooney was born in 1931. He was reared in Crosshaven and was the eldest of nine. His father’s family were from Dublin. He joined the army in 1945 at the age of 14 and remained in the service for 12 years. He played music during some of that…
Sean Lucey, Terry McCarthy: Blackpool, Dixies Showband
Seán Lucy was born in 1936. Seán is from a family of four. He started work as a radio and television repairman in 1950, before becoming a professional musician in 1960. He played the clarinet. He played with the Butter Exchange Band, a brass and reed…
Seán Lane: Blarney Street, Butchers, Bowling,
Seán Lane was born in 1942. His parents were both from Blarney Street, where he was raised. His father was a bacon butcher.
He talks about his childhood. Children were always on the lookout for any opportunity to make a penny, such as cow-herding…
He talks about his childhood. Children were always on the lookout for any opportunity to make a penny, such as cow-herding…
Peggy Kelleher: The Lough, Marriage, World War 2
Peggy (born 1930s) grew up in Hartland's Road, near The Lough. She was an only child. Her father, William Power, from County Waterford; he worked at the Munster Arcade and lived through the Burning of Cork by the Black and Tans in 1920; he was…
Pat Walsh: Barrack Street, Custom House, Dundanion Castle, Elizabeth Fort, Railways, Sculpture Factory, Trams, Transport,
Pat Walsh talks about some of the transport histories of Cork, including the railway and tramway systems and their associated infrastructure; and about the history of Elizabeth Fort.
He talks about the channels of the River Lee within the city and…
He talks about the channels of the River Lee within the city and…
Pat Speight: Northside, Childhood Games, Schooldays,
Cork Storyteller Pat Speight (b. 1940s) was born near the North Cathedral, known by locals as the North Chapel. His first house in Cork he thinks was a kind of tenement, with three families living in one house; his father later bought out this…
Pat Saville: Blackpool, Working Life, Sport,
Pat Saville was born in 1946. He had a twin brother, Charlie, and an older brother, Ray. He moved from England with his family when he was 4 years old. He grew up in Welsh’s Lane, Blackpool. His father died when he was 10.
He describes the shops and…
He describes the shops and…
Noreen Geaney: Childhood Games, Céilí, Halloween, School, The Stations.
An account of growing up on a small farm in the Cork countryside and the simplicity of life in the 1950s.
Noreen was born in Cuileann Ui Chaoimh in Co. Cork. She had three sisters and one brother. She attended Owen na Bui National School. She lived…
Noreen was born in Cuileann Ui Chaoimh in Co. Cork. She had three sisters and one brother. She attended Owen na Bui National School. She lived…
Noel Magnier: Gerald Griffin Street, Shops, Box Cars,
Noel has written a book about growing up in Cork in the 1940s and 1950s, called Is That You, Boy? He was born (1939) and reared in Gerald Griffin Street. He has 4 siblings. He recalls the shops and businesses on the street.
Denny’s cellar was a…
Denny’s cellar was a…
Mícheál Ó Geallabháin: Family, Community, Social Class, Sport, Music, Emigration.
An in-depth, evocative interview about growing up in The Middle Parish highlighting poverty and the power of education in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Mícheál Ó Geallabháin gives intimate and warm detail about family life, community spirit, class,…
Michael Murphy: Worklife; Murphy's Brewery; Childhood
Michael was born in 1941. He was born in Francis Street. He had 6 brothers and 5 sisters. His earliest memory is of his grandfather’s funeral, with a hearse pulled by two horses, in 1945. His mother’s pregnancies and the arrival of newborn children…
Mary Sheehy: Gurranabraher, Street Traders, Bonfire Night
Mary was born in Washington Street in 1948; when she was 6 her family moved to Gurranabraher. Her mother was a trader in second-hand clothes in Kyle Street and a barmaid, her father worked for Cork Harbour Commissioners.
As a child, she had to wear…
As a child, she had to wear…
Mary O’Sullivan: Masonry, Family Life,
Mary begins the interview by talking through her earliest memories of Bantry, walking to school and robbing apples and nice and cross teachers. Mary’s then moves on to describe her family, and how she left school at 14, her father was a farm labourer…
Mary Montgomery-McConville: Shandon Street, Peter and Paul's Church, Coal Quay
Mary was born in Shandon Street in 1930. She talks about winter on Lavitt’s Quay. Mary also mentions an Easter custom where on Good Friday they would tie the figure of Judas to a crane and set fire to it. Her grandfather made the confessional boxes…
Mary Marshall: Blackpool, Childhood, Hunting,
Mary grew up in Thomas Davis Street, Blackpool. Both her parents were from Blackpool. Her mother liked to use Grand Parade library, and her father was an avid reader who told stories from Greek mythology. At the time the area bounded onto the…
Marie Finn: Barrack Street, Blackberry-picking, Catholic Church,
Marie (b. 1938) grew up in Barrack Street. She left school at 16 and started working.
She talks about the games she played as a child and recites part of a rhyme. You could pick blackberries and sell them to a sweet-makers. Oranges and bananas as…
She talks about the games she played as a child and recites part of a rhyme. You could pick blackberries and sell them to a sweet-makers. Oranges and bananas as…
Marie Crean: South Parish, Cinemas, Black and Tan’s
Marie was born (in the 1950s) and reared in High Street, in the South Parish, off Douglas Street; she thinks the street was formerly Quarry Lane. Some of her area was altered to make a new road. She went to school in South Presentation.
She recalls…
She recalls…
Margaret Newman: Sunbeam Factory; Christmas, Nicknames,
Margaret Newman was born in 1922. She explains that before the Sunbeam factory there was a flax mill, which employed some children in the late 1800s.
How children ordered their presents from Santa.
Note: This is one of 4 interviews conducted with…
How children ordered their presents from Santa.
Note: This is one of 4 interviews conducted with…
Margaret Newman: Shawlies, Blackberry-picking, Laneways,
Margaret Newman [born 1922] talks at length about the shawls women wore, where they were bought, the types of shawl, and their uses.
She talks about the Bandon railway line, which was so slow you could lean out of the windows and pick blackberries.…
She talks about the Bandon railway line, which was so slow you could lean out of the windows and pick blackberries.…
Margaret Newman: Greenmount, Cures, Working Life,
Margaret (born circa 1920) grew up in Greenmount, near The Lough. There were 4 in the family; her father had passed away and her mother, Kate, went out to work.
She got cocoa and buns at her primary school. She tells a story about finding out that…
She got cocoa and buns at her primary school. She tells a story about finding out that…