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Noreen Cronin: Shandon, The North Infirmary, Childhood
Noreen grew up in a tenement in Dominick Street next to Shandon in the early 1950s. She went to the North Pres School and worked at the North Infirmary. Her mother used to deliver babies in the area and helped to wash and lay out the dead. Her…
Sandra Byrne: Commons Road, Tucker's Field, Family Life.
Sandra grew up in Commons Road, Blackpool. She has little memory of her mother; describes her father as a cranky man. He damaged his hand in an industrial accident and didn’t work again. She describes her home as a tense place. Sandra talks about…
Derrick Gerrety: Douglas Street, Loafers, Dublin,
Derrick was born in 1950. He grew up in St Joseph's Square, Vernon Avenue, Clontarf, in a working-class enclave within a middle-class area. He describes his childhood as idyllic. The houses in the square were rented from the Sisters of Charity;…
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…
He remembers queues…
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…
Michael O’Connell: Faranree, Politics, Childhood,
Michael was born in the 1950s and grew up in Farranferris Ave below the Church of the Redemption in Farranree. He came from a family of 13 children. He was a student at the North Mon. His mother was a great GAA fan and a sporting person who played…
Padraig O’Horgain: Church Street, Funeral Customs, Republicanism,
Padraig O’Horgain (Pat Horgan) was born in Church Street in 1951. His father was a Republican and was interned in Britain between 1939 and 1946. His father later worked at Cork Harbour.
O’Gorman’s hat factory and other businesses were cited in the…
O’Gorman’s hat factory and other businesses were cited in the…
Kevin Leahy: Gurranabraher, Irish Army, Docklands,
Kevin was born (circa late 1930s) in Kelly’s Lane (later Boyce’s Street). His father was in the British Army and later the forces of the Irish Free State. When Kevin was 14 he went to work as a plumber.
He remembers Blarney Street, and women who…
He remembers Blarney Street, and women who…
Denis Murphy: Blackpool, Pubs, Food,
Denis was born in Dublin Street, Blackpool. [1960s.] His family owned a pub there called the Bowler’s Rest. His parents were from West Cork. He went to school in Rathpeacon.
Millfield Cottages were built near the mill houses that existed there since…
Millfield Cottages were built near the mill houses that existed there since…
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…
James 'Jim' McKeon: Northside, Sport, Writing,
Jim (b. 1940s) remembers that his father worked for the railways and had a tied cottage in an area known as Kilbarry Cottages, or Railway Cottages. Then the family moved to Paddock House, Fairhill. The house was at the top of Washbrew Lane, and came…
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…
Barra O’Donnabhain: Homosexuality, UCC, David Norris,
Barra was born in Shannon Co. Clare but moved to Cork in the late seventies to attend UCC at a time when the first student gay society was being set up. He had experience of gay life and the emerging gay social scene in Cork and Dublin in the early…
Tony Doherty: Rainbow Ramblers, Cork Gay Mens’ Cooperative, Cruising.
Tony Doherty was interviewed as part of the LGBT project. He describes his younger days in Cork in the 1950s and 1960s. He went to England in 1968, five years after decriminalisation in the UK. His father was a Special Branch Garda who believed in…
Edmund Lynch: Irish Gay Rights Movement, Marriage Referendum, Activism,
Edmund Lynch is a gay activist from Dublin. He came out to his family in 1974/5. He discusses the Irish gay rights movement from the 1970s through decriminalisation and the Marriage Referendum in 2015.
Stephen Dee: Gay life, LGBT, Loafers Bar, Coming Out.
Stephen talks about first becoming aware of feeling that he was gay, and the difficulty of acknowledging his realisation. He tells a story about seeing his dead grandmother, who told him everything would be okay. He points out that as a gay man he…
Kieran Edwards & Noreen Crowley: Ballyphehane, Childhood, Community
Kieran Edwards and his sister Noreen Crowley (nee Edwards) are originally from Fr Dominic Road Ballyphahane, they start the interview by discussing the community that Ballypheheane nurtured. Noreen then talks of her youth and how she used to look…
Noreen Hannover: South Main Street
Noreen Hanover was born in 1950 and grew up in the South Main Street area until 1975. Her family would have done most of their shopping on South Main Street and she relates the character of the shops there, their different purposes, as well as what…
Frances McCarthy and Betty O’Mahony: The Dixies, Christy O'Mahony
Frances has always lived on the Northside. She was born in Poulraddy, went to school in North Presentation school. When she was seven she moved to Ballyvolane and went to school at St Patrick’s College, Gardiner’s Hill, and Mayfield Community School.…
Liam Foley: Blackpool, Showbands, Arcadia
Liam is originally from the Northside, from Great William Street in Blackpool. His whole family were musical, and even though his father worked as a cabinet-maker, he and the rest of the family were very keen on playing music at home. He went to…