Browse Items (43 total)
Sort by:
Liam Ó hUigín: Henry Street, Bonfire Night, Childhood Games, Messenger Boys.
Liam was born circa 1940. His father was a docker. His mother died when he was 10 and his aunt reared him; she was a widow at 32 and had her own children.
He was a messenger boy in the 1950s; he talks about the job and its good and bad aspects. He…
He was a messenger boy in the 1950s; he talks about the job and its good and bad aspects. He…
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…
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.…
She grew up in a row of cottages that she believes dated back to the Seventeenth Century.…
Eileen Claffey: Childhood Games, Food, Farming, Festivals, Irish Language,
Eileen grew up on a farm in Inchaclough, West Cork with one brother and four sisters. She was the third child. They had a cousin and a neighbour’s child living with them. Her parents were hardworking– her mother used to work at least 12 hours a day.…
Noreen Hanover: Christmas, Childhood Games, Cinema, Ghost stories, Milk and Cake Shops, Pawnbrokers, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Working life,
Noreen grew up during the 1950s in Nicholas Church Place, off Cove Street. She says the house was a tenement house shared with a family who lived upstairs. She went to the South Presentation Convent School. Her father died when she was 10. She left…
Marie-Annick Desplanques: Brittany, Breton, Coiffe, Crêperie, Foodways, France, Children's Games.
Marie-Annick Desplanques grew up in Brittany, west France. She moved about frequently as a child because her father worked on the railways. She discusses food, games, Christmas in France as well as moving to Ireland from Newfoundland and the…
Isabelle Sheridan: English Market, Food, Culture
Isabelle Sheridan is from a suburb outside Paris called Le Pleine de Mont Esson. She moved to Ireland in 1986 and eventually established the well-known charcuterie called ‘On the Pig’s Back’ in the English Market in Cork. She discusses her childhood…
Liz Steiner Scott: America, Customs, English market, Children's Games, Maternity, Religion,
Liz was born into an upper middle class, liberal, Jewish family in 1948 in a suburb of New Jersey, USA. She has one brother and one sister. Her maternal grandparents lived close and were part of their family life. Her father commuted daily to New…
Kay O’Carroll: The Northside, Emigration, Childhood Games, Music, Tenements,
Kay O’Carroll describes her early life growing up in Gurranabraher giving engaging and colourful detail about childhood games and activities, the community spirit, women’s work, going out to the cinema and show bands as a young woman.
Kay was…
Kay was…
Emeka Ikebuasi: Customs, Nigeria, Political Unrest, Stories, Refugee
Emeka Ikebuasi from Nigeria describes the harrowing political events which led to his family coming to Cork as refugees. He talks, in depth, of his village upbringing in Nigeria and highlights village ceremonies, the telling of stories, witch doctors…
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…
Karina Abdulbaneeva: Art, Russia, London, Spirituality, Nature, Nationality, New Year’s Day, Religion,
Russian born Karina Abdulbaneeva, talks about coming to Cork from London in 2001 and her impressions of the smallness and accessibility of the city. She describes the helpfulness of Cork people and the spirituality of the country in which she feels…
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…
Brigid talks about growing up quickly within an extended family. She describes adult life in a caravan and the difficulties of…
Tim O’Brien: Cork Fire Brigade, Murphy’s Brewery, Murphy’s Rock,
Tim talks about working for Cork’s Fire Brigade, and about changes to the job over the years. He has been a fire-fighter since 1975 and loves the job.
Tim was born in Watercourse Road. His father worked in Murphy’s Brewery. His mother came from West…
Tim was born in Watercourse Road. His father worked in Murphy’s Brewery. His mother came from West…
Marie McAllen: Ballyphehane
Marie was born and raised in Ballyphehane, before and after development of corporation housing. Her Mother’s family name was Cronin and her grandmother was Halloran who owned Halloran’s orchard where the Ballyphehane Church now stands.
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…
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…
Eileen Jones: Blackpool, Shawlies, Sunbeam,
Eileen Jones (b. 1931) was born in Millfield Cottages. When she was 4 years old her family moved to Welsh’s Lane in Blackpool; members of her extended family lived nearby. Her mother was born in 1896. Her father was a builder’s labourer.
There was…
There was…
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…
Paddy Marshall: Blackpool, Pidgeon Racing, Cinema,
Paddy was born in 1941 in Great William O’Brien Street, and grew up in Narrow Lane, nearby; he describes the area around it which constituted his neighbourhood. He came from a family of 10. His mother was from Watercourse Road, his father from Narrow…