Rosarii Comber: North Gate Chemist
North Main Street, Cork
Rosarii Comber is a pharmacist at North Gate Pharmacy, a business that has been in her family since 1964. She begins the interview discussing some of the history of the building – that families would have lived above the business and that at one stage there were even little houses out in the back garden in which families lived. All families on the premises would have shared a single small outhouse as well. Additionally, she mentions that they were able to look back at the deeds and ledgers pertaining to the premises and that it would have been a retail location going back into the 1880s. She recounts that there ‘always seems to have been strong women here’ and recounts a story of the first owner, in the 19th century, being a woman who divorced her husband, kept the business, and left him money in her will! Rosarii discusses the owner-occupier nature of North Main Street, mentioning three pharmacies in the area as well as Bradley’s and Leader’s. When discussing memories as a child, she mentions Kilgrew’s toy shop where she would have gotten pre-ordered comics (such as “Misty” for herself and “2000AD” or “Warlord” for her brother). She recalls being told off by her mother for speaking back to a ‘shawlie’ and some discussion of what a shawlie is ensues. She relates that the biggest negatives pertaining to North Main Street now are how quiet it is (she can no longer tell the time of day by the noise outside) and the recent problem of addicts frequenting the street. There is some discussion of the adaptability of North Main Street, that is has been through several recessions and booms, and what needs to occur in the future to maintain business on the street. Rosarii highlights that parking access is a big issue in City Centre, especially for the elderly who cannot easily take the bus or pay for a taxi, and also mentions that the shopping centres in Cork are drawing away a lot of business. Local businesses that are mentioned include Molloy’s, Supermacs, and Waffles.
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Cork Folklore Project
4 February 2015
Interviewee: Rosarii Comber
Interviewers: Dermot Casey, Tara Walsh
Cork Folklore Project
<br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/64" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00536_oleary_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/65" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00537_hanover_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/66" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00538_spalding_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/67" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00539_hUigin_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/68" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00543_obrien_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/69">CFP_SR00544_comber_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/70">CFP_SR00545_leader_2015</a>; <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/71" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00546_creedon_2015</a>;
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<div class="element-text">Penny Johnston based a digital oral history mapping pilot project called ‘Cork’s Main Streets’ on the audio interviews from this collection in 2016, as part of her PhD research. The 2018 website and the map layer can be viewed at: <a href="http://corksmainstreets.corkfolklore.org/cms/">http://corksmainstreets.corkfolklore.org/cms/ </a><br /><br />Penny’s PhD dissertation can be accessed at: <a href="https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/5469">https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/5469</a></div>
<div class="element-text"><strong><br /></strong><strong>Other Material Relating to Cork's Main Streets:</strong><strong></strong><br /><br />CFP_SR00448_hinchy_2012: Interview of ex-Beamish Brewery (South Main Street) staff member Ed Hinchy.<br /><br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/90">CFP_SR00532_davis_2014</a>: Interview with the former manager of The Other Place Resource Centre (South Main Street), Clive Davis, conducted by Stephen Dee and Dermot Casey, as part of the LGBT Archive Collection <br /><br />CFP_SR00535_wilkins_2014: Mark Wilkins was interviewed by Aisling Byron on the music scene of Cork City in the 1980s and 1990s: the interview contains an in-depth discussion of South Main Street music venue Sir Henry’s and of the South Main Street pub The Liberty.</div>
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CFP_SR00544_comber_2015
Cork; Ireland; 1960s - 2000s;
Murty O’Sullivan: Masonry, building Trade, Celtic Tiger
Stonemasons: Occupational Lore:
Murty O’Sullivan, who grew up in Blackpool, is the third generation in the building trade as a stonemason, with the fourth generation just starting. He describes the tradition of families passing on trades through the generations and the difficulties facing anyone seeking to enter the trades without a family lineage. He describes his four-year apprenticeship and the building trade in the late 1970s. He gives a detailed account of his years working in America in the mid to late 1980s. He talks about the camaraderie in the trades and the relationships he built with his fellow tradesmen over the years. <br /><br />Murty's mother was interviewed interviewed by the Cork Folklore Project: <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/184" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00581_osullivan_2016;</a>
Cork Folklore Project
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Cork Folklore Project
23 November 2015
Interviewee: Murty O’Sullivan
Interviewer: Michael Moore
Cork Folklore Project
<strong><strong>From Stonemason Collection:<br /></strong></strong>
<div class="element-text five columns omega">
<p><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/178" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/179" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00566_fahy_2015;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/180" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00569_fahy_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/181" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00570_steele_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/182" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00574_jones_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/183" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00577_fahy_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/184" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00581_osullivan_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/185" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00583_johnson_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/186" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00589_lysaght_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/193" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00590_varian_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/194" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00595_Jones_2016;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/195" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00609_Cooney_2017;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/196" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00610_McCarthy_2017;</a> <a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/197" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00611_Buckley_2017:</a></p>
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<p><strong>Published material related to the collection: </strong><br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Archive20-WebEdition.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moore, Michael (2016) ‘A Tale of Two Masons’, The Archive Journal, Vol 20: 8-10. </a></p>
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CFP_SR00565_osullivan_2015
Cork, Ireland 1960s -2010s