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https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/9f20f6c48d278f9ca879e280140ef8e0.jpg
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https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/a1ba5504bd7a52abcb7434cb2161c705.wav
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
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Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
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Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Philomena Cassidy
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
65 Minutes 2 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Cork Folklore Project Hub, North Cathedral Visitor Centre, Roman Street
Original Format
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.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.00.22</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.22 - 0.02.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Tenement House Growing Up- Conditions and facilities</strong></p>
<p>Grew up in 44 Grattan Street, a tenement house. 4 or 5 families in the house. 6 children in her family, and 6 in another family. Another family with 2. 14 children in the one house. Very happy, great neighbours.</p>
<p>Shop underneath their house: “shop on the lap” they called it. It sold sugar, milk, tea. The people who ran the shop lived in the shop as well. A 4-storey house including the attic. The people who lived in the attic had their kitchen on the ground floor. They had no sink, there was one toilet shared by the house and one tap in the yard. There was no electricity, or gas. They used oil lamps, primus store and a coal fire. Everyone lived like that so they “didn’t know any better”.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.23 - 0.06.27</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Neighbours, Shops and Streets on & near Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Next door in 45 Grattan Street was Gamble the tinsmith. Similar type house arrangement.</p>
<p>46 Grattan Street was O’Callaghan’s Pub, even though the owners got married they had their whole family living above the pub. Phil doesn’t think that arrangement could be called a tenement because the house contained all one family.</p>
<p>Then there was Peter’s Street, and the Mechanics’ Hall where the Community Centre is now. Fr Lynch from St Peter and Paul’s was good to the poor and he gave the children of the parish a party in the Mechanics’ Hall where children were given a suitable present, eg. a doll. The children looked forward to that each Christmas.</p>
<p>Beyond that there was the quarry all the houses previously there were gone. After the quarry there were 3 or 4 tenement houses before you came to Henry Street. Same type of houses. There was also Bobby Lloyd’s shop on the corner sold pots, pans and kitchen utensils.</p>
<p>Then Henry Street, and across the road from it was Henrietta’s Shop run by Johno (Johnno) where they got milk or bread.</p>
<p>There was a lane behind that with a terrace of houses. There were two pubs beyond that one called Crosses and the other was Kellehers. Beyond that was Francis Street with Randy Hourigan’s shop on the corner.</p>
<p>Beyond that was the corner of Bachelor’s Quay where the Doll’s House was with steps up to it which was also a tenement.</p>
<p>Around the corner was formerly Dolly Perry’s Nursing Home but was turned into tenements when Phil knew it.</p>
<p>Then there was Grenville Place where George Boole had lived, and that area had tenements.</p>
<p>Then you returned to Henry Street. The old part of the Mercy Hospital was also there.</p>
<p>Then there was Moore Street, Coach Street, and back to Grattan Street.</p>
<p>All that area was the circle in which the children were allowed to play. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.06.27 - 0.07.52</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Playing Children’s Games</strong></p>
<p>Played tops and whips. Cat and Dog. Piggy. Skylockers.</p>
<p><strong>Skylockers:</strong></p>
<p>Long strip of crepe paper with some sand in the centre and tied with string. And put string onto the end of it and threw it up in the air and hope that it would come down again and not get caught in the electric wires.</p>
<p>Had to make their own enjoyment not like today where people can just press buttons.</p>
<p><strong>Chaineys & Playing Shop</strong></p>
<p>Used broken coloured glass (calls it mixed spice) to play shop on the footpath. Everyone was the same and everyone joined in. People pretended to be buying some of their shop items which were the pieces of broken glass.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.07.52 - 0.10.49</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>More Neighbours, Shops and Streets on & near Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Phil runs through the buildings and streets on Grattan Street from her house but going in the other direction to which she did before.</p>
<p>No 43 Grattan Street’ The People’s Dairy which had eggs, milk, buttermilk, bread.</p>
<p>Beyond that was a wholesale place called O’Connors and he had shoes for the shops he was wholesaler for. Above his place was a tenement.</p>
<p>No 41 Grattan Street: The M Laundries (M Laundry) with a tenement above it with 3 families.</p>
<p>No 40 Grattan Street was the fire station and everyone knew it, and the firemen because they were local.</p>
<p>No 39: Barber shop with tenement above it.</p>
<p>Next was another barber: Gerry Kane, with tenements above it.</p>
<p>Next Roddis which sold pots, pans and tin things.</p>
<p>Next was another shop.</p>
<p>Then Broad Street and on the other side of it was another tinsmith, another Gamble. There were 3 Gamble brothers from Grattan Street, all of them tinsmiths.</p>
<p>After that was a quarry and the houses were gone.</p>
<p>Across the road was the old St Francis Church.</p>
<p>Coming back down Grattan Street from there was the Third Order Hall.</p>
<p>Then a laundry with more tenements.</p>
<p>Then another tinsmith.</p>
<p>Then Moll Hog’s Mrs Hourigan, a sweet shop at the corner of Broad Lane.</p>
<p>Then the Rambler’s Inn, a pub. When that was vacated the Franciscans took it over for their accommodation and they took over the fire station when the new church was being built.</p>
<p>Then there was a shoemaker called Rice with tenements above it.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.10.49 - 0.11.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>The Dispensary/ Grattan Street description of the building and who lived there</strong></p>
<p>And then “the Quakers” or the dispensary now Grattan Street Health Centre.</p>
<p>The Morrissy family [see <span><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a></span>;] of the chemist on one side of the arch on the dispensary facing onto Grattan Street, and the caretaker lived on the other side, her name was Nellie Long but she was known as Mrs Healy.</p>
<p>Morrissy family had two girls and a boy and Phil “mixed with them”. </p>
<p>Phil’s family had no garden so they played in the courtyard in the dispensary, which she describes as “a big airy place” there was lots of space compared with where Phil lived.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.11.35 - 0.14.28</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>More tenements after the dispensary, continuing tour of Grattan Street.</strong></p>
<p>Then “Moll Murph’s” (Moll Murphy) the potato lady.</p>
<p>Bridgie on the corner selling sweets.</p>
<p>Then Peter Church Lane, down which there were tenements, even though they were only small houses. The McCarthy’s were the only ones to have a house.</p>
<p>The grandmother of Terry McCarthy lived down the lane. Terry had recently died at the time of the interview. He sang with the Dixies and sang with Michael Ring junior.</p>
<p>Then there was the graveyard [St Peter’s Cemetery] which they knew as “The Proddy Woddys”, down the lane from that was a school and St Peter’s Church which is a centre now on the North Main Street. Phil says they “never mixed with them” ie Protestants.</p>
<p>After that was Buckley’s builder’s yard over head was the Manning’s family with some families members married.</p>
<p>After that another tenement with Murphy’s on the ground floor and Buckley’s on the first floor. Then more people above them.</p>
<p>After that another tenement with the Healey’s lived.</p>
<p>Then the quarry and then Coleman’s Lane which had houses and the Kenny’s lived in the first house. Tiny houses.</p>
<p>Back on Grattan Street there was Looney’s Shop which sold everything: butter, eggs, bread etc.</p>
<p>Then there were two more houses Frankie Scannell lived next to Looney’s Shop and worked in the Fire Station.</p>
<p>After that another tenement with 3 or 4 families and then it came to Adelaide Street.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.14.28 - 0.17.41</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memories of the Dispensary </strong></p>
<p>“But the Quakers was nice, it was an airy place” big, huge high ceilings. The garden was inside a bit. [Phil refers to the Grattan Street Health Centre/ Dispensary building as ‘the Quakers’]</p>
<p>The big door was never open, the side door was open, but there was a bell on the door and you could ring the bell.</p>
<p>Inside were the doctors. The dispensary had about 8 doctors, 4 on either side, in a big hall with rooms off of it. Benches outside each doctor. No appointment. Every area had its own doctor. Phil had Dr Cagney. There was a Dr Moran for another area.</p>
<p>You got medicine on the way out from the chemist, in a little hole in the wall. If you wanted cough bottle you brought your own bottle. It wouldn’t surprise Phil if you received tablets in a matchbox. You had to queue up to get that.</p>
<p>You’d bring your bottle with you from home.</p>
<p>Two or three benches outside each doctor’s door. It was like one big dance hall. There was no appointment but you knew what time he would be there at. And if you had to call the doctor he would come to you at home.</p>
<p>Dr Cagney was abrupt but a very good doctor. Mark Cagney who was a presenter on TV3 [now Virgin Media One] was related to Dr Cagney. Phil says Dr Cagney was fabulous, but abrupt: “you’d be afraid like”, “you wouldn’t ask him questions” “the glasses would be down there” [Phil puts her glasses at to the end of her nose and looks over them doing an impression of Dr Cagney.]</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.17.41 - 0.19.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>LDF (Local Defence Forces) Training & Uniform</span></strong></p>
<p><span>The LDF (Local Defence Forces) used to train in the dispensary building [during WW2]. They had a “browny” uniform and a hat with a slit in it. Something like the Slua Muirí.</span></p>
<p><span>They may have trained in the courtyard because there was space in “the Quakers”. They had to dress up in their uniforms.</span></p>
<p><span>Mr Burns (or Byrne’s) who lived in Phil’s tenement was in the LDF.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.19.00 - 0.19.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Sense of Community, Safety and Togetherness</strong></p>
<p>Everyone went to school together and brought each other. There was great harmony, great neighbours and a very happy childhood. It was safe to walk the streets then in a way it is less so today Phil thinks.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.19.26 - 0.20.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Daily Routine, School, Shopping, Streetscape</strong></p>
<p>Had breakfast and their mother would bring them to school St Maries of the Isle. She would walk with them as far as across the street from the courthouse [on Washington Street] and after that there were no roads to cross so they could walk on their own from that point. Their mother would meet them again at that point for lunchtime to take them home.</p>
<p>There was much less traffic than today, mostly horses and carts. The horses and carts with milk churns came to the Nolan’s next door. You brought your jug to the dairy, Nolan’s Dairy and filled it up with milk.</p>
<p>During school they went home at 12:30 for their dinner. And her mother would meet them and bring them back at the start and end of lunch.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.20.47 - 0.22.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Father, Work, Parenting and Strict Timekeeping</strong></p>
<p>Phil’s dad was working in the Munster Arcade as a draper’s porter. Everything was within walking distance. He had to wake up at 6:45 to be in work for 8:30, he was a great timekeeper. When Phil and her siblings started to go to work her father said “one call now and one call only for the morning.” (meaning that he would call/wake them once only in the morning.) They had to go to Dunlop’s for 8am. Mother would bring the younger children to school. He would do the “first shift” for the working children. He was very strict, “you wouldn’t get around him. If he said no that was it.” A good father. She thinks it was possible to say no to one’s children back then but that is no longer the case today. Her mother was a bit softer. You dare not miss your call because you didn’t get paid when you were out of work. You didn’t get paid even if you were out sick.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.22.07 - 0.23.22</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>No Sick Pay, Simple Remedies for Sickness</strong></p>
<p>Recalls a young man feeling sick at work. Someone suggested he go home but he said he couldn’t because his mother would kill him! So if you were out of work you were out of pay, so there was very little sickness as a result! “If you were sick you got your Tanora and your aspro” [Aspirin/ Disprin/ Panadol] that was the medicine they had from the chemist.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.23.22 - 0.27.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>After School, Food, Dinner, Rationing</strong></p>
<p>After school they would eat or go out to play. They had dinner in the middle of the day, when they came home at lunchtime from school. Might have bread and jam later- if you got jam you would be delighted. They were never hungry.</p>
<p>Dinner would be stew. Something in a pot big enough for the whole family 6 children and the two adults 8 altogether. They didn’t have chops or steak. They had tripe and drisheen. You ate it whether you liked it or not because there was nothing else.</p>
<p>Ration books from 1939-1945 butter was made up in 12 ounces. 16 ounces in the pound. The rations allowed 12 ounces for 2 people, 6 ounces each for a week. Tea was rationed. Mr Burns went to England (where Phil thinks the rationing may not have been as severe?!) and he was able to bring back the Van Houten’s Cocoa and his wife Mrs Burns would always share it with Phil’s family whatever they had- it was like Christmas.</p>
<p>Doesn’t think that eggs were rationed- if you had the money you could buy them. Cannot say whether bread or milk was rationed.</p>
<p>Sugar, tea, butter were rationed. There were vouchers for shoes issued by the Health Board. And you would get the vouchers from the Dispensary, (“The Quakers”).</p>
<p>Phil’s mother would know about the vouchers, Phil was only a child at the time so wouldn’t know much about it. She says that if they did get vouchers they wouldn’t tell anyone because they were “very grand” she says in a joking posh accent. She says that her mother was a proud woman and “it was bred into us I’d say.” She didn’t want people to know that she was getting the vouchers, even though everyone else was in the same situation.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.27.43 - 0.30.53</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Visiting the Doctor. Siblings with Diphtheria. Relatives with Measles</strong></p>
<p>Phil says “you’d have to be nearly dying” you’d have to have the measles or diphtheria to go to the doctor. You wouldn’t go for a cough or a cold. You’d go if there was something wrong with your ear or your eyes. Otherwise you’d get “Tanora and an aspro” and then you got better.</p>
<p>Went into the Dispensary for her ear- doesn’t remember going to the hospital.</p>
<p>3 of her siblings got diphtheria. Her brother Paddy had to be hospitalised. Dr Cagney was their doctor for that. Diphtheria and whooping cough were prevalent at the time. Then injections were made available.</p>
<p>Remembers other people in her family getting the measles, light was kept away from their eyes to prevent them going blind although Phil says she doesn’t believe that that is what would cause the blindness. But they kept sufferers in a dark room. It was a 9 day disease- 3 days coming, you had it for 3 days and then 3 days recovering from it. Measles and diphtheria were contagious but she doesn’t know about whooping cough. There was a three-in-one vaccine for those three diseases. Phil’s mother made sure that they got it from the dispensary.</p>
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<p><strong>0.30.53 - 0.32.44</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Worklife: O’Gorman’s Hat Making and Dunlop’s</strong></p>
<p>Worked in Dunlop’s “in the packing” and worked in O’Gorman’s making the berets the hat factory in Shandon maybe in the old butter market. Phil thinks it was a shopping centre or souvenir shop after it was O’Gorman’s Hat Factory. They started up the “berett” (beret) part of the business. Phil describes the hat as a being similar to a “Tammy-Shanto” (Tam O’Shanter) a hat worn by Scottish men, except that it did not have the tassel on it. She worked there for three years and then went to Dunlop’s because there was more money there.</p>
<p>In the hat factory they made/knitted berets and shrunk them to the different sizes: 8 and a half, 9 and a half and 10 and half. They were knitted on a machine and put into something to shrink the wool which tightened up.</p>
<p>Phil was involved in the setting up of that process and ended up being a supervisor. She then went to Dunlops to do the packing.</p>
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</tr>
<tr>
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<p><strong>0.32.44 - 0.38.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Working in Dunlop’s, Wellington Boots, Timekeeping Discipline, Stopping Work once Married, Reflections on Staying Home to raise Children.</strong></p>
<p>Phil was an “inspectress” (inspector) in the packing section in Dunlop’s. She inspected the wellington boots to see if there was any flaw in them which needed to be repaired. Then they were packed into the boxes and sent out.</p>
<p>The men made all the wellingtons and they arrived as a finished product when Phil got to inspect them. There were no women making the wellingtons. The men made them “down the dips”. Phil was inspecting the boots at the top of the heel where there might be a gap which needed to be filled in with some soft rubber. And if it wasn’t done properly she would send the boot back again for repair. She was strict because if there was something wrong with the boot the shop would send it back in any case. And you would be in trouble if it was sent back from the shop as it indicated that you had not been doing your job. “You’d be just called over the rope!”, “and if you were out sick you didn’t get paid while you were out either”.</p>
<p>You had to clock in 8am, clock out at lunchtime, clock in after lunch, clock out going home 5pm. If you were five minutes late you were docked pay for quarter of an hour. Phil says that this discipline is good, though it is less common today: “it’s bred into you. You just accept it. You wouldn’t do it today!”</p>
<p>That’s where the time keeping her dad had instilled came in useful.</p>
<p>Cycled to work down the Centre park Road four times a day because they would go home for lunch- lunch was one hour.</p>
<p>She worked for 3 years in Dunlop’s and 3 years in O’Gorman’s.</p>
<p>She was in Dunlop’s when she got married, and she had to leave they would not allow her to work now that she was married. She would have liked to have kept working because she was “with a very happy crowd- very nice people.” Phil reflects that it would not happen today, and that men who got married were able to continue working. At the time Phil says they didn’t know any better because it was the same for everyone. Phil thinks they were better off at home with their children. Many people today would want to be at home with their children but they can’t afford it with the cost of the mortgage and other expenses. Phil feels sorry for people today who can’t be with their children- “there’s no money would pay you for that. You fit ‘em out for the world. And hope for the best after that. I know the best of them like might go astray. But at the same time you do your best.”</p>
<p>“I thought it was lovely being at home with your children- you saw ‘em grow up”</p>
<p>Phil says nowadays people have children before they get married.</p>
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<p><strong>0.38.06 - 0.39.08</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Diseases: TB, Tuberculosis and Recuperation</strong></p>
<p>There was TB at the time though none of her family got it. When you were recovering you had to go to the country to Sarsfield’s Court which was the heart of the country that time. There was Heatherside in Doneraile in North Cork which was a place for recuperating from TB you were there for 6 or 9 months until the TB was gone. Phil says thank god none of her family got TB she jokes that they “must have been well looked after with our bread and butter and our eggs.”</p>
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<p><strong>0.39.08 - 0.42.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Houses, landlords, house ownership, shared water pumps, class distinctions, comparative wealth, protestants, graveyard, relations between Catholics and Protestants</strong></p>
<p>All McCarthy family lived in the one house in Peter Church Lane though they may not have owned it. Phil says she thought they were very well off but the people who got married were still living in the family home. There was a pump at the top of the lane as they had no taps in their houses, they had to fill their buckets at the top of the lane. Doesn’t think the McCarthys who lived in the first house in the lane had a tap either.</p>
<p>Mr Cronin owned Phil’s family’s house. He was a railway man living in Glasheen. He came every week for his rent. You made sure you had your rent. He was a very nice man. You didn’t feel they were above you. People had their rent there was no ifs and buts. He worked in the railway he had a black uniform and the railway badge. He was only an ordinary worker but he owned 44 Grattan Street. Phil has met some of his family since and says they were all ordinary people- you didn’t feel that they were above you or below you even though they might have a little bit more than you- you never felt that. The have and the have nots. Even mixed with the Nolans of the People’s Dairy. Mixed with everyone except the Protestants (‘the Proddy Woddys’). Phil thinks that there was a caretaker for St Peter’s church living down the lane.</p>
<p>One of the bars in the railings of St Peter’s (Protestant) graveyard was bent so they were able to get in there as children “you’d be hauled over the ropes” if they were caught. They weren’t allowed in there by the Protestants but also their parents did not wasn’t them in there. “Times were different. Sure we think nothing of Protestants now.” “The Catholics and the Protestants were miles apart long go.”</p>
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<p><strong>0.42.55 - 0.44.38</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Family of the Pharmacist that lived in the Dispensary</strong></p>
<p>Mr Morrissy was the pharmacist that lived in the dispensary he made up the prescriptions. There was a hatch in the wall where people queued to hand in their prescription and wait for the medicine to be handed out.</p>
<p>Never called anyone by their Christian name only as Mr, Mrs or Miss. The owners of Leaders shop on the North Main Street were known as Mr & Mrs and their daughters as Miss. Phil has been to visit one of the daughters recently and she still calls her Miss Leader. Went there for communion and confirmation clothes. Everyone got to know each other and grow up together. Miss Leader knows Phil’s family as “the Walls” she doesn’t know them by their married name.</p>
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<p><strong>0.44.38- 0.48.57</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Pawns and Pawn Shops</strong></p>
<p>Jones Pawn Shop, Kiely’s on Liberty Street where St Anthony’s Stores is now which is opposite St Francis. There was also a St Francis’ Stores on the corner of Sheares Street near the corner of the Courthouse which is a barber shop now.</p>
<p>Jones Pawn shop on the North Gate Bridge, and Kiely’s may have had another shop on the North Main Street.</p>
<p>Put in your clothes on a Monday and took them out on the Saturday. That gave you money for the week but you had to pay then on Saturday when you got the clothes out of the pawn.</p>
<p>“They were hard times but ‘tis what everyone did.”</p>
<p>Imagines her family used the pawn but she wasn’t told about it.</p>
<p>You had to be back for a certain time to collect the items pawned and if you weren’t they kept the item. And that is how they had the old gold to sell.</p>
<p>You could put something in for a month but you had to return on time to redeem it.</p>
<p>The pawn shops “had lovely stuff” they were like antique shops they had such beautiful things in them. Lovely gold watches, rings. “You could admire them in the window but you couldn’t go in and buy them because we didn’t have the money.”</p>
<p>They wouldn’t take shoddy stuff from you, they wouldn’t give you money for them. You could put an item in for 6 months.</p>
<p>Everyone did it, it was nothing to be ashamed of it.</p>
<p>As times got better the pawn shops faded out.</p>
<p>The pawns definitely made money, Phil believes they were always very wealthy. Phil jokes that the pawn owners may have lived in Montenotte but she doesn’t know where they lived.</p>
<p>People that had money were buying things from the pawns. Thick rings.</p>
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<p><strong>0.48.57- 0.50.38</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>A Treat</strong></p>
<p>Sweets. On a Sunday her dad would give them a shilling between 6 children so 2 pence each after their dinner. But they didn’t dare ask for it. Once their dinner was finished on a Sunday the children were wondering “would he ever pay us?!”. He chose when it was time to pay them. There was 12 pennies in the shilling. They got a lot for their penny- ten sweets for a penny in a shop. They looked forward to it.</p>
<p>Types of sweets: Bulls eyes, clove rock, peggy’s leg, black jacks.</p>
<p>You could get a half a penny’s worth of sweets if you liked. There were also farthings- a quarter of a penny.</p>
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<p><strong>0.50.38 - 0.53.24</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What Happened to the Dispensary?</strong></p>
<p>The dispensary faded out, as people set up their own medical practices. The Health Board took it over, the doctors faded out and set up own places.</p>
<p>Phil’s husband had to go to a doctor and the first visit was €200, though the price was less for subsequent visits. Phil often heard of €100 or €150 for a visit but thought that €200 was too much.</p>
<p>Phil said that you didn’t have to pay going to the doctor or to the dispensary, but evens till they didn’t go unless it was necessary.</p>
<p>The dispensary was a busy place. Doesn’t know where people who had money went to the doctor because they didn’t know anyone who had money.</p>
<p>Lovely looking place inside, it was well done-up. It was “a big hall and you’d have rooms off of it four on that side and four on that side and you had two benches outside each door. You just sat on the bench then and took your turn, and hoped for the best.”</p>
<p>LDF trained there certain nights a week and they had to wear uniform.</p>
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<p><strong>0.53.24 - 0.54.11</strong></p>
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<td>
<p>Meets old neighbours from Grattan Street to this day, eg Byrnes, Mr Byrne was in the LDF, there were 6 in that family who live in the same house as hers. Only 2 of the Byrne’s left, 3 in Phil’s family. Still meet and socialise to talk about old times and the fun they had. They made their own fun.</p>
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<p><strong>0.54.11 - 0.56.52</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Protestant Graveyard at the back of St Peter’s</strong></p>
<p>They went in through the bars. “There were all tombs, like tables: you could have a meal on one of them. They were fabulous!” “There were no small headstones.” “There were headstones, but nothing poor about them”</p>
<p>Fr Walsh from St Peter and Paul’s had the Don Bosco troupe/troop there to do plays for the stage like Father Matthew Hall. There was a place where the school was, “the Protestants were kinda fading out” and Fr Walsh set up the Don Bosco troupe and they had instruments. The Lynches were there: Pat Lynch, and Stevie. They had a hall beside the graveyard. They played instruments, sang songs and practiced there. They performed in small places in Cork, and they did Christmas shows down the lane.</p>
<p>Fr Lynch used to do the parties for the poor children at Christmas. The parties were in the Mechanic’s Hall (now The Middle Parish Community Centre) upstairs where there was a stage.</p>
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<p><strong>0.56.52 - 0.58.54</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Mass, Religion, Dances, Strict Timekeeping</strong></p>
<p>They went to mass in St Francis but they were baptised in St Peter and Paul’s as it was their parish church. All her brothers were altar boys in St Peter and Pauls, and the girls were in the choir in St Francis.</p>
<p>Her mother had the children involved in everything they were never left “go wild”. They were also in the Girl Guides or the Boy Scouts. She kept tabs on them.</p>
<p>When they went to dances in St Francis Hall they were given five minutes to come home from the céilí on Saturday night from 8-11pm. If you went to the Arc (the Arcadia), facing the railway station it’s now apartments where the dance was 8-11 they were allowed half an hour to walk home. It was safe to walk home at that time, there would be no cars or buses after 11pm. If you weren’t there on time her mother would start walking towards them “I often met her!” says Phil. “What kept you?” her mother asked in case she had “been with the fellas”.</p>
<p>That was the discipline that they had which they took with them and tried to instil in their own children “and do the best you can” doesn’t think it is easy to do that today.</p>
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<p><strong>0.58.54 - 0.59.14</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Christmas Party</strong></p>
<p>Phil doesn’t think that there was a Christmas party in the dispensary, only one in the Mechanic’s Hall [her sister Mary Mulcahy had mentioned a party in the dispensary, see <span><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a></span>].</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>0.59.14 - 1.02.08</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Swimming: Outdoor Baths- Storage, Separate Days for Men and Women. Kingsley Hotel Flood</strong></p>
<p>They went swimming in the outdoor baths, they were not allowed in the Eglinton Baths because it was stagnant water. But they were allowed to cycle or walk up to the outdoor baths.</p>
<p>They brought the togs and towel under their arm, and often had a picnic up there were a flask and sandwiches. Phil says she remembers the summers being lovely but that they are probably the same as they are now! Monday, Wednesday and Friday the baths were open for women, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday was for the men. There were boxes all around the pool where you togged off. Your clothes could be stolen and you’d have to walk home in your togs. That never happened to Phil as they always had someone minding the box, or they swam in front of the box.</p>
<p>They built a hotel [the Kinglsey] over those baths, and her husband is mad about that because they could have made a 50 metre pool there. At the time it was 50 metres one way and 50 yards in the other direction. Thinks the only 50 metre pools are in Limerick and the Aquatic Centre in Dublin.</p>
<p>There was a flood in the Kingsley Hotel, which didn’t surprise Phil because that was where the swimming pool was with water from the Lee.</p>
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<p><strong>1.02.08 - 1.05.02</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Meeting her Husband. Anniversary. </strong></p>
<p>She met her husband in O’Gorman’s hat factory- but she “wasn’t going with him” then. Two or three years later she met him in the dances and “he used to dance me” and then they “became a couple and that was it. The rest is history.” They celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on the previous Sunday.</p>
<p>They didn’t do anything for the anniversary as Phil didn’t feel ready for it due to a number of family bereavements. But she had a small celebration at home. Later on she will have a bigger celebration, there will be plenty of time for that she thinks.</p>
<p>“60 years with the one man” Phil says “I’m doing a line for 66 years!” [‘doing a line’ is Cork slang for dating someone.]</p>
<p>Phil says that she doesn’t remember when there were Quakers there but it was always known as “the Quakers”. “but what kind the Quakers were now I have no idea.”<br /><br />Outro</p>
<p>[Interview Ends]</p>
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</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Philomena Cassidy: Grattan Street, Healthcare, The Marsh
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019;
Relation
A related resource
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
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1 .wav file
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
4 September 2019
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Phil grew up in a tenement on Grattan Street and worked in O’Gorman’s Hat Factory and Dunlop’s before getting married and starting a family. She gives a very detailed description of the lanes, houses, shops and families on Grattan Street and the surrounding area of the Middle Parish.</p>
<p>She discusses a variety of childhood games, a strong sense of community and friendly relationships with neighbours that have lasted a lifetime. </p>
<p><span>Phil recalls the dispensary, subsequently the Grattan Street Health Centre. Inside patients waited on benches for the doctor who tended to their area of the city. She also remembers the dispensary caretaker and pharmacist who lived in the dispensary building. </span></p>
<p><span>Her family’s daily routine is described including going to school, family meals and shopping. Her father was very strict about timekeeping, especially when Phil and her siblings were attending dances. This timekeeping came in useful at work where lateness resulted in docked pay, and where there was no sick pay.</span></p>
<p><span>Rationing in the 1940s is described, including the amounts of various foodstuffs allowed per person, and how it was circumvented by a neighbour who travelled to England.</span></p>
<p><span>Phil speaks of the diseases which we common when she grew up including tuberculosis. She also mentions her relatives who contracted diphtheria and measles and how they were treated. Refers to the vaccines for these diseases too.</span></p>
<p><span>Phil would have liked to stay working in Dunlop’s after her marriage as she enjoyed working with the people there but it was not an option. Nonetheless she enjoyed being with her own children at home and watching them grow, something she thinks happens less today.</span></p>
<p><span>Specific pawn shops and their locations are also recalled, how they functioned and their role in helping people make ends meet. </span></p>
Altar Boys
Arcadia
Bicycles
Bikes
Catholics and Protestants
Céilí
Chemist
Childcare
Children
Children’s Games
Christmas
Churches
Churchgoing
Class
Clothes
Community
Cycling
Dancehalls
Dances
Dancing
Diphtheria
Dispensary
Doctors
Dunlops
Employment
Family
Father
Food
Formality
Forms of Address
Grattan Street
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Graveyard
Hat Making
Home
Home Ownership
House
Houses
Housing
Landlords
Lanes
LDF
Living Conditions
Local Defence Force
Massgoing
Meals
Measles
Mechanic’s Hall
Medical Costs
Medicine
Middle Parish
Money
Mother
Munster Arcade
Music
Neighbourhood
O’Gorman’s Hat Factory
Parents
Pawn Shops
Pawns
Pharmacist
Pharmacy
Plays
Prescriptions
Pride
Protestant
Pub
Quakers
Rationing
Rations
Religion
Rent
Respectability
Role of Women
Sanitation
Sarsfield’s Court
School
Sense of Community
Shandon
Shop
Sick Pay
Sickness
St Francis Church
St Francis Hall
St Peter and Paul’s
St. Francis Hall
Stew
Streets
Streetscape
Sweets
Tanora
TB
Tenement
Tenement life
The Marsh
Time
Timekeeping
Traffic
Transport
Treat
Tuberculosis
Vouchers
Water Pump
Wellington Boots
Work
Working
Working life
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/e01a02a5275dadd3db3b51847119a083.jpg
9d4c78e8c62ec10f1619d0da9c873906
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/0aeaf495ae52da29ab69feea7f8683fe.wav
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
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<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
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<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Edith O'Regan
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
103 Minutes 40 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Original Format
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.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
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24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.00.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.23- 0.02.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Games Played as Child in Youghal</strong></p>
<p>Grew up in Youghal. Children’s games: chasing games, Red Rover, What Time is it Mr Wolf?, Chainy. Elastics game: Long piece of elastic tied into a loop with a person at each end with complex rules about how to jump in and out and over and back. Played tennis: in the tennis club and also “over the gate”. It was the era of John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Bjorn Borg. Played a form of football. Made mud pies.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.04- 0.02.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Describes game Chainy or Chainey in more detail</strong></p>
<p>Still played in her child’s school. One person catches another and they must keep holding hands and keep catching people until they are all holding hands in a long chain. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.26- 0.03.06</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Describes Red Rover or Bulldog</strong></p>
<p>She didn’t like Red Rover. Stand in chain and chant “Red Rover, Red Rover, we call over X” Begins with 2 children holding hands and the person who is called over must try to run through their hands and break the link, which Edith says always hurt and as she was “quite small” she was usually the weak link. If someone didn’t break the link they had to join that chain. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.03.06- 0.03.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Games on The beach</strong></p>
<p>Not much time in the water/sea because it was too cold. Made sandcastles, sand tunnels, forts, dams to keep the sea out or bring the sea in. These plans never worked and Edith says “you learned about futility as a smallie”.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.03.47- 0.04.38</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Playing Without Adult Supervision</strong></p>
<p>Spent a lot of time quite bored in fields or on bikes. “We’d just head off on the bikes for the day: I don’t really know where we went or why we went.” Only television was RTE 1 and RTE 2- “Poverty 1 and Poverty 2” there was nothing to watch. Call to friend and come back when felt like it. No phones. Improvised ways out of problems. Reasonable amount of time without adult supervision. But there were always watchful adult eyes: “if you were doing something you shouldn’t be doing your parents would usually hear about it.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.38- 0.05.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Where not allowed to play</strong></p>
<p>Places not allowed to be on bikes when little: out the front on the main road where cars were quite fast. Not supposed to go on the back fields where there was a bull. (Suggestion in her response is that they may have not always obeyed!)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05.00 - 0.05.16</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Home</strong></p>
<p>Mum, dad and sister 3 years older. Mum was primary school principal. Dad worked Monday-Friday 9-5.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05.16- 0.06.51</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Primary School</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Remembers being cold and very bored. Went to school in “Park” on a crossroads on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. Where her mum was teacher. 2 teacher outside toilets and no central heating when she started school. There was a stove to heat the classroom very like the school in Muckross Farms. Two “boot rooms” or cloakrooms. Inside toilets eventually installed. Very few students.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.06.51- 0.09.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School</strong></p>
<p>Went to Loreto in Youghal it was also very cold. Some years were in prefabs. The school was near the lighthouse. When you were bored you could look out to the sea from an old redbrick house which was left to the nuns. It was very exposed to the weather- wind, rain and salt spray from the sea-wall.</p>
<p>Enjoyed maths and science. Lots of repetition in the schoolwork. Would prefer self-directed learning not just learning by rote. For people with other kinds of intelligence it wasted their potential and opportunity. Heuristic learning- learning through play and experience.</p>
<p>She learned how to sew a button, balance a cheque book and pay a bill. Skills for living in the world: how to cook how to clean how to look after your physical health, mental health should be taught.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.50- 0.11.19</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Love of Nature and Science leading to Medicine.</strong></p>
<p>Was always interested in nature and biological sciences: “mad about nature”. When 13 or 14 a friend brought a roadkill mink to science class to dissect it. The teacher was a bit squeamish, but Edith said she would do it “no bother”. Remembers “pure awe” at how remarkably perfect the insides were, “how it all fitted, and it all worked”. Had dissected earthworms before. Drifted then to wanting to do medicine. Set her heard on it.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.11.19- 0.14.09</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Medicine as a Vocation, the Determination Required</strong></p>
<p>Mom and dad really didn’t want her to do medicine at all. They called in the local GP to tell her not to do it- which had the opposite effect. She applied for medicine at 16 when she sat her leaving cert for the first time and had to repeat it because she didn’t get enough points.</p>
<p>In some ways in hindsight her parents were probably right. It is a hard life and requires working very hard for a very long time. Edith was a premature baby and was always physically small and thin and her parents were concerned. Her colleague with an Italian grandmother described the need to do medicine as being like a holy fire [Note: “sacro fuoco” maybe?] similar to a vocation but perhaps not spiritual. If you have this fire nothing else will do. She also applied for computer science. If she hadn’t done medicine in college, she thinks she would have gone back to do it later in life.</p>
<p>Local GP told her it’s a very hard life for a woman- which is not the thing to say to a 15-year-old. Thinks the nuns that taught her was feminist in their way as they were ambitious for their students. The GP said that you don’t want to do nightshifts when pregnant or be on call when you have small babies. The cards are very much stacked against you to make it in medicine as a consultant as a woman. Edith says he was right but that you don’t want to hear that at 15.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.14.09- 0.15.17</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Nuns’ Ambition for the girls</strong></p>
<p>Only one in school to do medicine. Many of the students did honours maths. There was competition between the boys’ school and the girls’ school. They’ve now combined. Some schools didn’t offer honours maths or honours science subjects to leaving cert for girls.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.15.17- 0.18.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Medical Training in UCC University College Cork</strong></p>
<p>Didn’t love medicine in UCC. Didn’t find the training easy- a culture of throwing people in to it. Students told that most of them would become GPs and that medical students learn themselves they don’t need to be taught. Lectures often had little relevance to what was in the book. Clinical training involved bullying, teaching by fear, humiliation. Consultant was seen as god. Lots of waiting around for people who didn’t turn up. Mental fallout for some of the people in her class. And the system may not have made them better doctors. Saw how students were taught differently overseas. Students were getting sick in the morning with nerves before clinics.</p>
<p>Had friends who weren’t doing medicine. Met her now husband at 19. Always had something outside of medicine to stay grounded. Always liked the clinical work and the patients. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.18.40 - 0.23.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Clinical Training</strong></p>
<p>Book learning- through lectures. Clinical placements for students with a particular service for a time follow their team and learn how to take a patient history and examine a patient. Initially must ask about everything when taking patient histories until you know what to look for. Lived in nurses’ home in Limerick for six weeks. Consultant would take you to see an interesting patient to ask you questions. Some were fine but some were set up so that you would definitely fail so that you know that you know nothing and be humiliated.</p>
<p>It was done to everybody no one was singled out.</p>
<p>Describes how the consultant asked students questions.</p>
<p>Thinks that the experience has left a mark on her and otherwise confident colleagues as they sometimes have difficulty answering questions in group settings, or when in a particular tone. Describes it as like being triggered.</p>
<p>Edith didn’t go to one consultant’s clinics because she found she wasn’t learning from him. No one would notice if she wasn’t there. Jokes that she hopes UCC doesn’t as they’ll take away her degree!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.23.40- 0.25.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Why this teaching system was used in UCC</strong></p>
<p>Consultants wanted to imprint the exceptions and rare cases on their minds so they wouldn’t forget. It was basically the Socratic method. They were once told that they weren’t good enough to be medical students. Then not good enough to be the vets in Ballsbridge and lastly that they weren’t good enough to be the medical correspondent in the Irish Times! Sounds funny now but at the time they were devastated. But Edith still remembers the name of the particular type of amputation due to this scene. This system of teaching & learning was designed when people need to remember a lot of information. Now things have changed as “all the information is there” now you need to learn how to use it.</p>
<p>An interesting patient is one which had something which was rare. Edith describes it as something with four legs, a tail and neighs but is a zebra not a horse. </p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.26.05- 0.30.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Career Path for medical students</strong></p>
<p>SHO- senior house officer. After qualifying you become an intern. After a first year as an intern you can become an SHO. Then become a Registrar, then a Senior Registrar, Specialist Registrar and eventually a Consultant. SHO could be 2-4 years long. SHOs are the general grunts they do all the hard work.</p>
<p>Edith did 6 months surgery in Mercy Hospital, 6 months of medicine in the South Infirmary Hospital and really enjoyed them. Every thirds week in the Mercy they worked 110 hours. In hindsight they had “ridiculous levels of responsibility”. Then did the 2 year specialist paediatric training scheme in Dublin.</p>
<p>Then did paediatrics in New Zealand, then accident and emergency. Did GP training in New Zealand. Returned to Ireland when her eldest daughter was 1. Worked as GP in Cork. After her twins were born Edith went back to work when they were 8 months old. She worked for Swiftcare for 5 years. Husband stayed at home to mind children and was going to go back to work. She was clinical lead with Swiftcare which included corporate, management and clinical. Looking to reduce her hours and her friend asked if she would be interested in a job in Grattan Street and she started March 2013. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.30.07- 0.33.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Enjoyed Accident and Emergency work in New Zealand</strong></p>
<p>Edith says A&E in New Zealand is fabulous. It was real doctoring. The immediacy of it. See lots of different things. Got her clinical confidence- could deal with anything. Security removed anyone who was abusive. There was always enough resources, staff, beds. People weren’t burnt out in the way they are in Ireland. Requires being on call on nights.</p>
<p>Did A&E in the Hutt outside wealthy Wellington CBD Central Business District and Porirua. Deprived areas around the Hutt so there were cases of self-harm, domestic abuse and patients from lower-socioeconomic areas. Gravitated towards those areas, similar in her time in Temple Street. In Cork Edith works mainly in the Northside. The social supports either weren’t there or didn’t work in her experience in Ireland. Children unable to access basic dental care was unheard of in New Zealand where they have better primacy care.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.33.44- 0.36.36</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Early Memory & description of Grattan Street Medical Centre </strong></p>
<p>A woman working downstairs said it was like coming to Colditz [German WW2 Prisoner of War Camp]. Arrived with a friend. Everyone was so nice.</p>
<p>An old Quaker Meeting House. In busy urban areas between a school, busy road, houses, church complex. Hodgepodge! Kind of Victorian road frontage. Older building at the back made of cut stone. Higgledy-piggledy. Different types of signage. There’s a bit of a railing and bit of a ramp. Building kept together with duct tape and bits of binder twine. It’s a bit sad looking. But it has been here a long time and will be here in the future. A building that’s seen use and is embedded in the community. In keeping with Middle Parish. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.36.36- 0.39.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Services in</strong> <strong>Grattan Street Medical Centre </strong></p>
<p>Health centre which provides community-based services for people based in Middle Parish, inner-city area, eye clinic provides community eye services for all of the North Lee HSE area- from Blarney to Carrigtwohill. Community podiatry clinic. Community medical doctors: child development clinics and vaccination services for North Lee. Public Health Nurse (PHN) services based in Grattan Street. Home Care Services Unit. Community dental services has moved out. Girls at front desk do European Health Visit Card and stamp forms- eye clinic etc. Community Welfare Officer used to be there as well but they have moved. Vaccination services. Similar but disparate services. Serve different populations within the community.</p>
<p>Community based services are geographically decided rather than by your condition.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.39.02- 0.40.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Engagement with a Community Based Service</strong></p>
<p>Hopes that services run in the community for the community get a better engagement rather than traveling to a tertiary centre. More likely to engage with a PHN who you may have been to before than an anonymous person in an anonymous clinic that changes each time you go. Community knowledge of Grattan Street in a way that there isn’t for CUH. Grattan Street doesn’t deal with life and death so expectations are different to a hospital. Physically less distance for people to travel in the community. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.40.40- 0.43.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Working in Grattan Street Communal Building</strong></p>
<p>Uses Grattan Street for office-based work. Some clinics in Grattan Street but the demographics have changed and there are fewer babies and young children in the area. Primarily paper-pushing and renewing the connections that you have with the people who work in Grattan Street. Clinics in South Doc so it’s possible for Edith not to meet any other healthcare professionals only patients so Grattan Street is a social hub and important part of the job where information is transmitted in a more informal way not through writing. Importance of feedback. And Grattan Street facilitates that.</p>
<p>Communal building. Can see people walking past and talk to them if you leave your office door open. Facilitates those networks. You will know who is in the building and check in with Celine in the office to see who else is there and what is happening.</p>
<p>AMO- Area Medical Officer now Community Medical Doctors.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.43.44- 0.51.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Clinics and Patients in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Afternoon clinic downstairs in room 4 in Grattan Street. 6-10 patients in an afternoon clinic from 2:30-4pm. Anything referred in by the PHN or the assessment of needs- the disability services, and early intervention- concern with an ongoing developmental delay in child in the community. Checks for vision, head checks, hip checks. Partly routine partly not routine.</p>
<p>Patients tend to be very early or very late. People will turn up 30 minutes early or 15-20 minutes late. Other places people turn up on time or a few minutes late. But with small babies delays happen for parents. Staff has high tolerance for that. Sometimes a mum will come with other children as well, or with a granny or granny will come with the children or there will be a friend or helper there too. Majority of patients come from PHNs. Form from PHN saying who their GP is and why they’re being referred. Always checks their names especially as more and more patients don’t have a typical Irish name. Some of them change mobile numbers often so checking those details is important. Change of address is also a problem. Some come from Edel House a women’s homeless service.</p>
<p>Takes a background history or birth history- where they were born, birth weight, past medical history. Discuss risk factors, examine patients and how to proceed and be very clear with follow up instructions with the parents. We only remember 30% of what we are told.</p>
<p>Usually don’t see patients again- not a follow up, ongoing service, don’t provide therapeutic intervention.</p>
<p>“Good at normal”- this is within the range of what we expect. Much of medicine is about the abnormal.</p>
<p>Most usual medical issues she deals with: Vision checks for squint, hip checks- concern about deformation, head checks. Developmental assessment- concern about autism or global developmental delay or intellectual disability.</p>
<p>Preschools are good at spotting developmental concerns and referring them.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.20- 0.54.53</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Attitudes of Parents towards Health & Medicine and HSE</strong></p>
<p>Parents want the best for children and are happy to do the best what it takes. Rare case where parent is in denial about their child’s situation- Edith doesn’t hassle them so as not to sour therapeutic relations down the line. Most people engage unlike adult medicine. Some parents may have complicated or chaotic lives and social workers may need to get involved. Advocate for the child’s best interests and is represented in the family. Even parents with most complicated lives can address the child’s needs.</p>
<p>HSE is different. Expectation of a bad service especially where Grattan Street looks a bit rough and ready, but surprised that they get a good service and Edith is pleasant and doesn’t rush them out. Difficult conversations about telling parents of long waiting lists. Edith cannot speed up assessments. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.54.53- 0.58.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Most Unusual Cases come across</strong></p>
<p>Doesn’t like unusual. Should not be seeing anything acute or sinister. A child staring into space could have autism sometimes it could be an absence seizure which needs a difficult treatment. Genetic abnormality which causes a developmental delay. Acute cases usually picked up by the paediatricians. Be careful about not scaring parents. Sometimes parents are reluctant to go to hospital. Acute cases are the ones that you think about when you go home and are not at work.</p>
<p>Acute is something which cannot wait. Less concerned about something which is stable and isn’t going to change eg if someone is fragile X a chromosomal condition which causes developmental delay, commonest cause of intellectual disability- if a patient has this it is not going to go away. But if there’s a child you think has a brain tumour which has given them an acute squint which has come on over 24 hours out of nowhere then you don’t want to wait. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.58.43- 1.01.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Dealing with Parents Reluctant to go to Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Most parents want what’s best for child. Sometimes parents can sometimes be preparing to fight to get what they think their child needs, and be adversarial. Can spend much of consultation time to get the parent onside. Have to be careful to not reinforce the idea that the parent thinks they need to push harder to get what they want. Explains that she wouldn’t do for someone else’s child what she wouldn’t do for any of her own. That can be a powerful message for a parent. If that doesn’t convince them then she has to start thinking about social workers: is there child abuse, is the parent drunk or stoned. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.01.44- 1.02.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Why People may be reluctant to go to Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Down to resources: can’t afford taxi, no one to mind children, don’t want to go to CUH Cork University Hospital. Often single mums, mums without social supports, or trying to work and mind children. Physical upheaval is difficult. Logistically and economically difficult for parents. Example from Gurranabraher.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.02.30- 1.04.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What it is like to work in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Unique. Communal building, sense of community. Even people that you don’t deal with clinically you get to know which is important. Buildings are about the people in them not just the services they provide. Physicality of the building- open gallery- you can see & hear who is there. Would prefer it if was a warner building. Survivor bonding over the deficiencies of the building. Problems with parking. People say they work in Grattan Street not in podiatry.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.04.58- 1.06.24</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Parking</strong></p>
<p>Small area for parking, not big enough for all the people who work there. Have to move your car to let people out. Didn’t park in the car park when working a half-day because wouldn’t be able to get out. School and houses also use the parking area and they can get cross if they are blocked.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.06.24- 1.09.12</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Past of the Building</strong></p>
<p>Quaker meeting house. Building is set up like a church- entrance with arch and sweeping staircases, ceiling roses, curved picture rails. Awareness of the thickness of the walls and windows, not the typical shape for an office building or healthcare centre. Stone plaques outside in the parking area which commemorate the building.</p>
<p>Was a dispensary from the 1940s one of the school nurses on the list of interviewees has a friend whose father was the dispenser or pharmacist there. Some of the came to Grattan Street as children for speech and language therapy. No anecdotes about when the lights went out or when it flooded.</p>
<p>Cultural understanding of dispensary is that it was a publicly funded pharmacy but that they were fairly grim places for the ordinary not the great and the good. Lots of rooms and big building.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.09.12- 1.11.37</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Weddings in the Registry in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Other part of the building is the registry office at the front where people get married. Weddings out the front when coming to work. Children crying and elderly people. Swathe of human life. Unusual to see weddings in the urban work environment which makes everyone smile. And she will miss that when they move. Thinks other employees will have stories and anecdotes.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.11.37- 1.15.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Paper & Documents in Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>No one would believe how much paper is in the building. No one removes paper because no one knows who it belongs to. Paper based system for records. Accretions of paper. Shared office space where very little is thrown away. Extraordinary volume of paper created and used. Referrals done on duplicate books with carbon copy. Referral books for services which no longer exist- going back as far as the 1970. Old computers unused. Random boxes of leaflets.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.15.00- 1.18.10</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Words to Describe Grattan Street and its future</strong></p>
<p>Community. Resilience. Service. If it was a dog it would be a Labrador, and old smelly one with bad teeth that farts a lot! A pet that everyone loves. Would hate to see the building closed and empty. Sense of spirit in the building. </p>
<p>Understands that Quakers signed over the building with the view that it would be used for health services to the community. There’s no disabled access or toilets at present. Buckets in kitchen when it rains. Won’t do well if it is left empty and cold. Community based health resource rather than offices and admin.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.18.10- 1.22.13</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Future of Services moving from Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Services moving to St Mary’s health campus. Podiatry moving to St Mary’s. PHN have moved already. Vaccination will move to St Mary’s. Eye clinic will move to St Finbarr’s. Dental has gone to Finbarr’s. Unsure about European Health Cards. Home Care may stay here. Marriages will stay. They have had little information about the services. Understands the complexity of project managing the move. Eye clinic will be physically remote from St. Mary’s. Lose sense of networks even though you can still pick up the phone. Lose contacts and networks and personally knowing people in other services. Personal knowledge of how other people work. It gives you more information about how to triage or perceive a referral when you know the people. Anything that interferes with getting information relevant to the patient and decision-making will make her job slightly harder.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.22.13- 1.25.19</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Sense of Patients’ Perspectives</strong></p>
<p>Some clinic space may have to be kept in Grattan Street because of the most vulnerable patients in the area eg. from Edel House and newly arrived immigrants, and people who have moved out of direct provision. Families where English might not be first language and from backgrounds where there might be poor healthcare. Travel may be difficult for these patients, especially going “up the hill” to St Mary’s. Will advocate strongly to keep a clinic in Grattan Street- it’s easier to move 1 doctor to see 30 patients than vice versa, and do not need any specialised equipment. Grattan Street is a disaster for people with cars- St Mary’s is much better it has parking, space and coffee shops. Ensure that better services elsewhere don’t leave more vulnerable patients behind. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.25.19- 1.27.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Comparison between Grattan Street and St. Mary’s</strong></p>
<p>St Mary’s will have: heating, lifts disabled toilets, large waiting areas, easy access. [Edith’s phone vibrates during this section] In Grattan Street if you are on crutches you can’t come to work. St Mary’s will fix these problems. Change is hard. [Edith’s phone vibrates during this section] With a new start if gives the staff a chance to effect the culture of the new building. Everyone in the building making small inputs. Christmas lunch potluck and baby showers in Grattan Street for which there is no policy or permission required people organised it themselves- autonomy and power.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.27.47- 1.31.31</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Culture of the New Building & Importance of Admin</strong></p>
<p>People need to feel they have some autonomy of their workplace eg. the signs in Grattan Street which people put up without needing permission. Every clerical and admin staff can hear the patients who come into Grattan Street so they understand that they are not a piece of paper or a number. Further away people are from the person they provide the worse the service provision. Service lives and dies on its administrative staff. When admin staff goes on holidays the clinical staff are bereft! Importance of admin staff even though their role can be minimised. But in Grattan Street there is a good balance. St Mary’s may be isolated in separate rooms.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.31.31- 1.33.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What Makes Good Admin Support?</strong></p>
<p>Patience. Being able to spin so many plates. First point of contact for people who use the service. People who understand that it’s really important. Although HSE gets a bad reputation every admin staff has been helpful and gone above and beyond. Celine in Grattan Street is very patient. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.02- 1.35.14</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patient Expectations of St Mary’s</strong></p>
<p>Big scary, bewildering building. Hope that people will be made to feel welcome. Scale of foyer area is colossal and may be overwhelming. Community should have some autonomy over the building in the same way the staff should. Comfortable seats and accessible baby changing facilities may be enough to make people feel welcome.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.35.14-1.38.08</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Centralised Canteen</strong></p>
<p>Would like to see centralised canteen for the staff with access to healthy food. Small things become important. Easy to walk around and access healthy food. Sense that the community can use the space- not much green space on the northside. Chance to look at a different model of healthcare. Moaning is easy and can create a toxic culture if things never change.</p>
<p>Small kitchen room on St Mary’s health campus. St Finbarr’s has a centralised canteen but CUH doesn’t. Give people healthy options on site.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.38.08-1.40.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Community connection with Grattan Street more generally</strong></p>
<p>Edith has little interaction with Middle Parish community. Sees people coming and going from Middle Parish Community Centre and from the SHARE Centre, may help them across the road. Very little interaction which she finds quite sad. Would know some of the support workers in Edel House through working with them and phone calls.</p>
<p>Reality of life is everyone is very busy. No funding for other community outreach projects. May run ante-natal classes in Grattan Street which would be good. The more engaged the community can be with the building the more likely they will be to turn up to their GP appointment or diabetic nurse appointment. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.40.43-1.43.40</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Reflection choosing Medicine</strong></p>
<p>Would not want any of her children to do medicine. Comes at a big cost. Have to work 90 hour weeks and tell mother that their babies had died while her friends were traveling and going to parties. Have to go through hard parts of job to get to a role that you like.</p>
<p>Came first in paediatrics in UCC please don’t tell Prof Carney/Kearney that she only went to about 2 paeds lectures! But spent a lot of time in the wards. Children are direct and Edith likes that.</p>
<p>Interview Ends</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Edith O'Regan: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Subject
The topic of the resource
Ireland; Cork; Youghal; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Grattan Street; Occupational Lore;
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
7 February 2019
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SF00696_O'Regan_2019
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Cork, Youghal, Ireland, 1970s-2010s
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
1 .wav file
Relation
A related resource
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Edith grew up in Youghal where she recalls playing childhood games including Red Rover, chainey, a makeshift tennis and sandcastles on the beach.</p>
<p>Describes attending school in cold substandard buildings. Preferred self-directed learning to rote memorizing. Her love of nature and science was evident early and evolved into her passion to follow medicine as a vocation and career, despite the opposition of her parents and GP who feared it would be a hard life especially for a woman.</p>
<p>Reflects on the deficiencies of medical training in University College Cork, especially the deliberate use of fear and humiliation in teaching which has left a negative mark on her and other colleagues. Suggests that the need to imprint so much information through humiliation is no longer necessary due to improvements in technology.</p>
<p>Outlines her career path through various roles, experiences and responsibilities including working in Accident and Emergency and time in New Zealand. </p>
<p>Discusses her impressions of Grattan Street Medical Centre both as a physical building with leaks and in disrepair and as a unique workplace with a community of multiple disciplines which function well together.</p>
<p>Speaks about her current work as an Area Medical Officer, the kind of patients she sees and typical issues that arise including developmental checks on babies and following up with parents.</p>
<p>Reflects on attitudes towards medicine and the HSE especially among parents, and how as a doctor she has to deal with this in order to achieve best outcomes for child patients.</p>
<p>Outlines the problems with Grattan Street staff car parking and the issues it cause.</p>
<p>Talks about the outlines of the history she has gleaned about Grattan Street Medical Centre Building as a Quaker Meeting House and as a public dispensary.</p>
<p>Speaks of the marriage registry office which is part of the Grattan Street building, where weddings happen during her work day creating a strange but joyous contrast.</p>
<p>Discusses the amount of paperwork and documentation required for all the work in Grattan Street that remains from past decades which fascinates her.</p>
<p>Reflects on her hopes and the possible futures for the Grattan Street Medical Centre building, and the fate of services that will move to St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre in Gurranabraher. Compares the two locations and emphasizes the importance of a good workplace culture within a building. Talks about possible patient attitudes to the new building. Hopes it will have a communal staff canteen.</p>
<p>Outlines the importance of administration staff in contributing to positive experiences for patients and facilitating the efficient work clinical staff.</p>
<p>Reflects on the difficulties of a medical career including 90 hour weeks, missing out on parties and travelling, and having to tell mothers that their babies have died.</p>
A & E
A and E
Accident and Emergency
Addiction
Administration
Adult Supervision
Alcohol
Ambition
Ambitions
Anatomy
Appointment
Appointments
Attitudes to Health
Authority
Autonomy
Babies
Baby
Beach
Bicycle
Bicycles
Bicycling
Bike
Bikes
Books
Bored
Boredom
Building
Buildings
Built Heritage
Bull
Bullying
Bureaucracy
Car Park
Car Parking
Career
Career Path
Careers
Central Heating
Child Abuse
Childhood
Childhood Games
Children
Children’s Games
Clerical
Clerical Staff
Clinic
Clinics
Communal
Community
Computer
Computers
Confidence
Consultant
Consultants
Cork University Hospital
CUH
Cycling
Decision-Making
Decisions
Degree
Deprivation
Deprived Areas
Disability Access
Discipline
Dispensary
Dissection
Doctor
Doctoring
Doctors
Documents
Drink
Drunk
Edel House
Emigration
Employment
Exam
Examination
Examinations
Exams
Expectation
Expectations
Feminism
Feminist
Fields
Files
Filing
Game
Games
General Practice
GP
Grattan Street
Gurranabraher
Health
Healthcare
Heat
Heating
Hierarchy
Home Life
Homeless
Hospital
Hospital Ward
Hospital Wards
HSE
Hurt
Husband
Injury
Job
Late
Lateness
Learning
Marriage
Marriages
Marsh
Mathematics
Maths
Medical Centre
Medical Student
Medical Students
Medical Training
Medication
Medication Training
Medicine
Medicines
Mental Health
Mercy Hospital
Middle Parish
Middle Parish Community Centre
Nature
New Zealand
Nuns
Nurse
Nurses
Nursing
Occupation
Paper
Paperwork
Parents
Parking
Patient
Patients
PHN
Playing
Power
Premature Babies
Premature Baby
Public Health
Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nurses
Quaker
Quakers
Registry Office
Religion
Reluctant Patient
Reluctant Patients
Reputation
Resilience
Resilient
Resource
Resources
Responsibility
Role of Women
Room
Rooms
Routine
RTE
Rules
Sandcastles
School
School Days
Schooldays
Schoolwork
Sea
Seaside
Security
Services
SHARE
Social Disadvantage
Social Work
Social Worker
Social Workers
Sport
Spouse
St Mary's Health Campus
St Mary’s Health Campus
Staff
Student
Student Life
Students
Substance Abuse
Teacher
Teachers
Teaching
Technology
Television
Temperature Control
Tennis
The Marsh
The Middle Parish
Tide
Tides
Time
Training
Transport
Transportation
Travel
TV
UCC
University
University College Cork
Vocation
Ward
Wards
Wedding
Weddings
Welfare
Wellington
Women
Women in Work
Women's Lives
Work
Working
Working life
Workload
Youghal
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/2aa5beeb6ecec141b5a6b02b5e2d1c43.jpg
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https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/2c365b3930f8b2e90ac81a7c0e5ded36.wav
f562e325b5eba4e8b246a1d5689f569c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Sean Higgisson
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
55 Minutes 26 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
1 .wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.03.24</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family and Early Memories</strong></p>
<p>Born in the Bons (Bon Secours Hospital). Lived all life in Cork except 4 years. Holidays in early teens to Ardmore fishing for mackerel. Brothers Paddy & Brian. Grew up on Hartlands Road by the Lough. Played football in the field by Lough or fished. Primary school St Joseph’s on Mardyke- socially mixed school with people from Northside, Southside and the country farmers’ children. Pres (PBC Presentation Brothers College) was a paid school beside them with uniforms. Got a lift to school with dad in the morning. Hour and a half for lunch so walked home for lunch. Mother stayed at home wasn’t allowed to work in public service once married. Secondary School CSN Coláiste Spioraid Naoimh Bishopstown for 3 years. Then the Regional College for junior engineering certificate course. Went on to an electrical engineering course and qualified in the early 1980s not many jobs available. Went to England using qualifications a little. Got job as porter in Grattan Street with Southern Health Board now HSE.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.03.24 - 0.06.08</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family House and Grandparents</strong></p>
<p>Small house 2 rooms in front, 2 behind, middle bathroom and flat-roofed kitchen at the back. Shared bedroom with 2 brothers. When 13 years old his grandmother came to live with them. In his pre-teen years his grandmother knitted a lot of their jumpers “long in the backs to keep your ass warm”. Grandmother was independent woman, went to Liverpool when 16, worked as telephonist. She married teacher in Cork & lived on Redemption Road. Stocky woman. Big motherly figure. People didn’t take exercise back then. Pleasant personality. Family visited her house on Sundays and she had “curranty bread”, Lucozade or orangeade. Parents would bring grandmother to mass. Remembers grandfather as very stern and always spoke Irish.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.06.08 - 0.08.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Games</strong></p>
<p>Football across the Lough. Describes Red Rover game. In winter played football on the road which was a steep hill. Only one car on the road picked two neighbours’ gates to play football. Broke a few windows. Good natured nothing untoward. About 12 children on the road at the time. Still living on the road he grew up on now only about 4 children. There could have been 20 children at one time. The football wasn’t taken that seriously it was only killing time.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.08.30 - 0.09.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Women banned from Work in Public Service after Marriage</strong></p>
<p>Mother took up painting with local oil painters in Cork for about 15 years. And then looked after her mother. There was no nursing homes.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.30 - 0.11.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>School and Teachers</strong></p>
<p>Br Albius teacher keen on science. Taught them Latin in primary school. Taught about condensation on the glass. Teacher used a sheet in the schoolyard to show how a sail on a ship works. Br John was favourite teacher because he played guitar.</p>
<p>Sean thinks that life puts you in a certain career and if you’re happy you stay with it. You can “what-if” your life away but there is no point.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.11.23 - 0.13.18</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Time in England</strong></p>
<p>Worked in factory doing electronic assembly. Lived in flat on Eton High Street with a few lads. Went to Tottenham Hotspur matches at night with stadium lit up- magical experience.</p>
<p>Enjoyed England but after 2 years decided he didn’t want to grow old in England and if you stay too long you won’t be able to get away from it. Saw a generation of aunts and uncles who never came back to Ireland and regretted it.</p>
<p>Likes the outdoors and hillwalking. Hardest thing about England- you can’t get away from people. Population of 55 million.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.13.18 - 0.15.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Hillwalking Hobby through Photography</strong></p>
<p>Got into hillwalking through photography and landscape photography. But hillwalking took over. Cork Backpackers hillwalking club for about 20 years. Dungarvan Comeraghs, Galtees, Carrantuohill, Beara peninsula. Can only do that in rural places of England.</p>
<p>Club meets on grand parade and divides into groups for different walks. Get coffee before the walk and a meal after the walk.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.15.20 - 0.17.46</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>What it takes to lead a walk</strong></p>
<p>They wouldn’t let you lead the walks. He went on the committee in order to put himself forward for leading walks. Kevin O’Flynn and from Ken Sumtana Malaysia taught people how to lead walks. Teaching people how to navigate and read maps. Started leading as coleader, then leader with supervision and it became clear he had an aptitude for it.</p>
<p>Good hillwalker has a degree of fitness. Choose a leader with he same fitness level as you. The walk is only as fast as the slowest walker. About 5 hill walking clubs in Cork. Mountaineers, Cork Backpackers, Bishopstown is big club, Blarney and a few others. They dovetail into cycling as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.17.46 - 0.22.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Writing books on Hillwalking </span></strong></p>
<p><span>Hill-walked on his own to research the books. Came across a slim guidebook on hillwalking and decided he could do it. So he wrote one on Mangerton. Impossible to get anyone to publish it so went to publish it himself but you end up with 3000 books in cardboard boxes. A guy in west Cork distributed small publishers’ books. Over 10 years he wrote 5 guide books. They made him a few thousand euro a year. Reeks, West Cork, County Cork.</span></p>
<p><span>Books included: routes, maps, route descriptions, a little bit of history. Size of a letter about 50 pages and can fit in the pocket. Books became dated because places on the routes could no longer be accessed.</span></p>
<p><span>“Trails Ireland” can be accessed on the internet.</span></p>
<p><span>In France you cannot own up to the cliff face so the whole coastal area can be walked in France. It’s not the same here in Ireland.</span></p>
<p><span>While in Ireland the old railway lines are being reopened more should be done to open the coastal area.</span></p>
<p><span>Putting up barbed wire to stop people crossing the land.</span></p>
<p><span>Success of Dungarvan Greenway</span></p>
<p><span>Westport-Achill Cycle way</span></p>
<p><span>Athlone to Mullingar route. Thinks we need more of that in the world we live in.</span></p>
<p><span>If motorways can be built requiring land being baought up then it can be done.</span></p>
<p><span>Mahon walk on Sundays</span></p>
<p><span>Success of Ballincollig park or the lough for recreation. Common ownership will be taken up</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.22.50 - 0.25.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>First impressions of Grattan Street & services over the years</strong></p>
<p>26 years old when started in Grattan Street. Thought it would be a job for 6 months but stayed 35 years!</p>
<p>Not much happening when he started. There were Public Health Nurses and Community Welfare Officers looked after people waiting for their dole or social welfare or interim payments. Initially Community Welfare gave out beds and blankets in Grattan Street but eventually it was thought this was demeaning and gave vouchers instead.</p>
<p>Sean counts at least 15 different services run from Grattan Street during his time there: Public health nurses. Dental (came from City Hall), Schools Nurses (came from City Hall)</p>
<p>Speech therapy, Social Health Education Project (SHEP)</p>
<p>Psychology department, community workers, home help, podiatry, eye clinics, admin, Area medical officer</p>
<p>European health insurance scheme, ophthalmic department, community welfare and Public Health Nurses</p>
<p>At the moment [April 2019] 6 services remaining.</p>
<p>Speech Therapy has moved to Western Road. Psychology moved to Blackpool. Most moved to bigger premises.</p>
<p>Community Welfare moved to department of social welfare about 8 years ago.</p>
<p>Grattan Street at any one time it had about 50 staff, 50 telephone extensions. Work for about 5 years and move on. Turnover of staff. About 150 or move staff have been</p>
<p>Started as the youngest lemon and now is the “elder lemon”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.25.50 - 0.27.45</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Duties as the porter</strong></p>
<p>Opening & closing the building. Liaise with maintenance</p>
<p>Male presence for security. What doesn’t come under someone else’s job description he does. Things that could never been written in a job description.</p>
<p>Busy in mornings, quieter in the afternoons. Doing the post.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.27.45 - 0.30.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Unique Atmosphere of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Grattan Street has so many disciplines where people interact in a “friendship kind of way”. Big enough to have heart. But not so big that it becomes impersonal. Building itself is 150 years old. Happy story attached to the building wasn’t prison or psychiatric hospital. William Penn who founded Pennsylvania allegedly stayed a night in the building.</p>
<p><strong>Ghost of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Becky Haughton ghost is supposed to haunt the place. Supposed to see her on the stairs at dusk.</p>
<p>SHEP used to have meetings in Grattan Street at night. They heard a strange noise at night. Masonry had fallen onto filing cabinet in the store.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.30.55 - 0.33.16 </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grattan Street Social life and Changes</strong></p>
<p>Files and vaccination records, nurses dressings kept in the stores. Grattan Street has heart, spirit and character. Happy, friendly building. Party at Christmas. 30 people. A nurse might play the violin, or poetry, or make an alcoholic punch or home baking.</p>
<p>When he came here first was in his 20s and the nurses were in their 30s the nurses were into home baking these days it was more shop bought.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.33.16 - 0.34.55</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Stories: Theft and Letters</strong></p>
<p>Dentist in Grattan Street had an expensive “flash” car which was stolen. It had been used in robbery and recovered.</p>
<p>SHEP started in half the canteen</p>
<p>Psychologists were in Grattan Street who were sending two letters to the same address one to each of the</p>
<p>Once broken into and one of the doctors felt it was a reflection on the state of his room when Sean couldn’t tell whether it had been broken into or not.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.34.55 - 0.35.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Podiatrist Appointments</span></strong></p>
<p>No one was turning up for podiatrist appointments. Secretary had forgot to send out appointments.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.35.20 - 0.37.44</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Events in Grattan Street</strong> <strong>Medical Centre</strong></p>
<p>Flooding 2013 had to move vaccines. They arrived in small car and they had to do two runs and ploughed there way through 2 and a half feet of water.</p>
<p>Couldn’t stand the smell of perfume. Spray their room with perfume so she wouldn’t come in.</p>
<p>AMO had gotten locked in by mistake by the cleaners. The fire brigade had to get her out with a ladder</p>
<p>European health insurance card. Someone came saying he was annoyed his name was spelled wrong. They could only put 22 characters for the surname and he had 23, his name ended in a double-Z they had dropped a single Z and he accepted their explanation.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.37.44 - 0.41.46</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Unusual Incidents in Grattan Street Medical Centre</strong></p>
<p>Bank robbery on North Main Street. Bad was thrown over the back gate. Sean found 2 bags of money. Guards came and replaced them with dummy bags, Roches Stores bags.</p>
<p>Man came into the building trying to steal things. He was confronted and left his mobile and found him through his mother’s number.</p>
<p>Bad weather a few years ago. All the pipes had burst when Sean turned on the boiler. Front portion of the building flooded.</p>
<p>Elderly man in his dressing gown and slippers outside podiatry. He had wandered down from the Mercy.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.41.46 - 0.43.01</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patients Dying in the Building</strong></p>
<p>Two patients came to get their toenails done and they died. He was in his 90s and 5 years later almost to the day another man died and they cleared the building.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.43.01 - 0.44.14</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Story of child driving a car</strong></p>
<p>Guy in car waiting for his dad. Spoon stuck in the ignition to start the car. Gone like a rally driver he was no more than 14.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.44.14 - 0.44.52</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Birds in Building. Arrives early</strong></p>
<p>2 male blackbirds chased a female blackbird into the building. Arrives half an hour before the staff. Turned off lights and opened the big double doors.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.44.52 - 0.47.25</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Story of Heating Failure in Grattan Street & Organisational Error</strong></p>
<p>Heating failed in the building. No heating for about 5 days. 5 different staff phoned 5 seniors in 5 different departments and they all authorised 6 heaters for the building so that 30 heaters arrived. Thirty separate 3 kilowatt heaters were plugged in totalling 900 kilowatts which is far more than the building could take. Awful burning smell came from the waiting area, emanating from the fuse. Sean plugged out all the heaters for safety. In response to this he thinks that: ‘People don’t understand how their decisions interact with others’.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.47.25 - 0.49.37</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Poor Maintenance of Grattan Street Building</strong></p>
<p>In 34 years the building has been painted twice, three times at most. Windows are never cleaned. Rent a building in city how much would it cost and what would the maintenance for that be? You’d need to get a new car serviced. Never any more spent on the place. Plan was to install ten new windows a year. After the first ten no more were installed. Attic never insulated. Roof leaks.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.49.37 - 0.51.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Change to the medical services with close of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Services are moving out. Shame to lose a public building in the city centre. Every institution needs a city centre presence.</p>
<p>New primary care centre 250 staff. Like wing of CUH. It will be great when it gets going.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.00 - 0.53.40 </strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Quakers, features of the building and staff routine</strong></p>
<p>Understands the Quakers gave building for use by HSE. Would like to see the building used as a city centre museum. People in wheelchairs can access the building without help. Getting a taxi for someone from the building is very fast.</p>
<p>Staff use local supermarket for their coffees.</p>
<p>Sean holds post & letters for the school during summer and Christmas.</p>
<p>The type of bed available from the Community Welfare was very basic back in 1984, it was like an army bed. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.53.40 - 0.54.12</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Podiatry & Diabetes</strong></p>
<p>Couldn’t tell us about nursing. Thinks the podiatrist sees more diabetics these days than previously.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.54.12 - 0.55.26</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Reflection & Outlook on Life</strong></p>
<p>You can “what if” your life away. Married now. 50 when he got married. His 50s are his happiest decade. Everyone needs someone to share their life with.</p>
<p>[interviewer states the year as 2009 but should have said 2019]</p>
<p>Interview Ends</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Sean Higgisson: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019;
Relation
A related resource
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
Language
A language of the resource
English
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2 April 2019
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Type
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Sound
Format
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1 .wav file
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>Sean grew up by the Lough in Cork city and spent holidays in Ardmore. Describes his family home and memories of his grandparents. Talks about playing football and the game Red Rover as a child.</span></p>
<p><span>His mother was not allowed to keep her job in the public service once she married, she took up oil painting and cared for her mother.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes his school days and recollects specific teachers. Outlines his engineering education and his emigration to England for work. Lived on Eton High Street and attended Tottenham Hotspur football matches. Influenced by stories of older relatives who regretted remaining in England he decided to return to Ireland.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses how he began hillwalking as a hobby through photography. Explains what’s involved in leading a hill walk and how he wrote a number of hillwalking guidebooks. Mentions various walking routes in Ireland. Admires France’s rights for walkers, which are more favourable than the situation in Ireland.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls starting work in Grattan Street medical centre and the various disciplines that operated there over the years. Discusses his duties as porter. Talks about the happy history of the medical centre building including its Quaker origins.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers social events with fellow Grattan Street staff including Christmas parties. Mentions memorable events and incidents in Grattan Street including the floods of 2013.</span></p>
Admin
Administration
Adrmore
Ardmore
Atmosphere
Aunts
Baking
Ballincollig
Ballincollig Regional Park
Ballyphehane
Bedroom
Bishopstown
Bon Secours Hospital
Bons
Book
Books
Bread
Brothers
Building
Building Maintenance
Buildings
Built Heritage
Camera
Car Theft
Career
Career Choice
Career Decision
Career Options
Childhood
Childhood Games
Children
Children’s Games
Class
Clothes
Clothing
Coláiste Spioraid Naoimh
Colleagues
Community Welfare
Community Welfare Officer
Cork
Course
Courses
Crime
CSN
Death
Decision Making
Decisions
Disrepair
Duties
Dying
Elderly
Emigrant
Emigrant Experience
Emigration
Engineering
England
Family
Family Life
Floods
Food
Football
France
Free Time
Games
ghost
Ghosts
Gift
Gifts
Grandfather
Grandmother
Grandparents
Health
Health Centre
Health Services
Healthcare
Heating
Hill
Hill Walk
Hill Walking Club
Hills
Hillwalk
Hillwalking
Hillwalking Guide
Hobbies
Hobby
Holiday
Holidays
Home
House
HSE
Independent
Ireland
Irish Language
Knitting
Latin
Leaving Cert
Leaving Certificate
Leisure
Life
Liverpool
London
Lough
Mahon
Maintenance
Mardyke
Marriage
Mass
Mercy Hospital
Middle Parish
Mother
Mountain
Mountain Ranges
Mountains
North Main Street
Northside
Nurse
Nursing Home
Outdoors
Outlook on Life
Outook
Paint
Painter
Painting
Paints
Parents
Patient
Patients
PBC
Perspective on Life
Photographs
Photography
Playing
Porter
Pres
Present
Presentation Brothers
Presents
Public Amenities
Publish
Publishing
Quakers
Redemption Road
Responsibility
Role of Women
School
School Days
Schooldays
Science
Scool
Siblings
Social Media
Solitude
Sport
St Joseph’s School
Staff
Stories
Taxi
Taxis
Teacher
Teachers
The Lough
The Marsh
Training
Uncles
Vaccination
Vaccines
Walk
Walking
Women
Women in Work
Work
Working life
Worklife
Workplace
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/258f8a9e64793339a507e3a85bd81702.jpg
e245f89b3e8cbbb2c200a3033ee23a69
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/3125ce6124ce89fa3fce67b1a9671623.mp3
77a259a8bfc162d7ef72e5ad87d179a5
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Derek O'Connell
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
84 Minutes 15 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Cork Folklore Project Hub, North Cathedral Visitor Centre, Roman Street
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.01.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family and House</strong></p>
<p>Grew up on Winter’s Hill between Blarney Street and Wyses Hill on northside of Cork. The third of 4 children all delivered by caesarean section. His mother was very small and the local GP, one of the first “lady doctors” of which there were only 4 or 5 at the time, and they covered for each other. Father worked in insurance and had a good job as assistant manager of insurance company. Mother worked full-time. Always family member in the house to help out, including a grandmother. An old male relative lived in the 3rd floor of the house. That wasn’t unusual, it wasn’t always one room per person. But it solved childminding issues. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.01.58 - 0.02.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grandmother</strong></p>
<p>Remembers grandmother’s lap, her dark blue apron with designs on it and knitting needles. She died when he was about 3.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.20 - 0.04.33</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>House and Mother’s GP Surgery</strong></p>
<p>3 storey detached house, a bit unusual. Further back from the road than others, with passage in called “the passage”, hen house in front and back of house, which was normal at the time. Mother did house calls in the morning. In the evening they had to go to the dining room because the front room became the waiting room and she had her surgery upstairs. Learned young how to answer the phone. People might arrive with urine in a Paddy whiskey bottle. In retrospect she was checking pregnancies or urinary infections. He was frightened of her steriliser- an electric pot with instruments in it. Syringe needles were sharpened on an oil stone before being put in steriliser, and no one seemed to get infections.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.33 - 0.07.59</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Routine/ Typical Day at Home & School</strong></p>
<p>Walked down Wyses Hill to school in St Al’s (St Aloysius) which was a girl’s school. Teachers Miss Brett, Miss Curran (Chris Curran’s sister maybe), Sister Aloysius in first class which was more challenging because she didn’t like the boys. There was two thirds girls in the class. At that time this was normal practice.</p>
<p>Walked across Vincent’s bridge across by the Mercy Hospital and across by lark’s bridge. Recalls where the labour exchange is now (Intreo Centre Hanover Street) there were beautiful Georgian Houses (tenement houses) in terrible condition with lots of washing out and women out talking to each other and several generations playing, and that was normal. No one thought there was anything right or wrong with it, it was just the way it was.</p>
<p>Went home for lunch, and often had soup and a main course especially in the winter time. A lighter meal in the evening. All the family returned home for lunch except his father who might be traveling to Bantry or Skibbereen which was a long way at the time. A lady prepared the meals for the family. People who worked in the house lived locally and were like members of the family. They might work for 2 or 3 years and move on, often when they got married. Someone else would come then, often by word of mouth, perhaps through his mother’s GP practice.</p>
<p>Always ate fish on a Friday which he didn’t like. Suspects there was a rota for meals. ‘Meat and two vegetables’ was always the meal. Felt privileged to have that as not everyone could, and there was a good bit of poverty around. Recalls a “soundbite” from Blarney Street: “Johnny come in for your rasher and two eggs!”</p>
<p>There was a great respectability, everyone respected everyone else and there wasn’t any talking down to people- it wasn’t acceptable. </p>
<p> </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.07.59 - 0.09.49</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Playing near Home & the Haggard</strong></p>
<p>Didn’t get out of the house all that much. Played football outside the door for a while. Area called “the Haggy” across from where they lived, the Haggard* which was a kind of wasteland roughly where fancy apartments at bottom of Wyses hill are now. People used to dump their “ponnies”** in the old days. It wasn’t regarded as a place you’d go, it was just a steep hill. But people went there with their (chamber) pots. But the stigma of it not being a clean place remained even maybe 100 years after running water and sewage came in. So when playing football if the ball went down the haggy no one wanted to fetch it.</p>
<p>Was not allowed to go out to play football, mother would have had a “conniption fit” had she known they were out doing that.</p>
<p>[*Haggard or Haggart: A farmyard or small enclosed field; a vegetable patch or kitchen garden. Or area adjacent to the farm yard or what once was a farm yard. Traditionally this was an enclosed area on a farm for stacking hay, grain or other fodder. (sources: Wiktionary, meathfieldnames.com]</p>
<p>**[ponny or ponnie: earthenware or metal pot or mug (Source: A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English ed. Terence Dolan)]</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.49 - 0.12.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Family, Changes and Adversity</strong></p>
<p>Mother died when he was 13. Dad had had 1<sup>st</sup> heart attack previous year and he had retired from work and started an insurance brokerage as a hobby. Sister Catherine did medicine and went to America and didn’t want to return. Different doctors tried to keep mother’s GP practice going. Older brother in insurance now retired.</p>
<p>Younger brother Michael born hypothyroid and had severe autism slept in his room and found it normal to share a room with a practically non-verbal brother. Remarks on how people what people can accept as normal even if inconvenient and that people are strong in the face of adversity.</p>
<p>Discusses the resentment and rage which is normalised by the internet which has also contributed to the polarisation of politics “it’s as if only extremes are correct”. History suggests consensus is what works. The manipulation of social media has contributed to this phenomenon. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.12.43 - 0.14.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Mother, her GP work and her car</strong></p>
<p>Mother was very bubbly. Black hair with white stripe in the centre very careful about appearance hair was always done properly. Very hard worker with patients and at home. Expected high level of neatness and cleanness. She had a bubble car maybe 200cc with a door in the front. She covered other GPs. She went to Hettyfield and left 10 year old Derek doing his homework in the bubblecar. A 13 year old girl asked what it was and said “ours is a Consul Cortina”. The first time Derek felt his car might not be adequate. Bubble car had two seats at front one at back entered from the front. Recalls 4 children and his mother in the car! That was normal.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.14.47 - 0.16.53</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Mother & Father: Backgrounds and relatives</strong></p>
<p>Mother and father put great store in education. She was youngest of 11 and one of the first to go to university. Dad was youngest of 17 children many in the family had been engineers. Derek’s grandfather had been married twice. Derek’s paternal grandfather died in 1917 before his father was born. Paternal grandfather was a builder/engineer/contractor had a lot to do with building of Fitzgerald’s Park, he has photographs of the grandfather with his workers dressed in Victorian outfits for the Cork Exhibition (1902 probably).</p>
<p>Maternal grandfather was cattle-dealer Cronin. They lived up in Fair Hill which was subject to a compulsory purchase order in the 1960s by Cork corporation. Google maps lists Cronin’s Field at the top of Cathedral Road, assumes that this was the same field.</p>
<p>Knew relatives at top of Hollyhill who were farming until Hollyhill as we know it was build.</p>
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<p><strong>0.16.53 - 0.18.04</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong><span>Pawnshops and stolen goods</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Two pawnshops on Lavitt’s Quay and one at bottom of Patrick’s Hill. Doesn’t recall who ran them. The Christening Cups were stolen a few times by the same person from the waiting room in the house and were located by the Gardaí in the local pawn shop.</span></p>
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<p><strong>0.18.04 - 0.21.36</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Secondary School: transport, teachers, shawlies, baths</strong></p>
<p>Went to Christian Brother’s College (CBC) after St Aloysius, his grandfather, father and brother had gone there. One teacher Mr Richard McCarthy known as Dicky Rashers called Derek by his father’s name because he had taught him as well. The story with Dicky Rashers was that he had dietary issues and after Christmas an announced that he had had rashers. He was a nice man.</p>
<p>If it was raining they got the number 14 bus down Wyses Hill which came every 20 minutes. They used to hide because Dicky Rashers would offer them a lift which they didn’t want from a teacher. Also cycled to school. Got wheels caught in railway track going to Eglinton Baths. Those railway bridges opened until the 1970s. Goods trains and Guinness trains used to cross over them.</p>
<p>Cycled up Patrick’s Hill to get to the Christian’s rugby field (Landsdowne). Cycled down the hill when it was raining, breaks failed and stopped where Brown Thomas is now.</p>
<p>Only 4 or 5 cars on Blarney Street at the time.</p>
<p>When 15 a shawlie stopped him near the Templeacre Bar (Gurranebraher Road) and she gave him a pint jug and asked him get her Guinness from the snug. She would not be seen going into the pub but wanted her Guinness. </p>
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<p><strong>0.21.36 - 0.24.09</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Secondary school teachers</strong></p>
<p>Christians was somewhat elitist which a lot of people were not comfortable with. Many teachers were old and not qualified teachers. Mr Murphy taught him art for leaving cert, but he had been teaching junior infants. He was very small his feet would not touch the ground when sitting on a desk.</p>
<p>Mr Townshend music teacher and great musician.</p>
<p>All characters. Violence of corporal punishment, queuing around the classroom to answer questions on Geography or Latin. If you weren’t very academic you got a lot of beatings on the hands. Some of those less academic pupils became very successful businessmen. The Christian brother told the boys in the B class to be nice to boys in the C class because they might need to get a job from them later.</p>
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<p><strong>0.24.09 - 0.26.04</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Secondary Schools in general, elitism & ‘One Day a Week School’</strong></p>
<p>The uniform was part of the school’s elitism. There was a school nearby “the Wana” (one day a week) and there was a clear difference between them and CBC. CBC had disciplined and scheduled classes all day. The one day a week school pupils were obeying the law, 12 or 13 years old selling papers to make money. They had to attend school until a certain age. People with dyslexia were beaten and treated with contempt.</p>
<p>Scoil Mhuire girls private school was nearby and quite posh. Around the corner was St Angela’s was less posh. Rivalry between Christians and Pres (PBC, Presentation Brothers College).</p>
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<p><strong>0.26.04 - 0.27.22</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Secondary School: lack of empathy, attitudes towards sports</strong></p>
<p>Was in first year of secondary school when mother died. There was no recognition of that in school and he dropped from A class to B class. A little help would have gone a long way. In retrospect there were probably a number of pupils with ongoing issues which were never addressed by the school, while the emphasis was on playing rugby. Rugby in Cork was elitist then too.</p>
<p>Derek joined Tramore Athletic soccer club. A cousin played tennis quite well and a Christian brother said “why wouldn’t he take up a boy’s game?”</p>
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<p><strong>0.27.22 - 0.28.44</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Eglinton Baths, swimming, chipper</strong></p>
<p>Eglinton Baths had a boys’ pool and a girls’ pool. Probably 25 yards. White tiles with balcony around each pool. Communal hot showers, but the pool itself was freezing and stinking of chlorine. “It wasn’t unusual to be blue and wet!”. Went home via Maylor Street and went Matt Kiely’s chip shop to warm up a bit.</p>
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<p><strong>0.28.44 - 0.29.30</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Changes after mother’s death, father’s career</strong></p>
<p>Younger brother went into full-time care when his mother died. And his dad was involved in local politics and trying to run a business. He was a Fine Gael councillor for over 20 years in the North Central part of Cork which would have been unusual. He was involved in the health board and the building of the regional hospital. He was chairman of the hospital board for years and of the health board. </p>
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<p><strong>0.29.30 - 0.31.36</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Repeating the Leaving Cert with Dr Paye</strong></p>
<p>Derek always assumed that he would be a doctor. He was offered a place in dentistry in college which he declined. His dad got him into the Holy Trinity College on Washington Street “Doc Paye’s” which was a military camp for getting your leaving certificate. He is grateful to Dr Paye and Miss Paye.</p>
<p>For this school your hair was cut very tight, you wore a humiliating uniform, “you arrived on time or you didn’t arrive at all”. Mixed class, boys wore black, girls wore red with tartan. Every class was structured 45 minutes and took serious notes. They had studied the leaving cert papers and knew what needed to be learned. Still sees Dr Paye around and she must be a good age.</p>
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<p><strong>0.31.38 - 0.34.15</strong></p>
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<p><strong>First experience of University: courses and social and sport life </strong></p>
<p>After he resat the leaving cert he went to UCC in a course call First Common Science. This was an experiment when Pre-Med and Pre-Dent courses were done away with. In First Common Science you competed for your course.</p>
<p>Had little experience of social mixing, and enjoyed going to the Kampus Kitchen (Campus Kitchen) to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee, and drink beer in the evening if you could afford it. First Common Science was not a problem because of the work done in Dr Paye’s.</p>
<p>60 got into medicine, 20 into dentistry and the rest did other science degrees maybe dairy science and science. Glad he got to mix and get to know more people. Thinks that his son who went to Trinity to do medicine probably missed out on that aspect of social life as he went straight into medicine.</p>
<p>Small group of people in his course. There used to be rugby matches in the quarry in UCC where the Boole Library is now. The pitch was very muddy in winter. Dentistry were not able to field a team as there were not enough men doing the course. Playing the quarry you were just as good as everyone else because everyone was terrible.</p>
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<p><strong>0.34.15 - 0.37.39</strong></p>
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<p><strong>University: playing cards, betting, debating society, studying</strong></p>
<p>For the first year or two Kampus Kitchen was the place to play cards and a lot of money was won and lost there. He stopped playing cards because he saw people lose their grants. He once lost the money to be spent on a shirt for the Med Ball and had to attend with a pink shirt.</p>
<p>As regards clubs and societies looking back he thinks he should have attended the Philosoph (UCC Philosophical Society, college debating society). People who were from Cork probably got less involved in clubs and societies, whereas those living on or near campus would have become more involved.</p>
<p>Thinks the Philosoph would have broadened his education, mentions how Theo Dorgan was there during his time in college and thinks that Theo got a broader education compared to the narrower field of medicine.</p>
<p>His education was greatly advanced in 2<sup>nd</sup> Year Medicine while in the library fretting about a physiology exam maybe 2 weeks before the exam. A mature student around 35 years old told him “the information in a book is inversely proportional to its size”.</p>
<p> </p>
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<p><strong>0.37.39 - 0.39.37</strong></p>
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<p><strong>What’s needed to become a doctor and to practice</strong></p>
<p>No one asks him as a doctor where he came in his class, and it wouldn’t make a difference anyway. Many people who were academically gifted would not have been suited to being doctors. Is concerned that a medical education which requires strong left-sided brain skills to remember and regurgitate material may not produce great communicators and not great doctors. Someone with an average IQ could be a very good doctor. The economics of being a doctor suggest that maybe it should not be so attractive for people and they would be better in IT or science.</p>
<p>Once you qualify in medicine that is only the beginning: you have to graft for jobs, get relevant experience and only then try to make a living. It’s just a primary degree unlike dentistry where you are a qualified dentist once you complete the degree </p>
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<p><strong>0.39.37 - 0.42.48</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Working in North Infirmary: learning, some memorable cases</strong></p>
<p>Went to the North Infirmary. Lovely hospital to work in, was very well-treated. Very hard work. 3 medical interns, 3 surgery interns, maybe 2 SHO (Senior House Officer) and 2 Registrars. Recalls first night he was on for surgery when a patient from motorbike accident was to arrive in and the SHO left before the patient arrived. Nurses were excellent. Learned how to do things. Learned how to recognise cases that were too hot to handle.</p>
<p>When on call started 9am Friday finished Monday at 5. There were very few GPs out of hours so got big queues in North Infirmary. Went to bed 4am one Sunday morning and he was told there was a young man with chest pain. The young man looked pale and sweaty and was wearing ex-army jacket which was “all the rage” at the time. Discovered that the man had been playing darts, had gotten a dart in the back and had a chest full of blood. Learned to be careful and not take things at face value.</p>
<p>Another night a man was brought in by his friends. At the time Match of the Day (football highlights and analysis TV programme on BBC) was at 7pm or 8pm. The man had been in the pub and “his leg was swinging in the breeze”, he had fallen off a bar stool and broken his hip around 7:30pm but had stayed in the pub until Match of the Day was over before coming to hospital.</p>
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<p><strong>0.42.48 - 0.51.04</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Changes in healthcare: preventative medicine, vaccination, alcohol</strong></p>
<p>Suggests people may have been tougher in the past. Then reflects on the improvements in medicine and that “the good old days weren’t so good”, people didn’t live as long, not vaccinated, poor nutrition. As nutrition improved children became taller than their parents. Improvements in prognosis.</p>
<p>Enthusiastic about preventative medicine. Although the medical card system did not take that into account, doctors were not paid for vaccinations on the medical card but they did it anyway.</p>
<p>Gay Byrne encouraged people to get the measles vaccine. And there was a change in the demographics of the measles incidents over two years after that. Didn’t see cases of measles for 15-20 years, and it only reappeared when anti-vaxers (anti vaccination campaigners) appeared. Thinks it’s a scandal. Vaccination for measles is not individual it is based on herd immunity it requires 80-90% of the population to be vaccinated or the vulnerable will get it: people with immunodeficiency, leukaemia, chemotherapy.</p>
<p>Discusses the changes in gender demographics in relation to cardio-vascular diseases and risk factors.</p>
<p>There had been an economic difficulty with alcohol-you could only afford a small amount of alcohol (or cigarettes). But now alcohol is cheaper and cigarettes are more expensive. Mentions the trend of pre-drinking.</p>
<p>Suggests problems of alcohol appear to occur further north of the equator. Discusses the off-licenses in Sweden where you had to order alcohol a bit like the system of ordering products in Argos. If your order for alcohol exceeded accepted level you were not served. This didn’t prevent people drinking as they made their own.</p>
<p>Discusses the positive effect of smoking ban and the way people use the “nanny state” argument to oppose basic public health measures.</p>
<p>Talks about the improvements in treatments and survival rates particularly for cancers and cardio vascular diseases. Compares this to reactions of indignation. Points out the hidden nature of preventative health care which can be effective but is rarely seen of credited. Preventative care is also less well understood compared with waiting times for doctors or ambulances, number of hospital beds. Thinks the question should be about quality of life and what can be done to improve it. </p>
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<p><strong>0.51.04 - 0.52.47</strong></p>
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<p><strong>North Infirmary working routine, cost of hospitals</strong></p>
<p>In north infirmary there was a doctors’ room and dining room where you had your own seat and there was a colour television which was unusual at the time. 6 interns. You worked every day and every third night as well and every third weekend. But if someone was on holidays you had to work every second one.</p>
<p>The cost of a bed per night in the hospital was £80 and when it was closed the cost in other hospitals was £200-£300 per night. Discusses the merits of centres of excellence and lower-tech hospitals. </p>
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<p><strong>0.52.47 - 0.57.07</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Further training in St Finbarr’s & CUH, reviving a child, CPR</strong></p>
<p>After North Infirmary did obs and gynae (obstetrics and gynaecology) in St Finbarr’s Hospital and CUH (Cork University Hospital). Great training, lovely, practical and kind obstetricians. A small nurse Sister Tutor called him at night for a mother giving birth. The nurse cleverly directed him in delivering the baby with a forceps while making it seem like he was the one doing all the work. “Without the nurses we’d be nowhere”. His daughter is a nurse and sees how knowledgeable and capable they are at the coal face. Unwise for doctors to ignore what nurses say. The importance of everyone being on the same team. Recalls an A and E (accident and emergency) nurse who had all the equipment ready while the doctor was looking up what was to be done.</p>
<p>Recalls a child around 7 years old who was dead from cardiac arrest after getting electrocuted on a Saturday afternoon. They used intubation, put up a drip, drugs, cardiac massage, and defibrillation. They didn’t have time to look up dosages they divided them amounts by 4 for a child. They had a good success rate at reviving dead bodies in North Infirmary- community response is key today. “an ambulance on its way doesn’t keep your heart beating.” Believes everyone should learn the basics of CPR. Recalls CPR in his GP practice. </p>
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<p><strong>0.57.07 - 0.58.50</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Further medical training and useful A & E experience </strong></p>
<p>After obs and gynae he did paediatrics, psychiatry, and a year in A and E where he learned that a little smile went a long way. Talked about how to politely and carefully deal with cases which were not serious enough to be in A and E. Public who might be waiting all day did not see the very serious cases that were happening out of sight. It was good training for a GP practice.</p>
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<p><strong>0.58.50 - 1.04.21</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Own GP practice, Dr Cagney’s GP practice & Spanish Civil War, </strong></p>
<p>Set up own GP practice on northside in their house. Found it lonely because there were so few patients coming in. He then practiced with Dr Michael Cagney until he got a stroke. Dr Michael Cagney was a remarkable man, big burly, chain-smoking man very kind to people. He would tell people to give up cigarettes while he was smoking at the same time. He was doing surgery and he returned to GP practice because he father had been running a practice but became ill. When Dr Michael Cagney sat his leaving cert he was too young to go to college so his dad and General Eoin O’Duffy decided to send him to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He rarely spoke about his time in that war, and must have been traumatised by it. He probably thought he was going out “to help the raped nuns.” Many people from Ireland went to fight in that war. And it was not that long ago.</p>
<p>Reflects on children today being used as soldiers in other countries, and being involved in drug gangs in Ireland and on those who leave to fight for Al Qaeda today and crusaders in the past.</p>
<p>Dr Michael Cagney was probably born around 1920. The practice was in 51 Grand Parade, 2 floors up. It was a very good practice, he was very ethical and kept very good notes on large A4 file in alphabetical order which was probably unusual for the time. They used the Merck Manual which was an encyclopaedia of therapeutics. You could ring surgeons for advice. There was a great sense of responsibility and great collegiality. Refers to the changing ways of doctors referring patients to hospitals.</p>
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<p><strong>1.04.21 - 1.06.09</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>First day in new GP Practice, changes in care, responses to bad cases </strong></p>
<p>Remembers first day in Dr Michael Cagney’s practice which was in a back room and patients wanted to see Dr Cagney rather than Derek: “With respect to you doctor I’d like to see the doctor!” After time people came to see him specifically. Did everything, including: antenatal, postnatal and smears- it was perfectly normal for a male doctor to do a smear in those days before there were headline cases of doctors who did the wrong thing. Derek became deskilled in that area because it was too much of a risk.</p>
<p>Suggests that new practices are often introduced in response to hard cases. Mentions the response to the Dr Harold Shipman murders in England where GPs had to list the number of patients they had who died in one year to prevent a similar case. One GP made a mistake in their statistics and rang up to clarify them, but was told no one would ever read the statistics so it didn’t matter. Says that lots of information is gathered but never really used.</p>
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<p><strong>1.06.09 - 1.08.05</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Learning on the job, diseases not disappearing </strong></p>
<p>Dr Michael Cagney learned surgery but had to learn paediatrics on the job. Thinks most people of average intelligence can learn very quickly when put in a situation.</p>
<p>Recalls a patient with a rheumatic heart and the hospital intern found it hard to believe. Derek says “diseases don’t go away they’re just waiting for you to forget that they happen”. Thinks there will be more outbreaks of diseases due to lack of vaccination. Polio outbreak in Amsterdam 20 years ago. “diseases don’t go away because you are sophisticated or rich or white.”</p>
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<p><strong>1.08.05- 1.09.51</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Attitudes to vaccination, TB Treatments in Cork </strong></p>
<p>Discusses the positive attitude towards vaccination in the past. People had seen children with whooping cough and adults who had holes in their lungs because of it. Doctors had patients who had limps from polio epidemic in Cork in 1950s, knows of a patient who died of post-polio syndrome in their 70s.</p>
<p>TB was common but few admitted to having it- stigma associated with it comparable to leprosy or HIV. Mentions Mr Hickey in Sarsfield’s Court who was able to collapse lungs and do pioneering surgery to treat TB.</p>
<p>Thinks vaccination is question of statistics not opinion.</p>
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<p><strong>1.09.51 - 1.12.20</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Routine as GP: house calls, pager, patients not going to hospital</strong></p>
<p>Typical day started around 9am. Might do 10 house calls in a day because people didn’t go to hospital or if they did not for very long. House calls were also more common back then because of the lack of transport options for patients. Discusses the pager service, finding a public pay phone and how getting in contact with a patient an hour after they used the pager was considered fast.</p>
<p>Dealt with a lot of pathology at home if patients did not wish to go to hospital. Could visit a patient at home every day for a week or two if they had a serious condition. It was very gratifying when patients recovered.</p>
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<p><strong>1.12.20 - 1.15.06</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Public Health Nurse care</strong></p>
<p>Had little contact with the Grattan Street dispensary and health centre. Mentions the dental service there, ophthalmologist Dr O’Sullivan and public health nurses (PHNs).</p>
<p>When doing the membership of general practice in London he was not believed when he said there were only 2 PHNs for Cork city centre.</p>
<p>PHNs medical care had a physical, psychological and social side.</p>
<p>Knows that dispensary doctors had limited treatments: “blue tablets, red tablets and liquids”. They worked before the medical card system, which he thinks came in the 1970s. When Derek became a doctor the system was ‘fee per item’ you were paid a small amount for each thing you did as a GP. Everything had to be written in a duplicate book.</p>
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<p><strong>1.15.06 - 1.17.52</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>‘The Marsh’ memories. Case of anaemic man</strong></p>
<p>Dad was in the St Vincent De Paul and many in the Marsh were living with 2 or 3 families (in some case 5 families) living in the same big Georgian Houses. Many of these were knocked down in the 50s and 60s and many moved to Cathedral Road and Fair Hill. Some families had lived for generations in the Marsh.</p>
<p>Recalls visiting a man a PHN was concerned about. Man lived with his dog and had a picture of Elvis on one wall and Jesus on the other. He was very anaemic but wouldn’t go to hospital. The remedy was some injections of B12, iron and oral folic acid and Meals on Wheels. Believes the problem was nutritional- living on spam sandwiches.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.17.52 - 1.20.35</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>People with psychiatric problems lived in the community in the past, now are being hospitalised</strong></p>
<p>Some people who lived in the city centre had come from elsewhere where may have been rejected. Some had mild schizophrenia or personality problems. They came to live in the anonymity of town. Many muddled along living in bedsits and had as much company as they wished.</p>
<p>Now similar cases are put in hospital maybe in situations that do not suit them. Discusses the idea of putting anyone with psychiatric problems into the same category. Compares how we treat other illnesses- there is no “abdominal ward” which would treat a huge array of different illnesses, these are catered for separately. Similarly he thinks it doesn’t make sense to put people who are depressed or hearing voices in the same place as those with an eating disorder. Does not think the problem will be solved by additional money alone.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.20.35 - 1.21.40</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Ability of people to cope. Publican ran bar walking on her knees</strong></p>
<p>Highlights the extraordinary ability of people to cope. Recalls an elderly lady (who probably had polio) and ran a bar walking on her knees on a bench behind the counter. Thinks that today there is more a demand for everything to be perfect and this can lead to unhappiness. </p>
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<td>
<p><strong>1.21.40 - 1.24.15</strong></p>
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<td>
<p><strong>Reflects on career, mistakes and medical training</strong></p>
<p>Thinks that when he made mistakes it was because he had ignored the inner voice that suggested something didn’t smell right.</p>
<p>One of the things that was instilled in learning to be a doctor was basic guilt. The default was guilt, the sense that if something went wrong it must be your fault. That is the downside of medicine: trained into a guilt-trip. Makes you vigilant all the time which can be tiring.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t change anything, felt privileged and happy to meet people and make a connection and friends. It wasn’t possible to be friends with your patients, there had to be a dividing line, though he is friends with them now. You couldn’t do business with or have a relationship or a social life with a patient.</p>
<p>Peggy Cronin O’Connell and Vincent O’Connell were his parents’ names.</p>
<p>Interview Ends <strong>1.24.15</strong></p>
</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
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Title
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Derek O'Connell: Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Relation
A related resource
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>;
Language
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English
Date
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11 December 2019
Identifier
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CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019;
Source
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Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
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Cork Folklore Project
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
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1 .wav file
Creator
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Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>Originally from Winter’s Hill, Derek describes his home and family: siblings, grandmother, his GP mother and his father who worked in insurance. He outlines his mother’s tasks and equipment as a GP. </span></p>
<p><span>He describes his routine on school days, attending St Aloysius school and awareness of tenement houses en route. All the family except his father who was traveling returned for a big meal at lunch time prepared by a local woman who worked for them. Always ate fish on Friday. Recalls respectability being very important.</span></p>
<p><span>He recalls the Haggart or “Haggy Field” at the bottom of Wyses Hill where “ponnies” or chamber pots were emptied.</span></p>
<p><span>He remembers family adversities: death of his mother, father’s heart attack and his brother’s autism.</span></p>
<p><span>He outlines more of his family history: paternal grandfather involved in construction of Fitzgerald’s park and the 1902 Cork Exhibition, maternal grandfather Cronin was a cattle dealer, Cronin’s Field at the top of Cathedral Road may be named after him.</span></p>
<p><span>He mentions pawn shops and how the family christening cups would “go missing” and be located in the local pawn. Also recalls a “shawlie” asking him to fill her a jug of porter from a bar as she did not want to be seen going inside herself.</span></p>
<p><span>He describes his Christian Brothers secondary school, the violence of corporal punishment, the teachers and cycling to and from school. Discusses the emphasis on rugby at the school, the elitism of this and the uniform. Reflects how in retrospect the school failed to address personal or emotional problems the pupils had. Mentions the one-day-a-week school nearby. Describes the Eglinton Baths.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about studying for the Leaving Cert at Holy Trinity College with “Doc Payne” before attending UCC. Recalls studying and socialising at university before outlining his further medical training, specific cases in hospitals (North Infirmary, </span>CUH (Cork University Hospital)<span> and St. Finbarr’s) and ultimate career trajectory towards becoming a GP.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on improvements in medical care including vaccines, nutrition, public health and improving survival rates for many diseases. Remembers delivering his first baby and reviving a child who died from cardiac arrest. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes ultimately working on Grand Parade as a GP in the surgery of Dr Michael Cagney who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. </span></p>
<p><span>Discusses making house calls in “The Marsh” area, and the treatment of psychiatric problems.</span></p>
<p><span>Finally, Derek reflects on his career, the sense of guilt and hypervigilance instilled in his medical training, and how mistakes are made when not following your intuition. </span></p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
<span>Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Occupational Lore; Medicine; Family; University;</span>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<span>Cork, Ireland, 1970s-2010s</span>
Accident and Emergency
Alcohol
Autism
Baths
Being a Man
Blarney Street
Boys
Bubble Car
Cards
Career
Career Path
Cathedral Road
CBC
Characters
Child Rearing
Childbirth
Childhood Games
Children’s Games
Chipper
Christian Brothers
Cigarettes
Class
Cork
Cork city
Cork Exhibition
Cork University Hospital
Cycling
Disease
Doctor
dyslexia
Eglington Street Baths
Eglinton Street Baths
Elitism
Emigration
Fish
Fitzgerald’s Park
Food
Games
GP
Grandparents
Guilt
Gurranebraher Road
Hettyfield
Hollyhill
Hospital
Houses
Hypothyroid
Injuries
Intuition
Knitting
Lavitt's Quay
Leaving Certificate
Maylor Street
Measles
Medical Training
Medical Treatment
Medicine
Mental Health
Mercy Hospital
North Infirmary
Northside
Nursing
One Day A Week School
Parents
Patients
Pawn Shops
Placenames
Playing
Polio
Ponnies
Psychiatric
Public Baths
Public Health
Public Health Nurse
Pubs
Respectability
Role of Women
Rugby
Sarsfield Court
School
Schooldays
Shawlie
Shawlies
Shawls
Social Media
Social Status
Spanish Civil War
St Aloysius
stigma
TB
Teachers
Templeacre Bar
Tenements
The Marsh
Tuberculosis
UCC Philosoph
Uniforms
University
University College Cork
Vaccines
whooping cough
Winter's Hill
Working
Working life
Workplace
Wyses Hill
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/5a12a13477964b25b69f75f2bb25cb9f.jpg
92941d1f36ec70e22d111e1ae6bd8aaf
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/ded71df4ad3ab331b0cf5c7251f30b49.mp3
fd09d477a4cf5b7b759b54b399f2493c
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
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<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Mary Mulcahy
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Location
The location of the interview
<div class="element">
<div class="element-text">Cork Folklore Project Hub, North Cathedral Visitor Centre, Roman Street</div>
</div>
<div class="element"></div>
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.00.21</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.21 - 0.02.56</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Tenement Life and Friendships</strong></p>
<p>Mary grew up in 44 Grattan Street. Despite there being tenements it was a magic experience. It was one big happy family, everyone knew and helped one another. All the children played and went to school together.</p>
<p>6 families lived in 44 Grattan Street, all had lots of children and still friends and went to each other’s marriages.</p>
<p>Tenements today would be apartments. All had separate entrance but one main toilet in the yard. It was tough but they knew no other experience and everyone was the same. There was one family which was a bit better off than them, but they received the same treatment from them as everyone else and never interfered with their friendship. She still knows where all her neighbours are, and for going to funerals.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.56 - 0.04.08</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Day</strong></p>
<p>Get up, have breakfast go to St Maries of the Isle school [Bishop Street Cork], and most of Middle Parish went to that school at the time. Came home for lunch and returned to school at 2pm. And finished school at 3pm. Then went home, did the homework and went to play on the street. There were no cars on the street but there was an occasional horse and cart. Played all their games on the street: skipping and pickey. One of Mary’s happiest time because all the children were at the same level- no one was looking down on them.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.04.08 - 0.09.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Children’s Games</strong></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Skipping and Piggey</span></p>
<p>Skipping and piggey with a piggey box or a shoe polish box taken from someone’s house. Mary’s sister-in-law once did not have any chalk to draw the boxes for piggey (or picky or pickey) [hopscotch] and she broke the finger of her mother’s holy statue of the virgin Mary and used it instead of chalk. Mary describes it as innocent, there was no harm involved. The statue was on the landing. They didn’t have the money to buy chalk. Still laugh about that story today.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Release- game.</span></p>
<p>Boys and girls were involved. 6 or 10 children all in a square drawn on the ground. One appointed to stay in the box. Someone would shout “Release” and everyone would scatter and hide. And the person in the square had to try to find them.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Cat and Dog- game</span></p>
<p>Place a small stick which is pointed a both ends at the edge of a kerb. Then take a bigger stick and hit it so it would fly into the air. The person who hit their stick the furthest would win.</p>
<p>It was simple but very enjoyable.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Hide and Go Seek- game</span></p>
<p>[doesn’t give a description]</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Thunder up the Alley- game</span></p>
<p>Lighting papers and put them up the drainpipe/chute and the draught took it up the chute. Mary says they should not have done that but they did, and says that they were bored.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Playing Shop and Playing House- game</span></p>
<p>Used the tombstones in the Protestant graveyard [St Peter’s on Grattan Street] They put all their “googles”? [8:10-8:20] on the tombstones and their friends came to “buy” them. They used coloured glass for sweets.</p>
<p>Played with neighbours boys and girls.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Run Away Knock-game</span></p>
<p>People would claim they would tell Mary’s parents about playing this game but they never did because they knew it was innocent.</p>
<p>Reminisces about childhood with friends now.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.58 - 0.11.21</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Compares her childhood with that of today</strong></p>
<p>Things that she did people might frown on eg. playing on a tombstone.</p>
<p>Mentions having a picnic on a gravestone on holidays.</p>
<p>Contrasts this with deliberate vandalisation of graves.</p>
<p>Wasn’t afraid of graveyard because her mother said mother said that “The living are doing the harm the dead can’t do anything to you”.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.11.21 - 0.12.48</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Food and Meals</strong></p>
<p>Porridge for breakfast sometimes called gruel. They had tea and could toast bread in front of fire, no toasters. Doesn’t think there were cornflakes at the time.</p>
<p>Simple life but great happiness. “everybody was on the same level”</p>
<p>“we had nothing but we had everything” “we had love, happiness, peace and there’s no money can buy these things”, “If you hadn’t it you did without it.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.12.48- 0.15.09 </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Pawn Shops</strong></p>
<p>There were loan offices available but Mary said they would try to avoid those because they couldn’t afford it. There was only one man’s wages coming into the family.</p>
<p>Pawn shops were “rampant” at the time. Suits for Sunday mass were sent to the pawn on Monday morning and on Thursday when you got your wages you would get the suit back out from the pawn. “that was living in my time”, “no shame in it” People had to survive and get food for their children, and wages were small. “We managed”. Her brother doesn’t agree with her that they were the happiest days of their lives.</p>
<p>If they got something it was like Christmas. “We made do with what we had.”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.15.09 - 0.16.32 </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>A Sunday Treat</strong></p>
<p>A penny on Sunday from her father for sweets. There was shop across from where they lived. They could get bonbons and other sweets.</p>
<p>4 farthings in a penny. You could get change from a penny!</p>
<p>Thinks most people were happy at the time.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.16.32 - 0.18.58</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Clothes: Repairs and Hand-me-downs</strong></p>
<p>Fathers would repair shoes. They would buy leather form Davisons Shop [16:40 or Davidsons?] shop on North Main Street. Used a strip of leather to put heels on shoes using a “Last” [cobbler’s last- a tool similar to the shape of a human foot used to make or repair shoes] tacked leather onto the shoe Used paring knife to remove excess leather. And then “Blackened it with the polish”. Repaired both shoe heels and soles. It was expensive to send them to the shoemaker and they couldn’t afford it.</p>
<p>Tough times but great times.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.18.58 - 0.22.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Father’s work in the Munster Arcade and his family bringing him Lunch</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Father, mother 6 children 4 boys and 2 girls lived in one floor of a 5 floor tenement.</span></p>
<p><span>Dad worked as porter in the Munster Arcade. His job involved work around the shop and delivering parcels. Munster Arcade and Cashes were the best shops in Cork, very expensive.</span></p>
<p><span>His children used to help their dad. Galvanised pot for tea and bread and butter brought to his work for his lunch. Everyone did something similar for lunches at the time.</span></p>
<p><span>Couldn’t afford to buy ham. No such thing as going to a café for them.</span></p>
<p><span>Munster Arcade was an elite shop for people who had big jobs. The staff were very lovely.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.22.57 - 0.29.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Father having to Deliver a Tie. Attitude of the Elite.</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Once a woman from Montenotte or St Luke’s bought a tie for her husband and Mary’s father had to deliver the tie at 5.30pm when he was due to finish at 6pm. Father often spoke, cribbed and cursed about that incident.</span></p>
<p><span>“That’s the way people lived at that time like. They were up there like and we were down here.” She puts this attitude down to ignorance.</span></p>
<p><span>“They wanted to be up there looking down on us” but “We were better off because we had what they couldn’t buy: love and contentment.”</span></p>
<p><span>Describes a world of the haves and have nots. Feels sorry for people who have to pretend that they are well-off rather than being themselves. Describes her thinking as old-fashioned.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.26.04 - 0.29.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Change of Attitudes to Work today. Positive Change in role of men in Housework.</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Thinks everything is “put on a plate” for people- that everything must be done for them and people are not grateful for what they have. Thinks it’s degrading to tell people “but that’s your job.”</span></p>
<p><span>Men were never expected to do housework or look after children in the past and now it’s changed and she is glad.</span></p>
<p><span>Fathers would take children for walks, fishing or to matches. But everything else was done by the mother.</span></p>
<p><span>Is glad that her children turned out well, thinks it was worth her effort raising them when she thinks back.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls a recent news story of a 10 year old drunk and questions the role of parents today.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.29.30 - 0.30.45</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Pub Culture Then and Now</strong></p>
<p>Describes how when men were paid their wages they would go to the pub, and how women and children were not allowed in pubs. Believes children were not allowed in pubs then.</p>
<p>Thinks now women are worse than men from what she hears as regards drinking behaviour. Believes this is unfair on children.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.30.45 - 0.33.48</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Mother bringing them on Trips, Youghal, Swimming</strong></p>
<p>Describes parents as salt of the earth. Had to be home at a certain time. Could play on the street as there was very little traffic.</p>
<p>They were taken to Fitzgerald’s Park or Lee Fields for an outing</p>
<p>One Sunday in August would be trip to Youghal.</p>
<p>Train to Youghal. Thousands of people like cattle there. Train stopped near the beach. And came home at 6pm in the evening. People wouldn’t believe you had been to the beach unless you got sunburned.</p>
<p>Swam in Youghal. No bathing togs! Sandwiches on the beach. Learned to swim in Youghal.</p>
<p>Her children went to the lifesaving clubs. It was essential that time</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.33.48 - 0.45.47</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Mother and Making Ends Meet: Pawns, Meals, Food Shopping</strong></p>
<p>Mother pawned father’s suit to make ends meet. And not ashamed of it. It was the thing to do to feed the children.</p>
<p>Remembers her mother cooking stews and potatoes.</p>
<p>Big bowl of potatoes in the centre of the table and everyone for themselves with butter on them!</p>
<p>Tripe and Drisheen- good for the stomach. Beautiful dish. The dug of the lamb. Milk, onions, mushrooms, thicken with white sauce, and add potatoes. Mary still makes it as a winter dish. Her sons like it but not her daughters or daughter in laws. It’s still sold in O’Reilly’s in the English Market which was only around the corner from Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Kidneys- skirts and kidneys. Kidneys referred to as “sheep’s pooley bags” [pooley: urine cf Sean Beecher Cork Slang: https://corkslang.com/pooley]</p>
<p>Offal and offal bones, liver. The main dishes for the working classes. They were not able to afford steak.</p>
<p>Today people are too squeamish about offal.</p>
<p>English Market: The Chicken Inn. O’Reilly’s Tripe and Drisheen. Everyone had their own butcher. English Market was very basic when Mary was younger.</p>
<p>Coal Quay was brilliant on a Saturday. Cornmarket Street used to be full of stalls, clothes, people, tinned food. Annie Punch half way down Cornmarket Street a big woman and a Cork character- “The Mother of the Coal Quay” blond, happy-go-lucky and funny person.</p>
<p>Selling second-hand clothes at the time, although now they sell new clothes. It was very popular at Christmas.</p>
<p>There’s snobbery about going into the Coal Quay today.</p>
<p>Shop on corner Twomeys was popular. People would buy their Christmas Trees and decorations- Annie Punch was the main dealer for these.</p>
<p>Saturday morning farmers would come to the city to sell their vegetables.</p>
<p>There were also local shops that they supported.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.45.47 - 0.48.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Christmas</strong></p>
<p>Might not have had a Christmas Tree but Santa Claus always came.</p>
<p>They had chicken for Christmas dinner couldn’t afford a turkey</p>
<p>Christmas Eve night her own children were frightened by her husband dresses as Santa Clause outside the window.</p>
<p>They made their own fun back then.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.48.26 - 0.53.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Singsongs and Music</strong></p>
<p>Singsong<strong>s</strong> after the pub which they could hear in bed a night.</p>
<p>O’Callaghan’s Pub for the sing song. And opposite the protestant graveyard was the parting place at the end of the night.</p>
<p>“Bill Bill” played the trumpet in The Workingman’s Band used to play it at 1am after the pub.</p>
<p><strong>The Workingman’s Band</strong></p>
<p>The Workingman’s Band played various wind instruments. They would meet in the club and march up Grattan Street and they were meant to turn left up to Patrick Street but one man turned right and people discovered he wasn’t playing his instrument!</p>
<p>“They were very happy days”</p>
<p>Songs at the singsong: “Mother mo Chroí”, “Kathleen Mavourneen”, “I’ll take you Home Again Kathleen”, “South of the Border- Down Mexico Way”</p>
<p>Saturday night was the singsong and they would all make mass on Sunday morning in the Confraternity in St Peter and Paul’s Church for 8am mass or in St Francis church.</p>
<p>Mary admired that they all stuck together.</p>
<p>The men used take their pint but they never abused or neglected their families.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.53.02 - 0.57.46</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Dancehalls and Father’s Strict Timekeeping</strong></p>
<p>Dances were held from 8pm-11pm in St. Francis Hall on Sheares Street. If they arrived home late her father would say: “I said 11 not five past” wouldn’t be allowed go the following week.</p>
<p>Feels lucky that they were disciplined in this way. Her father was very strict but that all parents were like that at the time.</p>
<p>Gresham Rooms on Maylor Street off Patrick Street was another place for dances, which their father was reluctant to let them attend as it was further away than St. Francis Hall.</p>
<p>The Arcadia was an enjoyable place for dances.</p>
<p>At dances the men were on one side of the room and women on the other.</p>
<p>Women would run to the ladies toilet if an undesirable man came across the dancehall to ask them for a dance. “What a scatter!”</p>
<p>Ladies choice: halfway through the night the women would have to ask the men for a dance.</p>
<p>You could be reported and removed from the hall for refusing a dance.</p>
<p>Lists some bands and singers: Victor Silvester, Clipper Carltons, Joe Mac and the Dixielanders. Terry McCarthy had died the week of this interview was a great singer.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.57.46 - 1.00.43</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Funeral and Memories of Terry McCarthy and Music in Churches</strong></p>
<p>Beautiful funeral mass even better than that for a bishop!</p>
<p>Large crowd at the funeral. Well organised and felt like being in heaven.</p>
<p>When Mary was 80 her family invited Terry McCarthy to sing for her and he sang great old songs not pop music.</p>
<p>Thinks that pop music is unsuitable to play at funerals and masses.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.00.43 - 1.08.51</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Dancehalls: Rules, Learning, Locations and no Dances at Lent</strong></p>
<p>You couldn’t refuse a dance at a dancehall. And you couldn’t dance unless you were asked. A “legger” was a bad dancer.</p>
<p>Types of dances: tango, quick step, foxtrot, and waltz. Learned how to dance at the dancehalls from each other and from a dancing partner at the dance.</p>
<p>They would practice dancing at home with the sweeping brush!</p>
<p>People would help and teach you when dancing.</p>
<p>Some of the men were very proud of their dancing and would be showing off.</p>
<p>Could get a glass of milk and buy tea and cake later on.</p>
<p>Dance Halls: The Arcadia was the main ballroom in Cork was open 9pm until 2am, near Kent Station. Gresham Rooms. Dance near [Collins] Barracks and near Tivoli.</p>
<p>Cork Boat Club on the Marina dancing finished at 2am and then they had to walk home.</p>
<p>Once a friend Pauline from the Marsh who was an opera singer sang on the way home from the Marina but a Garda arrived and asked them to leave.</p>
<p>Mary describes herself as a “chorus girl” rather than a solo singer!</p>
<p>No dancing or dancehalls during Lent. So they met at the same time and went for a walk out the Lee Road. No vandalism at the time. “We made our own enjoyment”</p>
<p>They would talk about fellas or sing while on their walk. They all went and came back as group from the Marsh/Middle Parish.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.08.51 - 1.12.23</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Illnesses</strong></p>
<p>Measles, whooping cough, scabies, diphtheria- which 3 in her family had, Mary was the carrier. Puts it down to lack of hygiene.</p>
<p>Diphtheria was the killer disease aside from TB. Her 3 family members were isolated in St Finbarr’s Hospital.</p>
<p>Doctor told her mother to put her uninfected daughter into the hospital with the others to catch diphtheria and recover from it.</p>
<p>Mary spent much of her time crying while in isolation and having to look out the window at her parents. It was sad. There were many medical tests.</p>
<p>Recalls a neighbour who had polio.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.12.23 - 1.15.48</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Dispensary Grattan Street: Doctors and Medicines</strong></p>
<p>There were 6 doctors in the local Dispensary on Grattan Street. each area had its own doctor. People from the Marsh/ Middle Parish had Dr Cagney.</p>
<p>Dr Cagney was very strict, very cross, “what else can I give you now beside a car?!” he said to Mary’s mother. Dr Cagney was a big man and elderly at the time and his son became a doctor too. [Dr Michael Cagney was his son, see: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253">CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>]</p>
<p>Parishes Food it was like a tonic. Everyone liked the taste of it. You didn’t need a prescription for it.</p>
<p>You brought an empty bottle to the dispensary after having visited the doctor who gave you a note with details of your required medicine and your bottle would be filled up accordingly in the dispensing unit.</p>
<p>Cod liver oil was also recommended and was got in the Dispensary.</p>
<p>Recalls giving her children cod liver oil with an orange to improve the taste.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.15.48 - 1.21.08</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Queuing in Dispensary for Doctor. Pharmacist and Caretaker</strong></p>
<p>Had to queue up on benches for up to 2 hours. There were 6 doctors, Dr Cagney was theirs. You’d get a prescription and then hand that to the dispensing unit on the way out.</p>
<p>Thinks she recalls there being a Dr Fennell there as well.</p>
<p>No appointments you just queued up.</p>
<p>Beautiful atmosphere in there. She would know people there. Mentions 2 caretakers who lived on site.</p>
<p>She knew is as “The Quakers” although she never met them but was aware that they had once lived there.</p>
<p>Beautiful courtyard. Two families lived there either side of the front entrance: Morrissy’s (the dispenser) and Lucey’s or Healey’s were there caretakers.</p>
<p>The daughters of the Morrissy’s would have been friends with Mary. [see also <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>;]</p>
<p>Would see their neighbours in the waiting room. Couldn’t afford a private doctor.</p>
<p>Different doctors there for different parts of the city.</p>
<p>The Cagney’s were very popular, Dr Cagney’s son Michael took over.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.21.08 - 1.26.50</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>The Waiting Room could be very full with people. if the 6 doctors were present.</p>
<p>Convenient living in Grattan Street as they were across the road.</p>
<p>Very few chemists at the time.</p>
<p>Everyone hoped they would get Parishes Food</p>
<p>illnesses Polio and diphtheria. They weren’t afraid of the diseases, would be sometimes delighted to get sick to avoid school. Whooping cough and chickenpox were normal diseases.</p>
<p>Treatment for whooping cough was mostly rest.</p>
<p>There was an old saying “we got over the measles”</p>
<p>Her brother Paddy was seriously affected by diphtheria.</p>
<p>Symptoms of diphtheria You felt like your throat was coming up through your mouth.</p>
<p>Thinks about how her parents coped with having children in St Finbarr’s isolation ward when they had no transport.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.26.50 - 1.32.00</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Christmas Party and ‘Simple Living’ of the Past</strong></p>
<p>There was a Christmas party for all the children with a bottle of watered down rasa/raza (raspberry cordial) and sweets. Everybody was on the same level except for a few who were slightly better off but they</p>
<p>All going to the same school St Mary’s of the Isle. Great neighbourliness. Thinks they were very lucky and that their parents kept them “on the straight and narrow”. Says there was a lot of problems alcohol and drink but not in her family- suggests some people may not have had enough money to pay for food due to alcoholism.</p>
<p>John O’Shea [likely the same O’Shea interviewed CFP00774] wrote a book about the “Red City” the Northside of Cork. Much of the book Mary agreed with and identifies with eg. box cars, collecting wood and making bundles out of it to sell it. “What we had to do to make a couple of bob” eg the Pawn shops. People were happy to live that way she thinks. Simple living.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.32.00 - 1.33.25 </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Quakers and Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>The Quakers did live in Grattan Street, it was their religion. Mary says her daughter-in-law is working in Grattan Street. It was a lovely building.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.25 - 1.34.19</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>School behind Dispensary</strong></p>
<p>St. Francis Boys School was at the back of the dispensary. “Rowdy Boys College” was what it was called at the time. Thinks that there is a private school in there at the moment.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.34.19 - 1.35.04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Happiness and Gratitude</strong></p>
<p>Reiterates that they were the happiest days of her life games as children, made their own enjoyment and is grateful for her good parents. And feels sorry for people today who aren’t as lucky.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.35.04 - 1.36.31</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>LDF Local Defence Force</strong></p>
<p>Recalls the LDF (Local Defence Force) marching and as being part of the army and they wore berets.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.36.31 - 0.00.00</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Attitude towards the dispensary</strong></p>
<p>Dr Cagney lived on Summerhill North. His son took over. Mark Cagney the radio presenter is related to that family.</p>
<p>Dr Cagney looked after Mary’s mother Mary. Says Dr Cagney senior was abrupt but had respect for the elderly which is not always the case today, thinks that sometimes elderly people can be treated as just a number.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.39.20 - 1.44.48</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>The Franciscans</strong></p>
<p>They were friendly, spiritual and gave people time. People knew the Franciscans personally they weren’t snobs and you could invite them into your house for tea. The Franciscans were out more. Many people in Grattan Street were in the choir in St Francis. They also hosted a Christmas party for the children. Recalls them being funnier and more down to earth than regular priests. Went to mass in St Francis. St Peter and Paul’s was their parish church to which they went once a month for the confraternity meeting for rosary and prayers on Monday night and the following Sunday there was a confraternity mass at 8am on Sunday.</p>
<p>Had to be fasting from the night before to receive holy communion. They had breakfast then after mass. On some Sundays they might have a rasher and egg- their father would get priority for a good breakfast.</p>
<p>On Sunday would do their homework, go to Fitzgerald’s Park, Lee Fields to the outdoor baths.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.44.48 - 1.48.22 </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Religion: Fasting Rules and Rejecting Man-made Religious Rules Today</strong></p>
<p>Fasted before Holy Communion and for Good Friday, they didn’t eat meat which was easy as they didn’t have much meat, but it is harder now for her to abstain from meat.</p>
<p>Doesn’t fast on Good Friday anymore, she would eat meat.</p>
<p>She has “no scruples” anymore about eating meat on Friday. “It don’t bother me”</p>
<p>She feels she has “did my bit” and “we did more than our bit”, they didn’t have to do what they did.</p>
<p>She considers these rules and restrictions to be manmade laws. She decides for herself now whether to eat before communion or on Fridays.</p>
<p>Would prefer to go back to a basic, simple religion which would include going to mass and a few prayers at night, but without all the dogmatic things and novenas.</p>
<p>Thinks that some people in the past probably didn’t bother following all those rules.</p>
<p>People felt they were guilty of sin and felt it and went to confession.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.48.22 - 1.55.12</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Confession: Unfair on Children and Story of a Lenient Priest </strong></p>
<p>Mary used to teach young “itinerant” or traveller children for their First Holy Communion. Brought them for their first confession to the North Cathedral. The children were speaking so loudly that she could hear their sins and recalls one of them saying “I stucked out me tongue at me nanny” and thinks it was wrong that children were made to feel guilt and sin about something so small.</p>
<p>People would say “you’d go to hell”. She thinks this was very wrong. She thinks that she took these rules to heart and Jesus never expected people to behave as they were required to. “Everything we did was a sin” “We went to confession shaking” “We came up the hard way, we were guilty of stupid things.” And says that their parents were the same way. They were chastised at home.</p>
<p>Kissing a boy was considered to be a sin, but she doesn’t believe it was a sin in retrospect.</p>
<p>Priest in North Cathedral who was reputed to say “God bless you my child” in response to any confessed sin no matter how grave.</p>
<p>There used to be queues for this Fr Hart.</p>
<p>Says that she would know herself whether something was wrong or right.</p>
<p>Some people took sins too far, and some people would stay away from confession for years because they were so afraid of what their sin was even though it was not that serious.</p>
<p>People went to Fr Hart in the North Chapel/ North Cathedral because of his easier approach.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.55.12 - 1.56.22</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>No Sex before Marriage</strong></p>
<p>There was “very clean living before we got married”. There was never sex involved before her marriage. And she believes this was the right way.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.56.22 - 2.01.24</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>First Holy Communion and Children Understanding Religion</strong></p>
<p>Was teaching the Northside traveller children in St Mary’s Cathedral (North Cathedral) as she was in the Legion of Mary on Brown Street.</p>
<p>Doesn’t think that children really understand their religion when they are so young so they should wait until they are older, maybe 12 years old before they make their first holy communion.</p>
<p>Recalls her own First Holy Communion as being very serious.</p>
<p>Got dressed and had a veil and went to a photographer on Windmill Road. Everything was so respectful and disciplined.</p>
<p>Mary returns to discussing the funeral mass for Terry McCarthy to compare the beauty and respect of that mass.</p>
<p>Her own communion dress was made for her, as most people did at the time.</p>
<p>Visited all her cousins for her First Holy Communion and “got the few bob” received money from family members and went home to count it on the table. She gave her parents some of the money. Thinks today that children make about 1,000 euro on their First Holy Communion and that this has become its real purpose and meaning.</p>
<p>The church is full for Holy Communion day but the next Sunday they are not present.</p>
<p>Mary made her own communion in South Chapel because she was going to St Mary’s of the Isle School.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.01.24 - 2.07.46</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grateful for her Happy Memories and Good Friends</strong></p>
<p>Recalls her happiness and friends from school. Friendship, respect for parents, teachers and friends were her memories of the past. Still in contact with those old friends. Sincere friendships and bonds. “Always keep your friends” is what Mary recommends. She meets her friends to reminisce and recall things that she might have forgotten. She would never dismiss anything that happened years ago.</p>
<p>[02.04.10 ] “I’ll tell you something now like” when she can’t sleep things from the past come back to her and she thinks about them for hours. Feels lucky she has these lovely memories to fall back on.</p>
<p>Very simple living and they shopped locally.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.05.16-2.07.55</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Shops, Sweets, Candy Apples on Gerald Griffin Street</strong></p>
<p>The milk emporium the daily lived second-next-door to them and they sold milk and eggs, butter. Tuckshop was underneath for sweets. There were shops on every corner, you could go into</p>
<p>“Candy apples was a big thing at the time”</p>
<p>There was a place near the North Cathedral on Gerald Griffin Street where a woman would stick a lollipop stick into an eating apple, cover it in sugar and put it into a holder to sell it.<br />Bullseyes, clove rocks, bonbons were the sweets “we were reared on” and they are all coming back. They never had chocolate.</p>
<p>Mary says that she didn’t expect to have been speaking for so long.</p>
<p>Mary asks the interviewer what time it is, he responds that it’s after 1pm.</p>
<p>One son calls to her for dinner but he will “help himself”.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.07.46- 2.07.55</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Outro</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>2.07.55</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Interview Ends</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Mary Mulcahy: Grattan Street, Healthcare, The Marsh
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019;
Relation
A related resource
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/242" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
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Sound
Format
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Audio
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1 August 2019
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Cork Folklore Project
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>Mary grew up on in a tenement on Grattan Street where there was a toilet in the yard strong sense of community.</span></p>
<p><span>She attended school in St. Maries of the Isle as most children from The Middle Parish did and Came home for lunch.</span></p>
<p><span>Played children’s games on the street including: skipping, piggey, release, cat and dog, hide and go seek, thunder up the alley, playing shop, playing house, runaway knock</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of enjoyment and happiness in simple things even in the straightened economic circumstances that prevailed in the communities of her childhood. Discusses the prevalence of pawn shops on how they were relied on.</span></p>
<p><span>Recalls joy as a child when they got money for sweets as a treat.</span></p>
<p><span>Explains how her father like other men at the time would repair their shoes at home. Her father worked in the Munster Arcade and the family took it in turns to bring him lunch there</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses the differences in social class at the time</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks about the positive change in men’s role in housework today</span></p>
<p><span>Describes an annual family day trip to Youghal for swimming and a picnic.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about shops and the stalls and sellers in the English Market and Coal Quay where food was bought for typical meals including stews, potatoes, tripe and drisheen, skirts and kidneys, offal, offal bones and liver. </span></p>
<p><span>Mentions some Christmas traditions in her family.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers hearing men having a regular parting singsong while leaving the pub at night. Recounts a humorous story about musician in the Workingman’s Band pretending to play his instrument in a parade. </span></p>
<p><span>Remarks on parents’ strict time keeping in her childhood which was a useful skill as an adult. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes what dances in dancehalls were like, especially St. Francis Hall. Gives description of the rules and functioning of the dances as well as learning to dance.</span></p>
<p><span>Outlines common diseases in her childhood, including diphtheria which she contracted. Describes symptoms of diphtheria spending time in hospital isolation to cure diphtheria. </span></p>
<p><span>Remembers GP Dr Cagney in the dispensary on Grattan Street and the medicines available on site from the pharmacist including Parishes Food. Further describes the dispensary, its waiting room and how the caretaker and pharmacist lived in the building. </span></p>
<p><span>Talks about religious devotion, mass going, the rosary, fasting prior to holy communion and confraternity meetings in St. Francis church.</span></p>
<p><span>Criticises aspects Catholic religious practice such as fasting (which she describes as manmade), confession and whether children can comprehend their First Holy Communion . Humorous story of priest in the North Cathedral who gave lenient penances for confession.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes candy apples made and sold on Gerald Griffin Street.</span></p>
Alcohol
Baths
Candy Apples
Children’s Games
Christmas
Class
Class Attitudes
Coal Quay
Confession
Cork Boat Club
Diphtheria
Division of Housework
Drinking
Elite
English market
Fasting
Fitzgerald’s Park
Food
Franciscans
Friends
Friendship
Funerals
Gerald Griffin Street
Gratitude
Grattan Street
Gresham Rooms
Happiness
Happy Memories
Health
Holidays
Illness
LDF
Lee Fields
Lent
Local Defence Force
Marriage
Massgoing
Medicine
Memories
Middle Parish
Neighbours
North Cathedral
Offal
Philosophy of life
Polio
Pub Culture
Pubs
Quakers
Religion
Religious Observation
Role of Men
Role of Women
Routine
Sanitation
School
Sex
Sheares Street
Shopping
Shops
Showbands
Singing
Skirts and Kidneys
Slang
Songs
St Francis Church
St Francis Hall
St Maries of the Isle
St Peter and Paul’s Church
St. Francis Hall
Sweets
Swim
Swimming
Tenements
The Arcadia
The Marsh
Traffic
Train
Transport
Tripe
Tripe and Drisheen
Work
Working class
Youghal
-
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/e419d85b95cb03144f9b6f4f836603b6.jpg
e245f89b3e8cbbb2c200a3033ee23a69
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/d12fe1beff5d2f13851bd786dbf54f42.mp3
f89e223784f869b2f3c433e727fa8acb
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<p>Grattan Street Stories: Memory of Place</p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Occupational Lore; Life History; Built Heritage; Health; Ireland; Cork; Middle Parish
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection focuses on a building on Grattan Street which has served as a Quaker Meeting House, a public Dispensary and as the Grattan Street Health Centre. The project was a collaboration between the CFP and the Cork North Community Work Department, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, Health Services Executive HSE. </p>
<p>The interviewees fall into two main groups: those who worked in the building and those who lived in the surrounding area and availed of the services provided in the building.</p>
<p>This project follows on from the collaboration with the HSE in the “<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>”. There is a further connection between the two projects as many of the staff and services once provided in the Grattan Street Health Centre have now relocated to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. This topic of the relocation of services is also covered in some staff interviews. <br /><br />To date (October 2021) 13 interviews have been completed for the project.<br /><br />Interviewees discuss the Grattan Street building itself in terms of its historic significance, its benefits and drawbacks as a workplace. Broader themes related to or inspired by the building are also touched on including: personal relationship with the building, staff camaraderie, the problems with parking, memorable incidents at work, patient experiences and descriptions of the people and services for which the building catered.<br /><br />Healthcare professional interviewees detail their training, career progression and comparisons between Grattan Street and other workplaces. Their testimonies also provide a link with the community of patients they served giving further insight into attitudes to healthcare, diseases, vaccines, description of social conditions and the changes in medicine and technology in their working lives.<br /><br />Non-healthcare professional interviewees describe childhood experiences in or around Grattan Street (The Marsh or The Middle Parish), the social, cultural and economic conditions of the area, tenements, businesses, attitudes to and experiences of healthcare, vaccines, diseases, medicines and medical professionals as well as observed changes in these areas over time.<br /><br />Interviewees also reflect on the possible future uses of the Grattan Street building.<br /><br /><strong>Related Reference Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Barrington, R.<em> (</em>1987) <em>Health, medicine and politics in Ireland, 1900–1970</em>. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.</li>
<li><span>Butler D.M. (2004) <em>The Quaker meeting houses of Ireland</em></span>. Dublin : Irish Friends Historical Committee.</li>
<li><span>Byrne, J. (2004) <em>Byrne's dictionary of Irish local history.</em> Cork: Mercier Press.</span></li>
<li>Cooke, R. T. (1999) <em>My Home by the Lee</em>. Irish Millennium Publications: Cork.</li>
<li><span>Dempsey, P. J. & White, L. W. ‘Childers, Erskine Hamilton’. <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em> </span>[Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Harrison, R.S. (1991) <em>Cork City Quakers 1655-1939: A Brief History</em>. Cork.</li>
<li>Houston, M. (2004). ‘Life before the GP’. <em>The</em> <em>Irish Times. </em>Available at : <<a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599">https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/life-before-the-gp-1.1158599</a> > [Accessed 18 October 2021]</li>
<li>Keohane, F. (2020) <em>The Buildings of Ireland Cork City and County</em>. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</li>
</ul>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2019-2020
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Interviewees: Edith O’Regan, 'Mary', Sean Higgisson, Aoife O’Brien, Eileen Kearney, Imelda Cunning, Jane Ward, Liam Ó hUigín, Joe Scanlan, Mary Mulcahy, Philomena Cassidy, Don Morrissy, Derek O’Connell</p>
<p>Interviewer: <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=2&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Kieran+Murphy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kieran Murphy</a>, (<a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a>)</p>
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
<p>Cork, Ireland 1940s-2020s; Waterford, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland;</p>
Relation
A related resource
<p><strong>Exhibition</strong></p>
<p>Artist Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave (also an interviewee for the project) created a visual artwork based around the Grattan Street Medical Centre building itself, as a workplace and health centre. The artwork incorporated direct quotations from the oral history interviews conducted for the project, and also included brief historical paragraphs about the building researched, written and edited by the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy. This exhibition was launched on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 in “St Peter’s” on the North Main Street where a “Listening Event” was also held to mark the occasion.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" alt="Grattan-Poster-for-Email-286-by-400.jpg" /><br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"></p>
<p><strong>Presentation and Listening Event</strong></p>
<p>To coincide with the launch of the Grattan Street Stories Exhibtion on 6<sup>th</sup> February 2020 a listening event and presentation of the history of the Grattan Street Medical Centre building and description of the project was given by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/427A7714-1.jpg" alt="427A7714-1.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Presentation</strong></p>
<p>In 2019 at the OHNI conference the <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy discussed social media and oral history which included audio excerpts from the Grattan Street Stories Project along with photographs of the building.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" alt="Kieran-OHNI-e1634041838937.jpg" /></p>
<p><strong>Audio Visual Presentation</strong></p>
<p>An audio-visual slideshow was produced featuring oral testimony from the Grattan Street Stories Project and combined with suitable images of Grattan Street and from Edith O’Regan-Cosgrave’s exhibition. This was created by <a href="https://corkfolklore.org/community-oral-history-outreach-officer/">CFP Community Oral History Outreach Officer</a> Kieran Murphy.<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:10%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnjEtQeOb3I&t=1s&ab_channel=CorkFolklore" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audio Visual Presentation Available to listen and view here.</a>
<p><strong>Health and Vaccines Oral History Research<br /></strong><br />Many of the interviews conducted for the Grattan Street project formed an integral part of the testimonies and research for the innovative<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">'Catching Stories'<span> </span>of infectious disease in Ireland </a>project funded by the Irish Research Council.<br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/health/about" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img src="http://corkfolklore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" alt="Catching-Stories-Poster.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Social Media</strong> <br /><br />Numerous suitable audio excerpts from the oral history interviews have been edited and shared on CFP's social media channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1139167201582288901</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1140909542240391168</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1141264486768238592</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1189872295923376133</a><br /><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://twitter.com/corkfolklore/status/1228322700415860736</a>
<strong>Orthopaedic Hospital</strong><br />Cork Folklore Project in collaboration with the HSE conducted an oral history project focussing on the Orthapaedic Hospital in Gurranabraher. <br /><br /><span>Many of the staff and services once provided at the Grattan Street Health Centre site were moved to St. Mary's Health Campus (St Mary’s Primary Care Centre) Gurranabraher, the former site of the Orthopaedic Hospital. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/collections/show/10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HSE Orthopaedic Hospital Oral History Project (d'Orthopaedic)</a>
<strong>Swimming Article</strong><br /><br />Kieran Murphy and James Furey co-authored an article about<br /><a href="https://tripeanddrisheen.substack.com/p/swim-city?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swimming in Cork</a> which appeared in the online magazine Tripe + Drisheen. This article features a number of interview extracts collected as part of the Grattan Street Stories Project.
<strong>Related Interviews<br /><br /></strong>CFP_SR00756_Quilligan_2019;<br />CFP_SR00758_Broderick_2019;<br />CFP_SR00670_OShea_2018;<strong><br /><br /></strong>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Cork Folklore Project
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Audio
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
16 .wav Files
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Mary
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
112 Minutes 13 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Bishopstown
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
24bit / 48kHz
Time Summary
A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.00 - 0.00.25</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.25 - 0.02.29</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>Grew up in County Limerick. Dad died when young. Early memory as 3 year old feeding a calf. Trained in St Johns Limerick, midwifery in Glasgow, 1975 went to Australia- Melbourne, Sidney, Brisbane. Returned after a year. Worked in Orthopaedic hospital in Croom, Limerick. Came to Cork, worked in Sarsfield’s Court [Glanmire] in the chest unit. Met a man which is why she stayed in Cork. Nursing involved night-duty and weekends, and "Mary" was thinking forward and did the Public Health Course to become PHN Public Health Nurse- first assignment was Middle Parish based in Grattan Street.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.02.29 - 0.05.26</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Early Memories: Father’s Death, Family</strong></p>
<p>Women with tea and USA biscuits. Seeing lines of men in the hay barn and animals coming out- must have been auction of the animals.</p>
<p>One older brother mentally & physically handicapped, 2 younger sisters. Mental Hospital St Joseph’s in Limerick rented land from their farm so there was an income coming in without the mother taking sole responsibility for running the farm. It was therapy for the patients working on the farm despite being out in all weather. "Mary" thinks that many of the male patients were there as a result of the war. One man was called Sergeant. "Mary's" family also got fresh vegetables from them.</p>
<p>Learning process for them, learned who they could trust and who not- “heightened our awareness of mankind”. Some people were fit and healthy and others had mental issues.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05.26 - 0.09.30</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memory of Smell of Tripe Cooking reminds of dad</strong></p>
<p>When in St Johns in 2<sup>nd</sup> year of training ages 19 or 20- she had a memory of a taste and smell. Walking on corridor in 1<sup>st</sup> floor she got the smell. Found her way to room 8 and a priest was having tripe and drisheen or tripe and packet as it’s called in Limerick.</p>
<p>You could get the smell passing Shaws abattoir on the way into Limerick City. They had a hooter which would sound at 1pm and 5pm or 6pm in the evening which could be heard by "Mary" at home.</p>
<p>Says that tripe is the lining of a sheep’s stomach. “Villi”- nooks and crannies. Still buys it in the English Market on the left hand-side when you enter from the Grand Parade- and there was someone in front of her in the queue so she wasn’t the only one buying it! Advises opening a window to let the small out!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.09.30 - 0.10.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Day on the Farm when Growing up- making bread</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>They had a cow on the farm. Woman called May who helped out their mother on the farm. They would put on their “busy coat” or “duds” to milk cow, bring in milk, make brown soda bread.</p>
<p>Remembers mother making bread around 10am in an earthenware crock with sour milk in it which went into the Aga oven.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.10.35 - 0.13.05</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Learning about her Mother Remarrying</strong></p>
<p>Tom worked with the mental hospital and he would call in and there was a china cup for him. "Mary" asked her mother whether Tom slept in the house now, and previously asked May where her mother was and was told she was on holidays. Subsequently she realised that her mother had married Tom and they had been on honeymoon.</p>
<p>Reflects on how little information she was given about this change in situation and how it applies in her nursing role and thinks that sometimes less information is better when dealing with young children who may not fully understand everything.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.13.05- 0.16.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Typical Day on the Farm when Growing up</strong></p>
<p>In winter deal with the cow: hay, water, and muck out. Cow let out in the field in spring and summer. Dinner would be any time after the cake was made- ready about 12:30. Dinner usually bacon, cabbage, carrots, parsnips. As season moved on more turnips and potatoes. Seasonal. Started with Ker Pinks then Golden Wonders, didn’t like soapy Aran Banners. Then apple or rhubarb tarts. Supper at 5pm or 6pm: beans, bananas, eggs. They had hens which had to be fed.</p>
<p>Went to bed at 8pm or 9pm. In evening have to bring the cow back down and there might be 10 or 12 bullocks following you- nightmare that they would trample you to death?</p>
<p>Mother and May made the food. When "Mary" was 7 or 8 years old May was let go as "Mary" was considered old enough to help out.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.16.00- 0.17.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Interaction with the Patients of the Mental Hospital</strong></p>
<p>Looking out the window watching them. Sheep shearing and rolling of the wool. Taking off the “daggings” and rolling the wool into fleeces. Or bringing in the hay watching them piking and the change from horses to tractors.</p>
<p>There was an archway into their yard and it became harder to get larger machines through the arch over time.</p>
<p>Later on it became bales of hay rather than wines of hay (in Limerick) whereas in Cork they would call it trams.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.17.57 - 0.19.17</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Animals, Games and Mushrooms</span></strong></p>
<p><span>They prepared the animals with special soaps for the Limerick Show in August [Limerick Agricultural Show Society]. As children they would sit on the walls in the cow house (cowhouse) and use the chains as stirrups and pretend to be riding horses.</span></p>
<p><span>Picked mushrooms in fields often along the path the cows had made where you’d find mushrooms.</span><span> </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.19.17- 0.21.36</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Going to School and Standing up for Yourself</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Walk across the fields to get to the road to school which was 2 miles away, wear wellies if raining. When older cycled to school. Had the younger sister in the carrier. Fell off the bike coming down Ryan’s Hill and the sister fell into the bushes and the nettles. Mother gave out to them for falling off the bike.</span></p>
<p><span>In 6<sup>th</sup> class coming up the hill on was home from school at cousin Mick Clancy’s hill boys thought it was fun to hold on to the carrier to hold them back. "Mary's" mother advised to throw a stone at the boys. The next time it happened she picked up a rock and the boys ran away. It was lesson for "Mary" for life to stand up for herself and that the threat was enough to work.</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.21.36- 0.25.44</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>School</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>5 years old when she started school, thinks it might have been around Easter time. Small two teacher school. Mrs McAvoy the principal of the school had taught her father, and was distantly related to "Mary". "Mary's" sister was put on the teacher’s desk to be admired because of her beautiful eyes and hair- which she disliked because she was being made to feel different. </p>
<p>6 pupils in her class in 5<sup>th</sup> class and they were given the choice to do History and Geography through English or Irish and they chose to do it through Irish. The teacher was from Dingle and from him they learned a “love and appreciation” for Irish.</p>
<p>Had good spoken Irish in a secondary school in Limerick City. Her knowledge of Irish helped later on as a PHN when she was assigned an area which had a Gaeltacht in it. Most Gaeltacht schools were insistent that the PHNs did use Irish.</p>
<p>"Mary" went to Secondary School in the Presentation in Sexton Street.<strong> </strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.25.44 - 0.27.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Neighbour’s House and JP McManus on a Bike</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>A little old lady, a spinster called Noni lived in road opposite them. She had old open fireplace with bellows, and thatched roof and two dogs. "Mary" had a step-brother and a step-sister. The step brother was quiet and calm in Noni’s house but he was cross and looking for attention when he was at home.</p>
<p>A guy in secondary school used to cycle past in a red bike and "Mary" later discovered it was JP McManus [businessman and racehorse owner] and her younger sister knew him.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.27.57 - 0.29.49</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Starting in Nursing after School</strong></p>
<p>Always in the back of her mind to do nursing. Did leaving cert when 17 and did interview for nursing. Had started a commercial course. The Blue Nuns ran St. John’s Hospital and knew she was due to start in February. Millford House in Castletroy was run by Blue Nuns and they had a nursing home and "Mary" dropped the commercial course and worked there as a nurses aid. It was a good introduction and confidence building exercise for her. "Mary" thinks that for the nuns patient care was paramount and the written work less important but it is almost the reverse today.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.29.49 - 0.34.51</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Decision to do Nursing and Other Career Options</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Looking at magazines and what nursing involved. Career guidance consisted of blue leaflets. Through the commercial course "Mary" heard about the Junior X course to get into the civil service and the ESB jobs which she hadn’t been aware of through school. Travel was something that she considered and nursing catered for that. The nurses who had lived abroad were easier to work with they had a broader perspective on life and “didn’t sweat the small stuff”.</p>
<p>When you started nursing you got to see the different fields and "Mary" liked theatre work and enjoyed the labour ward when she was doing midwifery. Matron had said to her that she should considered doing the tutoring course. Thinks this is because she was questioning what her tutor was reading out of textbooks. </p>
<p>She applied for the tutoring course. But she while she had anatomy and biology for the leaving cert but not chemistry and physics. So she did leaving cert physics and chemistry that year but dropped the physics because she had also taken on introduction to psychology. But she had already gotten the Public Health so she chose that.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.34.51 - 0.43.07</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Public Health Nurse: Role and Duties</strong></p>
<p>PHN you are on your own to some extent you can plan your day, assess the patient. Communicate with the patient GP and hospital. You were independent to a large extent. Had continuity you could see things improving or ‘disimproving’.</p>
<p>House visits, vaccination clinics as part of a team, coffee or lunch in Grattan Street where you met other disciplines not just nursing. A mix.</p>
<p>Could be rostered for a dressings clinic in Grattan Street. They might have been referred after discharge from the Mercy Hospital. Now the Mercy would have its own dressings clinic. </p>
<p>Going to schools dealing with healthy children and teachers. Originally had an admin person with them but now just a doctor and nurse when going to vaccinate in schools. </p>
<p>HPV vaccination a big team goes to try to get the first years done in one go. </p>
<p>Health promotion going into houses and dealing with young mums. Private houses, corporation houses built in 1950s and 1960s, apartments or flats as they called them then. Leave a note for someone who you couldn’t find in a flat. Maybe a baby that wasn’t feeding very well. Hear that the mother has moved house and start detective work to track her down asking neighbours. And the nurse in their new area would be informed. </p>
<p>Write letters to council about the poor conditions of housing. And then neighbours would ask for letters then as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.43.07 - 0.51.42</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Perspective & Expectations of Patients on Healthcare</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Most people were welcoming and giving you tea that you didn’t want. A few were trying to get the PHN to adapt too much to their own schedules.</p>
<p>For patients the PHN came at the beginning of life and at the end of life. Would be asked “do you think it’s better today nurse?” and trying to read the emotions of the other family members.</p>
<p>Understanding with the GP about what the family situation was. Some people would ask for everything they thought they could get other families would never ask for anything. </p>
<p>PHN has to decide how necessary a request is or how much someone needs to be persuaded.</p>
<p>Try to stay on side and be persistent.</p>
<p>Older people at the time had the idea that you only left a hospital in a box. So it could be hard to persuade them to go to hospital. Fear of lack of independence as well. </p>
<p>Reflect on how nursing training prepares PHN for these situations. "Tread wearily" and "feel the vibes" when entering a new patient environment. </p>
<p>Privilege to be with people in their time of need because you felt that you were doing something and you were a support to the family especially in the time before morphine pumps. Even saying “I don’t think anything is going to happen tonight” might be the simple reassurance that the family wants. </p>
<p>Fear with a bedbound patient is that they would get pressure sores. One of the ways to avoid this is to change their position. And there was some education involved in ensuring whoever was moving the patient when the PHN isn’t there was doing it correctly. Extended family would assist with a patient in a way less common today. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.42 - 0.55.45</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memories of mothers and their babies and music</strong></p>
<p>Remembers a family who lived in one of the lanes off North Main Street. “me mam” was what the family called the beautiful mother who had a lame leg, she had grey-blond hair. One of the daughters had a baby that had a life-limited condition. The whole family were supporting them. They were always well made-up and the sick baby was in the middle. The baby didn’t survive only lived for 8 or 9 months. The family used to sing “Brown Girl in the Ring” by Boney M and the baby used to recognise it and respond. </p>
<p>Sleet and rain coming up North Main Street. Pound shop maybe called Powers Jim Reeves and Bing Crosby singing White Christmas which lifted her heart. Streets were full at Christmastime.</p>
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<td>
<p><strong>0.55.45 - 1.01.36</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patients and Cases and conditions in the Grattan Street/ Middle Parish Area</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Remembers rickety stairs leading to flats above shops which you wouldn’t realise were there.<span> </span></p>
<p><strong>Old man lived in laneway off Grattan Street</strong> in a tenement house like those in Glasgow she had seen near York Hill, with red sandstone buildings. Went to this man on a quick “social visit” and he had rasping breath. Just “kippins” or laths on the fire. No electricity. Waiting two hours for ambulance to come. Man didn’t survive. Something else in place of the building now. There may not have been a door on the house you could just walk straight in.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.55.45 - 0.58.18</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Patients and Cases and conditions in the Grattan Street/ Middle Parish Area- difficulties of nursing and dealing with different agencies.</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Woman with dementia in 1970s </strong>one room flat in warm house. Bathroom outside. Wasn’t able to look after herself. Had the newspapers stored on top of the electric cooker. GP trying to get her somewhere. Woman would lock herself out. Half naked walking across Sheare’s Street. "Mary" put her in own car and brought her to Our Lady’s Hospital to be seen by psychiatrist. They wouldn’t take her because of her age. Arranged geriatrician appointment who wouldn’t take her because she was psychiatric. A “street woman” (homeless woman) moved in with her and was able to make sure the house wouldn’t be set on fire. Meals on Wheels or Penny Dinners sharing the one meal. "Mary's" frustration with the bureaucracy.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.58.18 - 1.05.20</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Woman with Flea Bites/ Flea Marks</strong></p>
<p>"Mary" being polite said told her it was a rash but the woman had no qualms about calling them fleabites. "Mary" got temporary eviction order to clean out her flat. Process was traumatic for "Mary" & the woman. Woman spent her time in St Francis Church while her flat was being cleaned. The woman had collected things from bins and stored them in her house in case she might use them and they removed 57 bags of rubbish. Found a beautiful photograph album. Mounds of rubbish as high as the bed. Bucket to empty into the toilet. Candles in danger of burning the house down. The woman was upset that her stuff had been taken but they had put her things in storage in case she wanted them. As PHN you can wear your own clothes but "Mary"wore white uniform in case of infestation in the flat. Man from environmental health section sprayed the flat. "Mary" counted 57 dead fleas on her uniform when she took it off in the bath when she got home.</p>
<p>Later with her boyfriend at the time the same woman shouted “Hello nurse!” at her.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.05.20 - 1.18.38</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Vaccines, Vaccination and the anti-vaccination</strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p>People were pro vaccinate after 1956 polio outbreak in Cork. Many people would have been familiar with Polio, its devastating affect and that you can be vaccinated against it. People had to come to the clinic 3 or 4 times with a baby which might be difficult for families with many children and buggies. Remembers vulnerable family in Knocknaheeney. The mother was poor with keeping appointments and she came in the pouring rain with 4 or 5 children. Cost of taxi was 11 pounds or euro even though she had to live on social welfare. The staff suggested that she could get a bus. But she pointed out that one of her children was ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and that he would be climbing on the bus stop. "Mary" says the woman deserved a medal and reflects that they as staff had been judging her for her predicament.</p>
<p>Crowds of people and buggies. Role of extended family in assisting with child rearing. Some children may be difficult to deal with. Obstacles to families getting children vaccinated. </p>
<p>Vaccination card files. Brought from City Hall to the place of vaccination and not locked. Vaccines were taken from a fridge in City Hall and brought in a biscuit tin along with adrenaline in case someone had a reaction. Compares this to the modern method of cold-chain. </p>
<p>After Professor Wakefield made an association between MMR vaccine and autism the vaccination uptake reduced and it’s been an uphill battle since to reverse it. </p>
<p>In 1970s and 1980s there was memory of measles, mumps, meningitis and polio. </p>
<p>"Mary" worked in a school where a child refused vaccinations in junior infants in the early 1980s. That child got measles, encephalitis and was in a wheelchair by 1<sup>st</sup> class and by age 8 or 9 she was dead. HCA (Handicapped Childrens Allowance) allowance handicapped children’s allowance financial support for the extra care that was needed for the child. Thinks of the scaremongering about vaccines and the consciences of those people if they knew what the result of not getting vaccinated was. That incident happened in the early 1980s. </p>
<p>Worked with a doctor who had difficulty walking after he had got polio in the 1950s. </p>
<p>Young mothers in 1970s and 1980s had mothers who influenced them based on their accounts in the diseases in 1950s.</p>
<p>Rural approach to vaccines: if you eat healthy and are healthy then you won’t contract the disease. "Mary" says that while a weaker person succumbs to a disease faster it’s not a protection against a disease. Rural culture which still exists of “I don’t believe in vaccines”.</p>
<p>HPV vaccines. With all vaccines certain percentage of risk even though it is very rare. Weigh up the advantages versus the risk of something happening.</p>
<p>Vaccine cold chain from manufacturer to the administering to the child is much more streamlined.</p>
<p>Incidence of polio came down so vaccines were effective. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.18.38 - 1.21.46</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Earliest Memories of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Waiting room now it’s opened up with pillars and a balcony. When "Mary" started it had a ceiling and so was enclosed and it had a wooden floor where you could hear the “clip clop” of people walking across it echoing. They didn’t have access to the upstairs with stores and pigeons. According to Anne [a friend who worked there] there were stores of the things leftover from when Grattan Street was used as a dispensary/pharmacy/chemist. Old fashioned metal chairs with a timber seat.</p>
<p>Queue in the mornings for the dressing, older people with big swollen legs.</p>
<p>Mr Hart and Mr Condon were the social welfare officers and they would have clinics which had crowds of people waiting for them. People would receive bed linen or washing machines.</p>
<p>Mr Hart advised "Mary" once that when he started out he was given a sob story and he got someone a number of beds and later he saw them being sold on the Coal Quay!</p>
<p>Smoking was allowed at the time so there was the smell and fog of smoke.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.21.46 - 1.23.14</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Repairs and Revamp/ Refurbishment of Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Transferred to the City Hall while there was revamping or refurbishing of Grattan Street. Once they returned one of the admin staff noticed that a there was some dry rot on part of the wood in the jam of the door and more repairs had to be done.</p>
<p>Beautiful once the repairs were done. Opened up the ceiling with the balcony. The big tea room could be used for meetings and there was a fridge and kettle- luxury!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.23.14 - 1.27.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grattan Street as a Workplace</strong></p>
<p>“You could never call it glamorous!”. Bars on the windows. Hose reel for the fire. For fire drills the bars on some windows could be opened. The people to work with were fabulous. Dave in podiatry said ‘the building was crap but the people were lovely’. Building was fine, serviceable. "Mary" had a sense of history of the building and that it was privilege to work in it. Beautiful cut limestone blocks. Appreciated that and the big windows.</p>
<p>Anne set off the alarm once when she went out the back door.</p>
<p>There was once a mix up with the keys. The cleaners would lock up and throw the keys in the letter box and someone else would open up in the morning with another set of keys. But somehow both sets of keys were in the letter box. "Mary" climbed in through a window that was opened and was able to open the door from the inside! Sean the porter would remember this story and Pam from the eye clinic would remember it as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.27.35 - 1.30.11</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Description of Grattan Street </strong></p>
<p>Historic, homely, old grandeur, comfortable but uncomfortable, people are willing to work and find solutions. Nice building at one level but primitive at another level.</p>
<p>Staff were always lovely and gelled. Started with 3 disciplines and that expanded. People were caring and good sense of comradery, work spirit and work ethic.</p>
<p>Old photocopier that was there for 20-30 years which was always breaking down. They used to repair it themselves. When they asked for a new one they were told “it’s not pride is making ye ask for a new one!”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.30.11 - 1.31.23</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>The Effect of the Mix of Disciplines</strong></p>
<p>Levelling effect. Nobody thought they were above anyone. Meet people from other disciples who could make exceptions or give advice- could tic-tac with one another. It was very personal. You weren’t going into someone else’s territory through some doors. They all met in the tea rom.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.31.23 - 1.33.08</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Car Park</strong></p>
<p>No car parking when "Mary" began. Staff and outsiders could park there. There was some kind of grandfather clause which allowed non-staff to park there. There used to be agro between the staff about it until they realised they were all in the same boat. Then the Educate Together School opened up and they were trying to park their cars there too. It’s hassle. Manic at times. Compares it to Mr Bean. Residents had parking.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.33.08 - 1.35.46</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Child Welfare Case</strong></p>
<p>Child welfare issue was brought in front of Judge Clifford. The mother had issues with alcohol and depression (those problems could affect children not getting vaccines as well). "Mary" remembers child or 4 or 5 years of age with bottle in their mouth and the bottle had whiskey in it. The fridge had one tomato in it. What should the staff wear to court- should they wear a hat? "Mary" was obliged to call to the house as a result of the case. And the child was eventually fostered.</p>
<p>Wheelchairs and how tough it was for families and children growing up and needing bigger wheelchairs. Makes you think how lucky you are according to "Mary".</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.35.46 - 1.37.39</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Curiosities and Quirks of Grattan Street Building</strong></p>
<p>Pigeons could be heard upstairs and the exterminator came. Plaster crumbling off the walls in Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Paperwork and records. New letterheads and they were ordered to dump things while people downstairs were looking for things but there was money being wasted on paperwork being thrown out.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.37.39 - 1.41.50</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Floods 2010 and Transporting Vaccines</strong></p>
<p>Vaccines were stored in a special room with fridges wired directly to the mains, there was a fear the power would be lost. Water was at the door. Vaccines should be transferred to St Finbarr’s hospital. "Mary" and Sean the porter waited for a van to come to transport them. Eventually a fiesta arrived with 2 big men. They had 20-30 boxes like cool boxes. They made two trips in "Mary's" car to bring the vaccines across town through the floods. Describes herself as a determined person.</p>
<p>Onetime borrowed waders from Meitheal Mara on Crosses Green and walked to Grattan Street in them.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.41.50 - 1.43.18</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Future of Grattan Street Building</strong></p>
<p>Historical connection with William Penn. Would like to see Grattan Street be a visitor centre or a place for weddings. Could have a little garden or courtyard.</p>
<p>Current waiting room could be used.</p>
<p>Catering could be provided there as well.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.43.18 - 1.46.50</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Hopes for St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre</strong></p>
<p>Hopes there is suitable parking. And tied up thinking from the planning department and developers. Encouraging people to go green and use bicycles etc. is fine but closing parking isn’t the place to start.</p>
<p>There should be a place to make a cup of tea yourself.</p>
<p>Good service for people who need it and people feel they can access it.</p>
<p>Hope it isn’t too big, and there won’t be sections that you will never meet.</p>
<p>A central meeting place is desirable where you could meet someone you don’t directly work with.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.46.50 - 1.48.40</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Making the Building Approachable</strong></p>
<p>Easy access. Does there need to be a service for mothers to get up the hill to the health centre? Will there be a place for children to play in?</p>
<p>People should be given specific individual appointments not 20 appointments sent out for 2pm. Access to water like a watercooler.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.48.40 - 1.52.00</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Decision to Become a Nurse</strong></p>
<p>Would choose to be a nurse if she had the option over again. Has enjoyed life and had a good home life. Have had lots of opportunities.</p>
<p>Could have become pigeonholed in one area. In one way "Mary" feels she has cut herself off from other aspects of nursing that she was interested in- clinical and theatre related work.</p>
<p>Rewarding helping mothers and children with bed wetting issues.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>1.52.00- End</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Outro. Interview ends 1.52.13</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
"Mary": Grattan Street, Healthcare, Working Life
Subject
The topic of the resource
<span>Ireland; Cork; Limerick; Middle Parish; The Marsh; Grattan Street; Occupational Lore;</span>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
14 March 2019
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00704_Collins_2019
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Cork, Limerick, Ireland, 1960s-2010s
Relation
A related resource
<strong>Other Interviews in this Collection</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/240" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00696_O'Regan_2019</a>;<br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/243" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00706_Higgisson_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00712_O'Brien_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/245" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00713_Kearney_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/246" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00714_Cunning_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/247" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00717_Ward_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/248" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/249" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00728_Scanlan_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/250" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00729_Mulcahy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/251" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00732_Cassidy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00760_Morrissy_2019</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/253" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> CFP_SR00762_OConnell_2019</a>;
Creator
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Cork Folklore Project
Rights
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Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Format
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1 .wav file
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>‘Mary’ grew up on a farm in county Limerick, part of which was rented to a mental hospital to be worked by patients. By interacting with these patients she quickly learned who you could trust and who you couldn’t. </span></p>
<p><span>Mentions her brother’s physical and mental disability.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses how the smell of tripe and drisheen reminds of father who died when she was young</span></p>
<p><span>Recounts her surprise and confusion as a child learning that her mother had remarried and her new husband was to live in the family home.</span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the routine on farm including looking after the cows, feeding hens, making bread, and how their dinner changed with seasonal availability of produce.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about her commute to school on a bicycle with sister and standing up to boys who hassled them. Learned some subjects through Irish. Recalls her sister disliking being singled out by teacher because of her attractive eyes and hair.</span></p>
<p><span>Remembers seeing a young JP McManus cycling.</span></p>
<p><span>Explains how she always considered becoming a nurse. Discusses training and hospital experiences including with nuns. Believes that nurses who had worked abroad had a broader perspective on life. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the role of the Public Health Nurse which required entering patients’ houses and assisting them with births and deaths. Other features included the need to be able to read emotions and build trust with others and managing your work largely independently. </span></p>
<p><span>Describes some memorable cases as a PHN. A family singing Boney M to a baby with a severely lif-limiting condition. Waiting for an ambulance for a man struggling to breathe who lived without electricity. Trying to find help for an older woman struggling with dementia who was being passed from one agency to another without resolution. Fumigating a woman’s accommodation to rid it of fleas, the poor living conditions she found there and the ambivalent reaction of the woman to this health intervention.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses vaccines, their role in eliminating polio and the varying attitudes to vaccination.</span></p>
<p><span>Recounts the story of social welfare officers in Grattan Street providing a bed to a woman who promptly sold it on the Coal Quay.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on the mutually beneficial mix of medical disciplines in Grattan Street and the positive relations between the staff. </span></p>
<p><span>Outlines the problems, changes and tensions relating to the car parking situation for Grattan Street staff and others in the surrounding community.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about a child welfare issue where she had to attend court as a PHN.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of the deficiencies of the Grattan Street building including plaster falling off walls, the waste of paperwork, dry rot, bars on windows and a very out-of-date photocopier. Suggests future uses for the building. </span></p>
<p><span>Tells the story of the 2010 floods when the vaccines had to transferred with difficulty to St Finbarr’s Hospital for safety.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses the desirable feature of the new building in Gurranbraher including it having a central meeting area and parking as well as being of a manageable size, accessible and approachable.</span></p>
<p><span>Reflects on how she found her career of helping others rewarding. </span></p>
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Accommodation
ADHD
Ambulance
Animals
Anti-Vax
Australia
Babies
Baby
Bales of Hay
Bed Wetting
Bedtime
Bicycle
Bicycles
Bicycling
Bike
Bike. Bikes
Birth
Bread
bread and breadmaking
Breadmaking
Building
Buildings
Built Heritage
Bullying
Bureaucracy
Bus
Calf
Camaraderie
Candle
Candles
Canteen
Car Park
Car Parking
Career
Career Choice
Career Decision
Career Guidance
Career Path
Careers
Castletroy
Change
Chemist
Child Welfare
Childhood
Childhood Games
Children
Christmas
City Hall
Cleaners
Clinic
Clinics
Clothes
Clothing
Co. Limerick. County Limerick
Coal Quay
Colleagues
Community
Community Welfare
Cooking
Cork
Cork city
Court
Court Case
Cow
Death
Decision
Dementia
Disability
Disease
Diseases
Dispensary
Disrepair
Dressings
Drisheen
Duties
Educate Together
Electricity
Emigration
English market
Family
Family Life
Farm
Farming
Farmlife
Father
Flats
Fleas
Flooding
Floods
Food
Frustration
Games
Glasgow
GP
Grattan Street
Hay
Health
Health Promotion
Health Services
Healthcare
Healthy
Hens
History
Hoarding
Home
Hospital
House
Houses
Housing
HPV
HPV Vaccine
HSE
Hygiene
Illness
Illnesses
Income
Irish Language
Kitchen
Knocknaheeney
Labour Ward
Lane
Laneway
Learning
Limerick
Limerick city
Marriage
Marsh
Meals
Medicine
Medicines
Memories
Memory
Mental Hospital
Mental Issues
Mercy Hospital
Middle Parish
Midwife
Midwifery
MMR
Mother
Mushrooms
Music
Night Work
North Main Street
Nun
Nuns
Nurse
Nurse Training
Nurses
Nursing
Nursing Home
Nursing Training
Orthopaedic
Our Lady’s Hospital
Paperwork
Parents
Parking
Patient
Patient Care
Patient Environment
Patients
Pharmacy
PHN
Polio
Pop Music
Porter
Potatoes
Priest
Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nursing. PHNs
Public Transport
Quakers
Religion
Remarriage
Rent
Role of Women
Routine
Sarsfield Court
Sarsfield’s Court
School
Schooldays
Sheares Street
Shift Work
Siblings
Sickness
Singing
Smell
Smells
smoking
Social Conditions
Songs
Spinster
St Francis Church
St Mary's Health Campus
St. Mary’s Primary Care Centre
Staff Canteen
Tea
Tea Room
Teacher
Teachers
Tenements
Textbooks
Thatch
The Marsh
The Middle Parish
Traditional Food
Transport
Tripe
Tripe and Drisheen
Uniform
USA Biscuits
Vaccination
Vaccinations
vaccine
Vaccines
Vegetables
Vocation
Ward
Wastage
Waste
Wheelchair
Winter
Women
Women's Lives
Work
Work Colleagues
Working
Working life
Worklife
Workplace
York Hill