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https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/d3568d256018c2628eb28ab4536e9a96.jpg
18106e276a42c57377f1bca3ae962d2d
https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/files/original/fc7a9d14e9dfd1673b8cc2c5901b112d.mp3
825a0448cf288e30077a2fdf1a402967
Dublin Core
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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
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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
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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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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
Liam Ó hUigín
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Kieran Murphy
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
59 Minutes 41 Seconds
Location
The location of the interview
Ballyphehane
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 - 0.00.31</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p>intro</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.00.31 - 0.02.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Memories of Grattan Street and surrounding area Shops and Buildings</strong></p>
<p>Grattan Street was a busy street with many businesses. Most important was the fire brigade. When the new St Francis Church was being built (Broad Lane church as it was called by people in the Middle Parish) the fire brigade amalgamated with Sullivan’s Quay and the priest of Old Broad Lane church moved into the old fire brigade building while new church was being built.</p>
<p>Children missed the excitement of the fire brigade.</p>
<p>Very vibrant street. 6 pubs: Kellehers, Crosses, Landers, Carrols (later called the Tostal Inn), Ramble Inn (owned by Mrs Brick) two Murphys public houses near Broad Lane which runs from Grattan Street to North Main Street.</p>
<p>Shops and sweet Shops: The Rodisses, The People’s Dairy, The M Laundries, 2 Gents Hairdressing Saloons (called barber shops): Leahy’s and Keanes. Where the Community Centre is now was called Mechanics Hall, because the mechanics had a union and meetings there. Later it was known as Matt Talbot Hall.</p>
<p>There were lots of tenement houses in the area.</p>
<p>[Liam’s phone rings.] </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.03.06 - 0.05:04</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Tenement Houses, Lanes, playing in Graveyard</strong></p>
<p>Where Patrick Hanely Buildings are now there were tenement houses. Liam only barely remembers them as they were being demolished in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They were derelict sites for a while, which was his playground.</p>
<p>St Peter’s Cemetery down Peter Church Lane, playing among the headstones, and hiding or planking cigarettes.</p>
<p>Shops: Manning’s Shops at corner of Henry Street and Grattan Street, Mrs Mullins at corner of Coleman’s Lane. From Coleman’s Lane to Adelaide Street there were 4 or 5 houses there with 4 or 5 families in each house. Remembers Shinkwin? Family, the Dineens. When they moved out they went to Gurranabraher, Ballyphehane and the suburbs in Ballincollig.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.05:04 - 0.06.56</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Childhood Games and Activities</strong></p>
<p>Very little Traffic on the roads at the time. Liam was living in Henry Street round the corner from Grattan Street. Recalls soccer matches from one end of the street to the other and wouldn’t see a car. Friends who came from Blarney Street or Barrack Street couldn’t understand why the streets were so wide and loved it for a game of football.</p>
<p>If a woman with a pram approached while they were playing football they would pick up the ball or if they played near the Mercy Hospital they knew that they should keep quiet without anyone telling them and Liam thinks that has changed today.</p>
<p>Many of his friends live in Grattan Street and everyone was a happy family until there was a row and they had a battering match with “stones down the quarry”.</p>
<p>They used to swim by the Mercy Hospital by the ladder. And then on to ‘the pipe’ up the Lee Fields and then the weir and every second day they had the Lee Baths one day for boys one for girls. Today it’s mixed. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.06.56 - 0.11.32</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Poverty-Buying on Credit and using Pawn Shops</strong></p>
<p>Could get messages or shopping on tick or on credit. Milk, bread, quarter (pound) of cheese. There was no bottle of milk you had to bring in your own jug. If you ran out of money the shopkeeper would write it into a book and at the end of the week you could pay it off. A few people could afford not to be ‘on tick’.</p>
<p>There were a few pawn shops on the North Main Street one near north Gate Bridge Jones, another across from Coleman’s Lane called Twomeys. There may have been more. There was one at the bottom of Shandon street owned by Jones as well.</p>
<p>There were 18 or 19 pawn shops around the city one at bottom of Patrick’s Hill, one by fire brigade station on Sullivan’s Quay, two on Barrack Street.</p>
<p>People would pawn clothes. Tradesmen would pawn trowels on Monday morning. Often for drink/ alcohol. Wives would pawn husband’s suit and take it back the following Saturday for going to mass. Nearly everyone used the pawn it was the forerunner to the Credit Union.</p>
<p>If you pawned a pair of shoes for 10 shillings, you got a docket and you had to pay 11 shillings to get it back.</p>
<p>Wives would be stressed making sure they could get the husband’s suit back in time for mass.</p>
<p>It was a thriving business. If you didn’t claim your pawned items after a certain period it was put for sale in the window.</p>
<p>Some people would pawn things openly. Other people would hide it under a shawl, or pretend to be pawning something for someone else. People felt ashamed. Almost everyone was scraping a living.</p>
<p>Even some shopkeepers looked after people who may not have had enough to pay at the end of the week.</p>
<p>At Christmas the shopkeeper would give you a present of a Christmas Cake or Christmas Candle depending on what type of customer you were. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.11.32 - 0.13.02</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Work, Pawns, Showing off Wealth</strong></p>
<p>Liam doesn’t remember what or whether his family pawned. Liam’s dad was a docker which was paid on a daily basis and his mother was shrewd enough to put away some money every day. He knew that relations of his pawned things though.</p>
<p>Bracelets, wedding ring, engagement ring, rarely a watch very few people had watches.</p>
<p>Liam knew someone who went to work in Dagenham and he came back a Dagenham Yank with a different accent “a twang” and a watch. He walked into centre of Henry Street, pulled up his sleeve and pretended to be winging his watch while looking at Shandon clock tower just to show off his watch. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.13.02 - 0.13.46</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Telephone</strong></p>
<p>Phones were also very scarce. One shop in Henry Street had a phone and there was a queue there for people wanting to use it. There was another phone booth by Vincent’s Bridge coming down Sunday’s Well. Liam remembers playing there and being afraid to go in to answer the phone.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.13.46 - 0.18.37</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Tenement conditions, Emigrants, Social Comparison, Fuel Poverty</strong></p>
<p>Laneways around there: Philip’s Lane from Grattan Street to North Main Street. Skiddy’s Castle from Grattan Street to North Main Street. Coleman’s Lane, Peter Church Lane (now Avenue), Broad Lane (at the back of the church), all on to North Main Street from Grattan Street.</p>
<p>Conditions were basic looking back with an outdoor toilet. One family on Henry Street had ten families with one cold tap in back yard and one toilet between them. They had to clean out every morning and bring an enamel bucket upstairs every morning.</p>
<p>Had an inferiority complex about relations coming home from England. The relatives would be dressed up in finery but later Liam discovered they were also badly off but made the effort when coming home.</p>
<p>The story of someone’s uncle who came back from America after 40 years and the family had moved out to the suburbs and they had a barbeque. And the uncle used the toilet inside the house. He said he used to eat inside and the toilet was outside and now it is reversed!</p>
<p>They used newspaper instead of toilet paper.</p>
<p>Turf and timber blocks for fuel for heating which father got going out the Straight Road.</p>
<p>Some people got a voucher for a peck of coal which might only be a large shovel full. Some families got vouchers for free shoes like in the shop Furlongs in South Main Street (owner may have been lord mayor later) Liam wasn’t sure where the vouchers came from- maybe the Health Board. Doesn’t think there was any child benefit. Maybe the Sick Poor would provide the vouchers. They would visit people and the people would try to hide that they were calling. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.18.37 - 0.22.42</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Cooking, Bathing, Hygiene and Medicines</strong></p>
<p>No cooking facilities only the fire. Mother would cook pot of potatoes on the fire and then transfer to the hob.</p>
<p>1948 no electricity in Henry Street at the time.</p>
<p>When they got gas in mother told him not to leave kitchen door open to hide it from Liam’s grandmother who lived upstairs and was the real tenant. It wasn’t an oven it was a thing on a stand with two rings on it. Older people were afraid of being gassed.</p>
<p>Saturday night the galvanised bath was put in front of fire with hot water and washed, and if you were the last person in the bath the water would be dirty. And then the children were lined up against the wall to get a weekly does of cod liver oil, or Brutlax, California syrup of figs, Senna? All because of worms. Some newspaper put on the table and hair combed with fine tooth comb to get rid of lice- it was an ordeal.</p>
<p>Brutlax was like chocolate but a laxative.</p>
<p>Milk of magnesia used as well. Given those every Saturday night to prevent you getting sick. Some of them had a terrible taste.</p>
<p><span>If someone got sick taken to the dispensary. </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.22.42 - 0.24.12</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong><span>Children’s Games Different for boys and girls</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Spent much time in the derelict site where Patrick Hanley Buildings are now, used to connect to Cove street. They had battering matches with stones and they were going to the Mercy Hospital 4 or 5 times a week. They used to play chasing hiding from the nuns around the Mercy Hospital.</span></p>
<p><span>Could bring a spinning top and hit is with a whip up and down the road without fear of traffic.</span></p>
<p><span>Girls would tie a rope to a pole and swing around it and skipping as well. </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.24.12 - 0.31.57</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Food, traditions, routines. Lunch at Work</strong></p>
<p>Porridge for breakfast which you eat if you were given. His grandchildren now have a choice of 5 cereals. Goodie- bread and milk mixed maybe with sugar sprinkled on it.</p>
<p>Some shops on North Main Street like Simcox or Currans Bakery you could get bread wrapped in soft tissue paper which was kept in a drawer at home for when visitors came to use for the toilet because it was better than newspaper.</p>
<p>Potatoes and cabbage. Father loved pigs meat: pig’s heat, backbone, pig’s tail, crubeens. Liam still loves a crubeen except for the trouble of cooking of it, and it’s messy to eat.</p>
<p>Mother was reared around Vicar Street. Barrack Street, Blarney Street, Shandon Street: that’s the way people lived because there was little Gurranabraher built and Ballyphehane wasn’t built yet.</p>
<p>Tripe and drisheen is still a favourite, can get from Reilly’s in the market. Tripe cut into little pieces, with cornflower, onions, “white sauce”, drisheen put in later. Tripe and drisheen would be weekly. Liam loved the pig’s tongue because it was lean. Set day for each food.</p>
<p>Liam’s dad was a docker and he would cut the ear off the pig’s head, put it in a sandwich with bread and butter, wrap in newspaper and that was his lunch. He wasn’t the only one.</p>
<p>Thinks tripe is from sheep’s stomach. Blood in the drisheen.</p>
<p>Connie Dodgers for Lent allowed one meal and two collations. Con Lucey said you could have a biscuit with a cup of tea as a collation. Liam thinks it was Larry McCarthy’s bakery that made a biscuit twice as big as the normal one.</p>
<p>For Lent had to fast every Friday and couldn’t eat meat, except for people of a certain age.</p>
<p>Religion was a big thing for people at the time.</p>
<p>Lent didn’t bother Liam’s dad.</p>
<p>Dockers worked hard. Where Elysian Tower is now, where the Eglinton Baths were Liam went with his mother and a bowl of soup and bread and butter and a tea towel over it. The dockers sat on the kerb eating their soup and sandwiches and they were all black with dirt no washing of hands.</p>
<p>All the work was shovelling coal, Liam worked there for 2 days and had enough of it- nearly wanted a small shovel to fill the shovel he had. His dad was small but very wiry and strong. “They were marvellous people”</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.31.57- 0.37.05</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Pastimes, Shops and Opening Hours </strong></p>
<p>Dad spent time in the pub maybe too much. People listened to the radio or sat in front of the fire reading the newspaper. Some people with go hunting or play football or hurling.</p>
<p>Liam plays golf now but at the time it was only for the elite doctors and solicitors. Liam’s dad never stood inside a golf club.</p>
<p>Liam was 10 when his mother died she would offer him tripe and drisheen or a creamy cake for dinner and he would choose the cake.</p>
<p>The corner shops are gone now because of the supermarkets.</p>
<p>Corner shops on Henry Street were: Bode’s?, Mannings, Horrigan’s, Dermot’s on Adelaide Street. Dermot’s was first all-night shop in the city- wouldn’t be there during the day. Open from 8pm to 8am. A salesman in coca cola told Liam that Dermot lived on Pope’s Quay and owned a Morris Minor car and he drove it to Adelaide Street 7 days a week and the car was ten years old and there wasn’t 5,000 miles on it because that was all the driving he did.</p>
<p>In Ballypheane Liam sees people carrying lots of bags after shopping in Aldi on Tory Top Road. Liam remembers going to Dermot’s for quarter pound of cheese (3 or 4 slices), half pound of tea, 2 eggs, there were no fridges so you bought and you ate them there was little storage. Dermot would put greaseproof paper over the blade and cut perfectly a few slices of cheese which had come from a timber box. Girls were interested in the box for making cots for dolls. There was no variety of cheese available just the one block. Sugar was available in quarter pounds rather than big bags. Men coming home from the pub would be sent back out to get a box of cocoa or milk from Dermot’s.</p>
<p>There was no one on the street after 12 o’clock unlike today when there’s lots of people around after nightclubs. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.37.05 - 0.39.00</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Death of Mother and Family Living Arrangements</strong></p>
<p>When Liam’s mom died his aunt who had 6 children moved upstairs from Liam. She has 5 daughters and 1 son and the son died of meningitis at 4 years old. Liam’s grandfather was dead. Aunt moved to grandmother in Vicar Street to look after her. Liam was going to school in Mardyke, father’s place during the day, went to grandmother’s in Vicar Street for food and washing and then back to the Marsh to sleep. He skipped school for almost 3 months (‘on the lang’) until the school wrote to his dad, who gave him a lecture. He was nearly 14 then and on the verge of leaving school anyway. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.39.00 - 0.44.13</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>The Dispensary now Grattan Street Health Centre, Tinsmith and Nurse</strong></p>
<p>Lots of cases of meningitis. Everyone in Cork used to go to the Dispensary. Everyone now in their 70s seems to remember Dr Cagney. He would give a bottle of coloured water. If you forgot your bottle you had to go to Mr Gamble the tinsmith in Grattan Street. He made ponnies, gallons, billycans. But when plastic came in there was no need for tinsmiths.</p>
<p>Remembers getting injection or vaccination from Dr Cagney, thinks it may have been for smallpox but is not sure. He dreaded the needles for the syringes which were “like six-inch nails”.</p>
<p>You went through a gate, into a yard and there were steps leading up to the entrance. A grey-haired woman maybe called Mrs O’Keefe. There were benches like in a church. There were hatches. You queued up for the doctor. And the hatches gave you the medicine.</p>
<p>Other place for illness was Mercy Hospital.</p>
<p>Recalls a midwife Nurse Anthony who called to people’s houses. Liam thought when younger than it was the midwife who brought babies on her bicycle. Aunt lived on Thomas Street (a continuation of Peter’s Street) to the back entrance of the Mercy Hospital where the “dead house” was where Liam’s mother was laid out. Remembers the Quirkes and the Horgans, Glandons?, McCarthys living there too and they all moved out when Mercy took over the whole block.</p>
<p>Liam doesn’t remember playing around inside the Dispensary.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.44.13 - 0.45.35</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Making vs Buying Lunch</strong></p>
<p>People who worked in Dispensary didn’t live in area. Doesn’t think people make lunches for work anymore. In modern day people go to shops like Spar for sandwiches and rolls. Wives/mothers used to make “lunches for them in the morning” for children who were working and there was a can with milk, tea and sugar.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.45.35 - 0.46.14</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Families Living in Dispensary Grattan Street</strong></p>
<p>Thinks Mrs O’Keefe was only working there, possibly the cleaner. Mrs O’Keefe may not have been her name. Liam doesn’t think they were charging people in the dispensary.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.46.14 - 0.50.55</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Attitude to health, Pubs, Fights, Market Gardens, Childhood Mischief</strong></p>
<p>There was no such thing as being left on a trolley. The Mercy hospital was the only hospital Liam knew, and every child in the Marsh went there at least once after a fall, hit with a stone on the head, a few stitches. Although, Liam’s aunt lost a son to meningitis. Didn’t have the medicines we have today.</p>
<p>They were simple times but he doesn’t remember going hungry ever.</p>
<p>Lots of pubs on Grattan Street and people were spending lots of time and money which put a burden on the family. Saturday night on Grattan Street there would usually be a fight, stripped to the waist.</p>
<p>Bonfire night used to be a great night but no longer.</p>
<p>No awareness of mental health. Called the Lee Road the Madhouse Road. First coloured person Liam ever saw was on Sheares Street and when they saw him they called him “Johnny the Black” and they got a chase.</p>
<p>A chase was very important for children at the time. Fisherman on Wise’s Quay near Vincent’s Bridge the children used to throw stones in to frighten the fish away and the fisherman would chase them.</p>
<p>Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the market gardeners would bring their produce on horse and carts to the Coal Quay and the shopkeepers would come to buy vegetables off them. Liam and the children would steal (“knock off”) some cabbage and carrots. “Oliver Twist was only trotting after us”.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.50.55 - 0.51.15</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Sweets</strong></p>
<p>You’d get a few sweets in Woolworths from the girls who worked there, to prevent them trying to steal them!</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.51.15 - 0.55.10</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>WW2 Air Raid Shelters in Cork</strong></p>
<p>Three air raid shelters on Sheare’s Street, 2 in Henry Street and maybe a few in Grattan Street, at least one. O’Connell on Sheares Street was in charge of air raid shelter no 3. Fear of being bombed by German’s during World War 2 mass concrete buildings rather than underground. Liam has photograph of an air raid shelter on Patrick Street outside the Victoria Hotel and a photograph of it being knocked down. </p>
<p>The son of the man who had the key to air raid shelter no 3 would rent out the space to old children if it was raining and they wanted to use it to play cards. In the 1940s. he lived at corner of Moore Street and Sheares Street. They were being demolished in 1948 or 1949. Air raid shelter remains inside the door of Elizabeth Fort and there are 2 on the grounds of the South Infirmary (Victoria Hospital), they’ve now been converted to stores. </p>
<p>If you stand at bottom of South Terrace and you look up at “Rock Savage” on top of the hill at the back of the South Infirmary you can see it protruding out.</p>
<p>Liam remembers the LDF became the FCA and that their “top coats” were good as blankets during the winter as you could put your hands into the pockets. Nearly every house had an army coat on the bed.</p>
<p>Everyone was issued with a gas mask, Liam has one from a friend of his. Everyone had to be measured for their gas mask at the city hall or in schools. Liam’s dad wasn’t not in the LDF but his uncle was and it was his coat that was on the bed.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.55.10 - 0.59.24</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Grattan Street, Dispensary, surrounding lanes, Terence MacSwiney connection</strong></p>
<p>Grattan Street was busy, vibrant street, always something happening there. Can’t believe seeing the traffic there now.</p>
<p>Liam took a photograph of Prince Charles stopped in traffic outside the plaque to Patrick Hanely Buildings.</p>
<p>The Dispensary was a historical place, there was a time when Grattan Street was a river and Meeting House Lane from North Main Street (at the side of Bradleys) was the entrance to any of the buildings on Grattan Street. Henry Street was known as Penrose Quay.</p>
<p>On Adelaide Street at the back of where Curran’s Restaurant was there was a square called Penrose Square- after the Penrose Family that lived in Tivoli.</p>
<p>If you come down Coleman’s Lane from Grattan Street and enter North Main Street up on the wall there are four plaques for the building where Terence MacSwiney was born. People think he was born in Blackpool because they confuse him with Tomas MacCurtain. Terence married one of the Murphy brewers. Liam is very interested in Terence MacSwiney and loves talking about him, maybe because he comes from the same area in Cork.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>0.59.24 - 0.59.41</strong></p>
<p> </p>
</td>
<td>
<p>Outro. 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
<p>Liam Ó hUigín: Grattan Street, Healthcare, The Marsh</p>
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
CFP_SR00727_OhUigin_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/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>;
<br /><strong>Other Interviews with Liam in the CFP Archive<br /></strong><br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/134" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00422_OhUigin_2012</a>; <br /><a href="http://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00439_OhUigin_2011</a>; <br /><a href="https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/items/show/67" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CFP_SR00539_OhUigin_2015</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
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Audio
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
24 July 2019
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cork Folklore Project
Description
An account of the resource
<p><span>Liam grew up on Henry Street in The Marsh and recalls playing football on Grattan Street which was busy and full of activity with businesses, pubs, shops a fire station, barber shops and tenements. He discusses some shops and games in more detail.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of the poverty in the Middle Parish which necessitated buying goods on credit and selling clothes and jewellery to pawnshops. Mentions pawn locations. Mentions bringing empty bottles to shops to fill them with milk.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses the conditions of the tenement houses in the Middle Parish including the sanitation arrangements such as outdoor toilets and the use of newspaper as toilet paper, he also mentions heating issues including timber, turf and coal which was available via a voucher scheme. Further discusses cooking, washing in the tenements including the introduction of gas and electricity. Also mentions medicines for lice and worms administered at home.</span></p>
<p><span>Says that boys and girls played different games separately when he was growing up. Mentions some of these games in more detail.</span></p>
<p><span>Discusses foods (including tripe and drisheen, pig’s tongue, Connie Dodgers) meal routines and the shops where food was purchased. Liam and his mother brought lunch to his father where he worked on the docks.</span></p>
<p><span>Returns to the topic of corner shops and shopping and the types of food available there, further comparing this to supermarkets today.</span></p>
<p><span>Speaks of the death of his mother and the change in living circumstances that this entailed.</span></p>
<p><span>Describes getting a vaccination in the dispensary, what it was like inside and who worked there.</span></p>
<p><span>Mentions fights outside bars at night time.</span></p>
<p><span>Talks about air raid shelters built in Cork city during the Second World War, what they looked like and where they were located.</span></p>
Accommodation
Adelaide Street
Air Raid Shelter
Alcohol
Bakeries
Bakery
Ballypheane
Ballyphehane
Barbers
bars
Bathing
Baths
Billycan
Bonfire Night
Bread
Breakfast
Broad Lane
Buildings
Bullycans
Business
businesses
Buying on Credit
Cagney
Car
Cars
Catholic Devotion
Catholicism
Cemetery
changing technology
Chase
Chemist
Childhood
Childhood Games
Children
Children’s Games
Christmas
Christmas Cake
Church
Churches
Cigarettes
Class
Clothes
Clothing
Coal
Coal Quay
Coleman’s Lane
Community Centre
Connie Dodgers
Cooking
Corner Shop
Corner Shops
Credit
Credit Union
Crubeen
Crubeens
Customer
Customers
Dagenham Yank
Death
Dermot’s Shop
Disease
Diseases
Dispensary
Docker
Dockers
Docks
Dr
Drink
Drisheen
Eglinton Baths
Elizabeth Fort
Elysian Tower
Emigrant
Emigrants
Emigration
Employment
Families
Family
Fast
Fasting
Father
Fighting
Fights
Fire Brigade
Fire Station
Fishermen
Food
Football
Friends
Friendship
Fuel
Fuel Poverty
Gender Roles
Golf
Grandmother
Grattan Street
Grattan Street Health Centre
Grattan Street Medical Centre
Graveyard
Great Coat
Hair Lice
Hairdresser
Hairdressers
Headstones
Health
Heating
Henry Street
Hobbies
Home
Hospital
House
Illness
Illnesses
Jewellery
Lanes
Laneways
LDF
Lee
Lee Baths
Lee Fields
Lent
Lice
Living Arrangements
Local Defence Force
Lunch
Manning’s Shop
Mardyke
Marsh
Mass
Mass-Going
Meal
Meals
Meat
Medication
Medicine
Medicines
Meningitis
Mental Health
Mercy Hospital
Middle Parish
Midwife
Mischief
Money
Mother
North Main Street
Nurse
Nurses
Opening Hours
Outdoor Baths
Outdoor Swimming
Outdoor Toilet
Parents
Pastimes
Patrick Hanley Buildings
Pawn Shops
Pawning
Pawns
Pawnshops
Peter Church Lane
Pharmacist
Pharmacy
Phone
Phones
Planking
Playing
Poverty
Public House
Public Houses
Pubs
Race
Radio
Religion
River Lee
Sandwich
Sanitation
School
Schooldays
Second World War
Shandon
Shandon Bells
Sheares Street
Shoes
Shopkeeper
Shops
Sick
Sickness
Skipping
Skipping School
Slang
Soccer
Social Conditions
South Main Street
Spinning Top
Sport
St Francis Church
St Peter’s
St Peter’s Cemetery
St. Francis Church
Street Games
Streets
Sugar
Sullivan’s Quay
Sweets
Swim
Swimming
Telephone
Telephones
Tenement
tenement houses
Tenements
Terence MacSwiney
The Lee
The Marsh
The Middle Parish
Theft
Tin
Tinsmith
Toilet
Toilets
Tory Top Road
Traditions
Traffic
Tripe
Tripe and Drisheen
Vaccination
vaccine
Vaccines
Vegetables
Vincent’s Bridge
Voucher
Vouchers
Watches
Weir
Winter
Woolworths
Work
Working
World War II
World War Two
WW2
-
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
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Cork Folklore Project
Source
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Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Publisher
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Cork Folklore Project
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Cork Folklore Project
Language
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English
Type
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Audio
Format
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16 .wav Files
Oral History
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Interviewee
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Mary
Interviewer
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Kieran Murphy
Duration
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112 Minutes 13 Seconds
Location
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Bishopstown
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.wav
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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 - 0.00.25</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>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<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
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
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
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
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