Memories of a Cork Messenger Boy
Dublin Core
Title
Memories of a Cork Messenger Boy
Subject
Liam Ó hUígín on being a Musgraves messenger boy
Description
Excerpt from an oral history interview where the narrator reflects on his time as a messenger boy working in Cork City
Transcript
"I was a messenger boy in Musgrave’s in the ‘50s, the early fifties and there was lots of messenger boys in Cork that time particularly in the English Market and all my friends, they were all messenger boys and you know you had these big, these bikes with the big baskets in front and some of the lads could be, they could be sent up to Montenotte or down to Tivoli with a pound of sausages, all that kind of thing and we used to have great fun with the bikes because most of the lads were allowed to bring the bikes home and none of us had our own bikes and you’d be going for a spin and you’d be sat into the basket with your legs sticking out the side and all this business and ‘twas great really. And I remember in the fifties, there was a messenger boy strike. All the messenger boys in the city went on strike, now we were, Musgrave’s, they were very, they were a great crowd to work for, I be honest with you now and they insisted that the messenger boys were not to be sent out on the bikes because if you were seen on the bike during the strike, the bike would be taken off, by the group of other messenger boys and you, the bike would end up inside over Patrick’s Bridge, which a few bikes did end up inside in Patrick’s Bridge. Inside in the river, you know thrown in over, ‘twas all great excitement you know. And I can remember Musgrave’s had a messenger boy’s bike, ‘twas in the shape of a box like, you’d see them there in some of the old pictures; the ice cream man going around, a three wheeler bike, three wheel bike and Musgrave’s had one of them and ‘twas a great attraction, ‘twas the only one in Cork, they were the only firm in Cork that had a messenger’s boys bike like that you know so if you were doing your, you’d be delivering stuff now to the Old Bridge Restaurant or up to the café in the Savoy, you’d had to go up all the steps at the back of the Savoy, with maybe hundredweight of sugar if you were a fourteen or fifteen year old, ‘twas, that was a big ordeal that time, but when you came out then you’d meet a few of the lads and they all wanted a spin off the bike because ‘twas an unusual bike and I can remember one night, one day I, my last delivery was to Woodford Bourne’s in Patrick Street, where MacDonald’s are now and I went in and I met a friend of mine inside and I had the bike parked outside and we were chatting away inside and sure Musgrave’s was only around the corner so we came out anyway and we strolled over along Cornmarket Street, chatting away and by the time we got over ‘twas time to go home. So I went off home anyway and that night, a few of my friends we went to the Assembly Rooms, the picture house in the, in the South Mall and on the way home around half past ten, we came up Patrick Street and there’s my bike still outside Woodford Bourne’s, so I took the bike home with me, you can imagine now and I tried to get it into the hall at home because we were in a tenement house in Henry Street and I had transport to work the following morning, which was only a couple of hundred yards down the road, but I got a fierce fright if, you know, you couldn’t let your bike there now as you know."
Transcript
"I was a messenger boy in Musgrave’s in the ‘50s, the early fifties and there was lots of messenger boys in Cork that time particularly in the English Market and all my friends, they were all messenger boys and you know you had these big, these bikes with the big baskets in front and some of the lads could be, they could be sent up to Montenotte or down to Tivoli with a pound of sausages, all that kind of thing and we used to have great fun with the bikes because most of the lads were allowed to bring the bikes home and none of us had our own bikes and you’d be going for a spin and you’d be sat into the basket with your legs sticking out the side and all this business and ‘twas great really. And I remember in the fifties, there was a messenger boy strike. All the messenger boys in the city went on strike, now we were, Musgrave’s, they were very, they were a great crowd to work for, I be honest with you now and they insisted that the messenger boys were not to be sent out on the bikes because if you were seen on the bike during the strike, the bike would be taken off, by the group of other messenger boys and you, the bike would end up inside over Patrick’s Bridge, which a few bikes did end up inside in Patrick’s Bridge. Inside in the river, you know thrown in over, ‘twas all great excitement you know. And I can remember Musgrave’s had a messenger boy’s bike, ‘twas in the shape of a box like, you’d see them there in some of the old pictures; the ice cream man going around, a three wheeler bike, three wheel bike and Musgrave’s had one of them and ‘twas a great attraction, ‘twas the only one in Cork, they were the only firm in Cork that had a messenger’s boys bike like that you know so if you were doing your, you’d be delivering stuff now to the Old Bridge Restaurant or up to the café in the Savoy, you’d had to go up all the steps at the back of the Savoy, with maybe hundredweight of sugar if you were a fourteen or fifteen year old, ‘twas, that was a big ordeal that time, but when you came out then you’d meet a few of the lads and they all wanted a spin off the bike because ‘twas an unusual bike and I can remember one night, one day I, my last delivery was to Woodford Bourne’s in Patrick Street, where MacDonald’s are now and I went in and I met a friend of mine inside and I had the bike parked outside and we were chatting away inside and sure Musgrave’s was only around the corner so we came out anyway and we strolled over along Cornmarket Street, chatting away and by the time we got over ‘twas time to go home. So I went off home anyway and that night, a few of my friends we went to the Assembly Rooms, the picture house in the, in the South Mall and on the way home around half past ten, we came up Patrick Street and there’s my bike still outside Woodford Bourne’s, so I took the bike home with me, you can imagine now and I tried to get it into the hall at home because we were in a tenement house in Henry Street and I had transport to work the following morning, which was only a couple of hundred yards down the road, but I got a fierce fright if, you know, you couldn’t let your bike there now as you know."
Creator
The Cork Folklore Project
Source
CFP_SR00439_ohUigin_2011
Publisher
Cork Folklore Project
Date
4/27/2016
Rights
Copyright Cork Folklore Project
Format
MP3
Language
English
Type
Audio
Identifier
CFP_SR00439_ohUigin_2011
Citation
The Cork Folklore Project, “Memories of a Cork Messenger Boy,” Cork Memory Map, accessed April 23, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/cmm/items/show/53.