APHTony Waldron
‘Dear Dad-From You to Me’
Tell me about the time and place you were born.
I was born in the Year of Our Lord 1933 on the 19th of August at the Swan Gate, Athenry, in one of the little thatched houses that were known as the ‘Burned Houses’.
My father’s name was William Waldron from Mulpit and my mother’s name was Eileen Cavanagh from Duncormick, County Wexford.
I had two older sisters, Mary and Rose, who were born in Caheroyn. At that time my parents were staying with Mrs. Duffy who worked in Easons’ little shop on Athenry railway platform. Mrs. Duffy had two sons, Jack and Barney. Barney became a priest while Jack was Godfather to Mary, my sister.
Where I was born at Swan Gate there were six houses with families in them. Starting at Brodys, you had Hoades and McHughes. Next was Mom Nolan who always wore a little plaid shawl on her shoulders. She used to bring me in, give me dip bread in milk and then dip it in sugar. I suppose that’s where I got my ‘sweet tooth’. The next house was Ryans, Pat and Molly, who had four children, Pakie, Mattie, Kathleen and Thomas.
Pat used to drive the horse-drawn bread van for Richard Nolan.
We were the next house. My father worked for Sean Broderick, the Fine Gael TD at the time. He built those houses at Prospect for Tom Curran. They were known as Curran’s houses.
The next family was the Cunniffes, Michael and May. May’s father, Ned, lived with them. His nickname was ‘Old Ned”. They had a large family: Eddie Jackie, Mickie, Kitty, Tomsie, Gertie, Pauline. Paddy Nel, Francis were born in Park in the end house.
There was another house next to Cunniffes but it was empty. A man named ‘Nigger’ Brogan lived in it. Next was a garage owned by a bank manager called Tighe. One day he went into it, locked the door and started the car and killed himself.
When the new houses were built we were all shifted. Hoades went to Raheen and Ryans went to Ballydavid. Ourselves and Cunniffes went to Park. We got the third house and Cunniffes got the end one. Our former homes were condemned.
What are your earliest memories?
My earliest memories are about Swangate. I remember my uncle, Patrick Waldron, came in one night and gave me an apple and orange in a paper bag together with a sixpence coin. When I had the fruit eaten I had the coin in the bag. I left it down and one of my sisters, Mary or Rose, threw it into the big blazing fire. I ran over and put my two hands into the fire and they ended up badly burned. My mother was making a cake. My father caught me up and trust my hands into the flour. My hands were bandaged for a long time. I had to wear a pair of white mittens.
I also remember my father was training the hares for the Coursing Club. Something happened to one of the hares and he brought it home. He kept him in a barrel for a while and as time went by he got tame. He used to let him out around the house. The hare used to sit up on his lap and eat a carrot out of his hand. Mary and Rose used to hold a twig across and he’d jump over it.
I remember the night we left Swangate in Broderick’s pony and car. Nora was only a baby and she was wrapped up in a white shawl. Park was a different place as the houses were newly built. There were no fences between the gardens and no roadside walls. Mick Higgins was digging the holes for the fence stakes. Mick Walsh had a gang building the road walls.
The first house was occupied by Mickie and Mary Collins, who used to wear a shawl. Mickie was a carpenter. There was Annie and Miley. Paddy Joe used to repair clocks and watches. Frank, Martha Raphael he brought me to school the first day.
In the next house was the Burke family. Jimmy used to drive a lorry for Corbetts. I can’t think of his wife’s name. She had a lame step. Their children were Joan, Christy, Angela and Mary. Mary married Johnny Delaney. Angela died when she was only a child. Burkes leff and went up to Caheroyan where Delaneys are now across from the Vocational School.
We were the next house and then Collins’, John and his wife. John was in the Royal Artillery in the First World War. He used to tell us great stories about ‘Bloody Auld Big Guns’ getting stuck in the mud and a lad with a team of mules trying to pull them out.
Tell me about your Mother and Father.
As far as I know they met while he was in the army. He got a job for her in McCoys who used to live in the house in Wilmount where Tony Murphy, the cattle buyer, used to be. I don’t how long she worked there until she got married. When they did marry they lived with Mrs. Duffy in Caheroyan. I can’t remember a lot about her as I was only seven years of age when she died. I do remember her getting me ready for Holy Communion and on the way home from the church of getting a packet of white lozenges in Mammy Quintan’s shop. Mammy had a little shop where Fordes is beside Loughnanes. I had to wait until I got home and had a drink of water before I could start eating the sweets.
I remember her in hospital and going with my father to visit her. She had a lovely head of long hair. She used to brush it at night and then make a bun of it at the back of her head. When she came home from hospital it was all cut short. She was not long at home when she got a relapse of the pneumonia. I remember Dr. Foley coming and Granny coming to mind her. Ann was born on Christmas night. She was not supposed to live but Granny and Nurse Crisham kept her alive. After my mother died Granny brought Ann home to Mulpit with her.
My father was born in 1889 in Mulpit, one of five brothers. In 1916 he and his father were sowing lay land spuds down at the back of the house. They saw Mellows and the boys coming up the Mulpit road on their way to Moyode. He knew Jack was with them and he went to make off with them. The father caught him and made him stay at home and sow the spuds.
Patrick was in France in the First World war, so my father was the oldest left. I’m not sure what he did from 1916/18 onwards. I think he worked in Mayo. I know that he worked for a year for John Finn. He was always catching rabbits and hares. There were gamekeepers at that time and you had to be careful they didn’t catch you.
In 1920/21 Patrick was home out of the army. Jack was at home too as the 1916 lads had been freed. I know himself and Patrick were present at the burning of the Cricket Pavilion. That was the night Bill Freaney got burned to death. They had an ambush set up for the Tans but they never came down until twelve o’clock next day.
When the truce came they all sided with Collins and the three of them joined the Free State Army. He was wounded at the battle of Headford and he was in St. Brickin’s hospital in Dublin for a while.
When the civil war ended they joined Dick Mulcahy’s Blueshirts, which was mainly made up of Free State soldiers. I remember from late in that era because I wore a Blueshirt with the black buttons at the time. I didn’t know the difference.
What do you think your parents thought of you as a child?
I was the apple of their eye, being the only boy. I was spoilt I suppose. When I was small Granny used to knit jumpers and socks and herself and Masie made my First Holy Communion suit. It was made of black velvet. I also remember one day being all dressed up and they called me ‘Little Lord Fontleroy’. I think it was Carmel who put that name on me.
My mother used to bring me to the shop with her when we lived in Swangate. She used to deal in Richard Nolan’s. There was a Dunne girl working in the shop who was related to Mrs. Nolan. She never let me out without giving me biscuits and lemonade.
My father used to bring me with him on the bicycle over to Kearys in Clorane. He was helping Andy Keary shear the sheep. That time you had to have a fire for the Tar Pot to keep the liquid for branding the sheep after they were shorn. There was always a big crock jar with porter there. Andy’s father, Bill, was tying the fleeces and he was giving me sups of porter. I was drunk going home. My mother said that we must have been at Martin Glynn’s pub on the way home. But then I got sick and vomited up the porter.
My father used to bring me with him when he went out snaring rabbits and ferreting. There was a fairly good living to be made catching rabbits during the Second World War. They were exported to England for food. Dad brought me ferreting with him down to Sweeney’s hills where there were a whole lot of burrows.
We had a good lot caught and were on our way home when the dog rose a rabbit and he fled into a burrow. He said we would try and catch him so we set the nets. We got a few but the ferret didn’t come out. It was freezing cold and Dad covered me up with the rabbits to keep me warm. The Shannon Players were in the Murphy’s Hall and he used to bring me every night. That night there was supposed to be a great play on called ‘The Green Goddess’. I started saying to him that we’d miss the play so he gathered up the nets and got the ferret’s bag. He put a few bits of sticks at the mouth of it. We went home, washed ourselves, ate the dinner and headed off to see the play. After the play Dad went down to the hills and found the ferret asleep in the bag.
What interesting information do you know about other people in our family?
Well, all the women from my grandmother down were gifted with their hands. Granny used to knit socks and ‘Aran’ jumpers. She used to crochet the lace for priests’ vestments. She was the only woman around who had the pattern for the old Flannel Bainin.
I remember going through the fields where the sheep were and picking up bits of wool. If a sheep died you had to take the fleece from it before it was buried. When there was a good bag of wool gathered we brought it into Lydon’s Woolen Mills in Galway. They made thread out of it. The thread used to be on spindles. You got two spindles and put each one in bucket and take a thread from each and wind it into a big ball. You had double knit thread.
Masie, my aunt, was a school teacher and a gifted dressmaker. This skill followed in the family with Rosie, Mary and Ann being great at it. Today you have Pauline in Ann’s family, Helen in Jim’s family and
Celia’s daughter, Carmel, all of them keeping up the tradition.
All the men too were great workers. They could ‘turn their hand to anything’. They were skilled at working with horses and trained them for ploughing and carting and all the other work that had to be done on the farm: cutting the hay and corn, making drills for sowing potatoes and beet. All the farm work was done with horse at that time.
My father and Uncle Jim were much sought after when the turf-cutting season came round. Both were well-known ‘sleaners’. They cut turf for the County Council on ‘piece work’ and were paid so much a cubic yard.
My father got a job on the railway building the stone walls. He was made permanent and he was there until he retired.
Jack worked in the ‘Farmyard’. He was handy with machinery. He used to repair the reapers and binders. There were no combine harvesters at that time. He was there until he retired. My uncle Patrick went to England and I know that he worked in the steel works in Manchester. My uncle Michael I knew very well as I spent 10 long years with him. He was brilliant with horses. You’d never hear him shouting at them. I trained a few with him. My part was to go on their backs. The first time you would have to stick to him like glue because if he knocked you off it would be twice as hard the next time. You had to go on his back before you put him under the cart.
Please detail what you know of your family tree?
My grandmother, Rose Davitt, came to Athenry from Newport in Co. Mayo as a priest’s housekeeper. She was some relation of Michael Davitt. I’m not sure what it was.
She had another sister in Newport named Bridget who was married to McDermott. Myself and Ned went to Newport for her son’s funeral. He was called Bobby. We met a whole lot of his friends that day. They must have been his nieces and nephews. I know some of their names were Maddens. One of them played with the ‘Swingtime Aces’ in Athenry for a while.
My grandfather’s name was Waldron. I don’t know for sure if the Waldrons were always in Mulpit. I heard it said that someone of them came to Athenry from Ballyhaunis when the railway was being made. But I read in the paper that the Waldrons took part in the Battle of Athenry with the Jordans and the De Burgos against the O’Connors.
I know my grandfather’s father married Honoria Kennedy and they had three sons, Michael, Jim and John and a daughter named Bridget. John was teaching in the school in Athenry as a monitor. I knew a man named Pat Collins that he taught. John used to smoke a pipe and he was reported for smoking and he got the sack. So himself and Jim went to America. John joined the U.S. Army and fought in the First World War. Later he was dealing in stocks and shares when the Wall Street crash happened in 1929. He lost all he had
I don’t think John had any family. Jim had some of them home with him and myself and Tony Flannery met them down in Ned’s house. Their name was Nacks. Their sister, Bridget, married Pat Dunleavy down in Ballygurrane and had sons Paddy, Tom, Michael and Jimmy, who was handicapped and died quite young. They had two daughters. Ellen was one of them and she married Pat Cooley down in Liskea. The other daughter was up in Dublin and I never knew her.
Here’s some space for you to write more about your family that will interest generations to come.
Patrick Waldron married Ellen Keane and they had four sons, Andrew, Paddy Joe, Mickie and Herman and two daughters, Rosaline and Betty.
Andrew lived with his Uncle Mick Keane over in Moneyteige. He was left the farm when the uncle died. He married Theresa Kennedy from Caherfinesker. Rosaline married Tom Healy from Lecarrow. Paddy Joe and Herman didn’t marry. Herman died very young. Mickie got married in England. Nora never married. She was a priest’s housekeeper down in Mayo. She had a daughter about whom we knew nothing until about 1990. She was dead before we knew about it.
Jack married Cissie Madden and had three sons Michael, Ned and Paul, and a daughter, Rose, who got married in Roscommon.
Michael married Maureen Tyrell and had three daughters and three sons. John is married in Newcastle. Michael is at home in Newford. William was next. I’ve already spoken about my own family. Celia was next and she went to England and married George Taylor. They had two in family, George and Regina. George lives in Manchester. I don’t know where Regina lives.
Ellen was next and she went to the U.S.A. and married Tom Martyn from Derrydonnell. Their daughter came to Ireland some years ago and visited us with Masie Flannery. The Flannerys used to visit them in the U.S. The daughter had a brother who walked in his sleep. He fell out a window and died.
Jim married Rose Fleming and had seven daughters, May, Rose, Patty, Bridie, Helen, Marion and Dymphna, and five sons, Seamus, Sean, Patrick, Gerry and Dermot. They’re all in the U.S and England.
Masie married Pat Flannery and had two daughters, Maura and Geraldine. Maura died when she was a child. She had three sons, Peter, Frank and Tony. Peter and Tony became Redemptorists priests. Frank married Margaruite McCurtin. Geraldine never married. The Flannerys lived in Attymon.
Michael married Peggy Farrell and had five in family, Rose, Dolly, Shiela, Mike and Paddy. Rose got cancer and died young. Dolly married Paul Heagney. Mike got married in Australia to a Roscommon girl. Paddy is married in Galway to a girl from Ballymacward. Shiela is at home in Mulpit and she’s a Mrs. Burke.
What do you remember about the places you lived in when you were a child?
I lived in Swangate until I was about 4 years old. I remember the neighbours: the Hanleys, and Winnie Holian passing going to work in the Bag Factory. And Alice Stokes whom you’d hear coming as she wore a big pair of nailed boots that she never tied.
We had a fairly big garden that went all the way down to the old town wall or the ramparts as they used to call them. There were only two rooms and a kitchen in the house.
When we went to live in Park we had a two storey house with three rooms, a kitchen and outside toilet. There was a turf shed and over an acre of a garden. My mother had two apple trees that she grew from seed. She brought the trees from Swangate and sowed them out in front of the house. However, there were never right apples from them. I cut down the last one before Nora left. I have pieces of it out in the shed. I might get something made of them sometime.
I remember that all the gates going into the houses had a different sound when they were opened and closed. We knew the sound of each one of them.
The house was a big change from Swangate as we were out in the country with green fields around us. There were no houses in Hill Sixteen or Ard Aoibhinn.
The New Line had only four houses. The first was Kellys: the father was the Garda Superintendent in Athenry. The next was Doctor Foley’s and after that was ‘Napper’ Finnerty’s who owned the pub at the Arch. The last one was owned by the Fitzsimons’ who had it rented to a detective named Sullivan.
When I finished school I went out to Mulpit to my Granny’s place. I remember myself and Carmel picking spuds. She picked the big ones while I picked the small ones. It was a great place to live. There were plenty of apple gardens: we used to pick the hazel nuts. We’d be up early in the morning to pick the mushrooms. They were delicious with a couple of slices of home-cured bacon together with home-made brown bread and butter.
I stayed with the Flannerys in Attymon. I went to the ‘Tech’ in New Inn when it opened but I left after a couple of years and returned to Mulpit. I should have stayed on there as there was a scholarship for the Glasnevin Agricultural School coming up and I’d have got it.
What were your favourite childhood toys and games?
We didn’t have many toys. When playing we used to get an old wheel and a piece of wood and have ‘Bowley’. A crowd of us could take off and go ‘bowleying’ full belt down to Castle Ellen gate house and back again.
When it got dark we played ‘Fox’ out in Duffy’s field where ‘Hill 16’ is now. One lad would be the ‘Fox’ and there was a spot for the ‘den’. The ‘Fox’ would take off and a minute later the ‘hounds’ raced after him. He’d try to get back to the ‘den’ without being caught. When Duffy’s cows were in the field you had to be careful crawling along on your belly or you’d end up with cow dung all aver your clothes. I don’t think the ‘Fox’ ever got back to the den without being caught.
We used to snare rabbits and when we caught some we kept a few for the dinner and sold the rest and divided the money. You wouldn’t get much money for them as in those days people didn’t have a lot of it. You might even have to wait to be paid. But when we did get it we played a halfpenny 25 game of cards and that’s when the arguing started.
In summertime we played ‘pitch and toss’. We’d leave down a stone that we called the ‘bob’ and go back so far and pitch the pennies. We’d see who could get nearest the ‘bob’ and then the row would break out with two or three claiming to be nearest. A ‘neutral’ lad would pull a bit of a ‘tranain’ and start measuring and whoever was nearest got all the pennies. But then he had to ‘toss’ them and he got to keep all the ones that came up ‘heads’. The lad who came second picked up the ‘harps’ and he ‘tossed’ them and that went on until they were all ‘headed’.
We used to be hurling but we never had proper ‘hurls’. We’d head down to the wood in Park and get a stick with a bit of a turn in it. Very seldom we had a ball. Instead we’d get a tin box and go out on to the road and start ‘belting’ it and it wouldn’t be long before it was a tin ball. The smaller it got the more dangerous it was. You kept it moving the whole time by pulling on it.
On a Sunday if we didn’t go hunting we’d head for the ball alley or the ‘Back Lawn’ or Kenny Park as it’s known today. If there was a good crowd we’d have a collection for a ball and go up to Joe Sweeney. We’d knock on the door and ask if he had any hurling balls. When he said he had we’d ask him the price. He’d ask us how much we had and after telling him he always gave us a ball even if we were short the price.
Tell us about your best friends when you were a child.
If I want to be honest I’d say my best friends were dogs. We always kept them.
My mother thought that the sun was shining out of me. I was the favourite with my father as I was his only son. He brought me with him when he’d be setting snares for rabbits. He’d show me how to set them.
I had good friends in Josie Coyne and Timmy Mulkerins. We spent a lot of time together most Sundays hunting with the dogs. You’d get a shilling or one shilling and sixpence for a rabbit at that time. You could buy five woodbine cigarettes for two and a half pence. We had our own customers for them so we were never without a smoke.
What do you remember about your holidays as a child?
The only holidays I had I went out to my Granny’s house in Mulpit. The grandfather, who was lame at the time, used to dig spuds. I picked them into a big manure bag. I’d bring the spade, bucket and bag and when we’d get to the spuds he’d stick the stick in the ground. Then he’d take the spade and start digging. I picked them. If there was clay in the bag when he emptied them into the big tub, I’d get ‘hot tongue’.
It wouldn’t be a holiday so much as a change of scenery. I’d have to go thinning turnips or saving the hay. There was always some work to be done.
Sometimes we’d go swimming in Keane’s turlough in the evening. We’d have a game of cards at night. All the adults were ‘sharpers’ at cards and the grandfather was the greatest. You wouldn’t get away with any trickery when he was playing. If he caught anybody tricking with the cards, he’d gather them up and we’d be told to go down on our knees and say the Rosary.
I remember myself and Carmel following the turkey who was laying out. We found the nest and we had to bring in the egg every day. I remember one day we got the egg and she said, ‘did you ever see this?’ and she threw the egg up in the air as high as she could. It came down and hopped like a ball and never broke. I’d hate to think what would have happened if it got broken.
I learned to cycle on Carmel’s bike coming down Farrell’s hill and up Rockmore bridge. Carmel and Nonie used to bring me into Barry’s amusements in Taylor’s field. We used to hear the music when we’d go out into the sally garden beside the house.
We’d have to drive the cows over to Patsy’s and give them a drink at Ballinascreg well. We’d bring them home in the evening and Carmel milked them. When the cats saw Carmel going out with the buckets they’d follow her and sit down. When she’d be milking she’d squirt the milk out of the cow’s teat at the cats and they’d open their mouths and drink it down.
What sort of pets did you have when you were young and what were their names?
I had dogs called Bruno, Speed, Spot, Barney, Nigger, Bing and Nellie, who was a sheep dog with glory eyes. If anybody went to do anything to you she’d eat them. Nigger was a big black Irish Terrier. He had a wicked nature. Once darkness fell nobody could come into the house if you didn’t want them to. He’d never go outside the door but he’d leave anyone trying to come in outside. There was no electricity supply at that time and during the Second World War there was very little paraffin, Nigger blended in with the darkness and all anyone saw was the big white teeth.
All the other dogs were used for hunting and boy did they catch some rabbits in their time. One day Barney and Bruno came to the bog with me. They went off after a hare. Two of the Keadys were in the turf bank beside where we are now. One of them had a bike and coat left where I was getting the turf. When I had the turf filled I hit the road and Bruno caught up to me out the road but there was no sign of Barney. Next day I went for another load and there was Barney lying on Keady’s coat. Keady came out to me and asked ‘what sort of dog I had there? I came out yesterday evening and he wouldn’t let me take my coat or bicycle’. I said that nobody would steal it anyway.
What were you best at when you were at school?
I was fairly average at all subjects. I liked poetry and both Irish and English. The teacher explained every word of the Irish to us. He was a native Irish speaker. I can still write a lot of them seventy years later. He was a great Maths teacher. He’d show you how to do the sums the short way. I often wished that I showed a lot more interest.
I didn’t go to school every day. Myself, Gerry Madden, Peter Coyne and Josie Coyne used to go dodging off school. It wasn’t that I didn’t like school. I hated being locked in all day. If I was on my own I’d spend the day reading the books. We had some great books: Treasure Island, Black Cock’s Feather, which was about the Nine Years War up to the Battle of Athenry. We had a book called A Book of Forty Tales from other lands. The history book was ‘Casserley’s History of Ireland’. We had to recite the 1916 Proclamation and P.H. Pearse’s ‘Oration at the Grave of O’Donovan Rossa’.
What did you do when you grew up?
I never gave it a thought as all I wanted was to get out of school.
The first job I did was cutting timber down in Castle Ellen wood with a man from Tuam named Hughes. He had a saw mill just inside the railway bridge as you enter Tuam. We cut big Beech trees into eight foot lengths. We loaded up half the load with the light ones and dumped them out on the roadside. Then we came in and loaded the heavy ones in the bottom of the lorry. After that we went out on the road and put the light ones on top. We tied down the load with chains and the driver went off to Tuam. We’d go back into the wood and we’d have another load ready when he returned. That was the first real work I did.
I ended up doing every sort of work. Nearly every job on the farm was done with horses.
I went to England and I worked putting down big gas main pipes and driving tunnels for big sewerage pipes with Tony Reilly (RIP), who was from Woodlawn.
I returned home and worked with John Lawless. I finished my working life on the railway after 35 years of service.
Who was your best friend as a teenager and why?
I had a lot of friends but I suppose when I look back my Uncle Michael was a great friend. We worked together on the farm and he showed me how to do things and do them the right way. He always said to me that it’s easier to do whatever you’re doing right than wrong.
I had a lot of other friends. We used to meet in the evenings at the pump at the ‘four roads’. Someone would pick out a good lump of stone off the wall and we’d start ‘firing’ it to see who could put it the furthest. A big crowd used to gather there some evenings: Michael and Martin Finn, Patch O’Dea, Herman Waldron, Paddy Joe, Mickie, Joe Burke, Bill Fallon and Frank, Johnny Farrell-he’s old Paddy now. Most of these lads are gone to the Great Beyond. There’s only Michael Finn, Patch O’Dea, Paddy Farrell and myself left. We were all great friends in those days. What one wouldn’t think of, some other would.
What were your favourite hobbies when you were young?
Hunting with the dogs after rabbits along with hurling and running during the day and at night we’d be card playing many different games: Pelmeisem, Casino, 110, Pontoon, Spoiled 15 and 25.
To play Pelmeisem you had to have a good memory. All the cards were spread face down out on the table. Each player got a turn to turn up one of the cards and you’d leave it face down again. The next player would turn up a card. He then had to remember where the last card had been turned up and if he could pick it he had a match and he’d keep the two cards. That would go on all night until all the cards were gone from the table. Whoever had the most pairs won the game.
In Casino all the cards had a different value with the ten of diamonds, called the ‘Big Gus’, being the most valuable. The two of spades was worth two points and was named ‘Little Gus’. You got points for the four aces. Whoever had the most spades got so many points and whoever had the most cards got so many points. The player who first reached twenty one points won the game.
Did you have an idol when you were young? Tell me who and why!
Sean Duggan who played in goal for Liam Mellows and for Galway was my idol. Galway had a few great games against Wexford when they too had a wonderful team. Galway beat them in the League Final. Duggan saved a 21 yard fee from Nicky Rackard that day.
We went into the Sports Grounds in Galway where Galway and Limerick were playing. The great Mick Mackey was playing for Limerick and he was marked by Martin Burke from Clarinbridge/. Burke was well able for him and anytime he beat Burke he failed to beat Sean Duggan. Sean always caught the ball in his hand and there could be many players around him and yet he’d come charging out through them and clear the ball 80 yards down the field. At that time a forward could charge a goalkeeper.
Duggan was also a wonderful out-field player. Once down in the field where Byrne-Mech factory is now, Mellows played Cashel. He came out of the goals and played in the forwards where he scored two goals and won the match for Mellows.
What was the first piece of music you bought?
I never bought any music. All the music at that time was on old 48 records and only a few people had them. They’d bring it out on a Sunday after dinner and play the records.
The ‘Aughrim Slopes’ and the Ballinakill Band were the best at playing traditional Irish music. The Flanagan brothers were terrific players. They also had funny songs like ‘The Peeler and the Goat’, ‘The Piper who went to the Party’, ‘The Donegal Widow’ and ‘Getting rid of the Beanshee’, all of which was great sport.
There were no tape recorders at that time so you had to make a record. We had great singers like the famous John McCormack. Delia Murphy was a great singer too. I heard foreign singers such as Nelson Eddy, Jeanette Mac Donald, Diana Durban, Richard Tauber, Jack Doyle and Mavita.
Before you bought a record you’d have to have a gramophone to play it and they were very few of them around.
There were no tape recorders like now. Nowadays you can buy CDs and play them at home. It’s easier now for musicians and singers to make recordings today.
What piece of music would you choose in your own favourite TOP 10 from when you were young?
I’d choose all the music of the Ballinakill and Aughrim Slopes Ceili Bands. They were the first to make records of Irish Music. They composed a lot of their own tunes and they played tunes that were handed down to them from their grandfathers and great grandfathers.
The old Aughrim Slopes were returning home one morning. They were coming up Doon Hill when the car ran out of petrol. The lot of them took out their instruments and started playing and in the end they composed a new tune called ‘Doon Hill’. It’s still played today.
All the bands had a singer. I remember Pat Corbett who sang with the Aughrim Slopes. Our own John McCormack was a lovely singer, the best in the world. And I loved Paul Robeson singing “Old Man River’.
There would be a lot that we never heard because radios were scarce back then. There were no transistors and you had to have a long pole out in the garden with a wire coming in the window and into the back of the radio. The radio was powered by two batteries, one wet and the other dry. Most of the time the batteries would be spared for listening to the news and the big match on Sunday.
