The History of Crumlin

[joan mack]

St Stephen's day in Crumlin in the fifties. By Now most of the goodies would be almost gone, Maybe a bit of marble cake and a bottle or two of pineapple juice left.

But there was no waste, We had an aunt who seemed to have a lot of stuff left and she always sent us her left overs because she hadn't as many kids as we did,

At that time I loved marzipan, I hate it now. Her cakes were richly adorned with marzipan It was a great sugar hit.

The annuals would be read and swapped and we would all listen to the radio. We didn't get television until 1956 and the reception was dreadful.

My father spend long minutes up on the roof moving the aerial and then when he came down the picture was gone once more,

It was from the radio I listened to all the great plays, The Shadow of a Gunman the Plough and the Stars etc.

I loved the Foley family and take the floor with Din Joe. Gosh we were so easily pleased.

I have the cheek to complain about yesterdays television fare and at least we have something to watch.

[Vico2]

Ah Joan you have brought back many memories there, we used to listen to the Foley Family too and Din Joe and Around the Fire. They had great plays in those days.

I can remember the scrambled TV picture, it was like snow on the screen.

[quinner]

Round our way the Binmen collected a Half full bin of ashes every week.....The bins were no higher than a chair set then......All else, and there was very little else, went on the fire.......

[joan mack]

Ah Joan you have brought back many memories there, we used to listen to the Foley Family too and Din Joe and Around the Fire. They had great plays in those days.

I can remember the scrambled TV picture, it was like snow on the screen.

Yes But us younger ones then tried to tune into Luxembourg and it kept fading and then it became to loud.

Perry mason, Special Agent, Then also all the hits of the day. Do you remember the man that ran the pools program I think it was Horace Bachelor Keynsham he kept spelling it out.

[joan mack]

This is one on Rathdrum Road

[joan mack]

Josie's House Crumlin Dublin

[joan mack]

In the fifties Crumlin was a holy place, If you did not attend Mass your neighbours did not take long to notice and they would soon all be talking about you.

The women and men went to monthly Sodality and sometimes this was the only social outing they had, Most conversations were conducted over hedges,

I remember my Late Mother talking at the hedge to the next door neigbour on a summer evening way into the night,

It was here she would get to here all the local information, Over Christmas there might be a game of cards with one or two neighbours, But as us kids got older this dwindled out.

Priests were often sent to houses were people did not attend Mass usually by a well meaning neighbour and anyone seeing the Priest go there would well know the reason why.

Sometimes priests would do a call around all the houses to see how things were,

I remember on one of the rounds they called to our door. My Mam had twins four months old, and with five others she was a busy woman.

When the priest called she had just finished washing the twins, The bar of soap was still on the chair, He flopped down on top of it and we had to go upstairs to giggle,

When he left the house later he had the bar of soup stuck firmly on his arse. My Mam hadn't the heart to tell him

[quinner]

In the fifties Crumlin was a holy place, If you did not attend Mass your neighbours did not take long to notice and they would soon all be talking about you.

The women and men went to monthly Sodality and sometimes this was the only social outing they had, Most conversations were conducted over hedges,

I remember my Late Mother talking at the hedge to the next door neigbour on a summer evening way into the night,

It was here she would get to here all the local information, Over Christmas there might be a game of cards with one or two neighbours, But as us kids got older this dwindled out.

Priests were often sent to houses were people did not attend Mass usually by a well meaning neighbour and anyone seeing the Priest go there would well know the reason why.

Sometimes priests would do a call around all the houses to see how things were,

I remember on one of the rounds they called to our door. My Mam had twins four months old, and with five others she was a busy woman.

When the priest called she had just finished washing the twins, The bar of soap was still on the chair, He flopped down on top of it and we had to go upstairs to giggle,

When he left the house later he had the bar of soup stuck firmly on his arse. My Mam hadn't the heart to tell him

LOL.....The bar of soap bit........

I can assure you that a priest would not come near our door while my Father was about.......He even declined a visit on his death bed.....

[rasher]

LOL.....The bar of soap bit........

I can assure you that a priest would not come near our door while my Father was about.......He even declined a visit on his death bed.....

A wise decision protecting his kids

[Vico2]

In the fifties Crumlin was a holy place, If you did not attend Mass your neighbours did not take long to notice and they would soon all be talking about you.

The women and men went to monthly Sodality and sometimes this was the only social outing they had, Most conversations were conducted over hedges,

I remember my Late Mother talking at the hedge to the next door neigbour on a summer evening way into the night,

It was here she would get to here all the local information, Over Christmas there might be a game of cards with one or two neighbours, But as us kids got older this dwindled out.

Priests were often sent to houses were people did not attend Mass usually by a well meaning neighbour and anyone seeing the Priest go there would well know the reason why.

Sometimes priests would do a call around all the houses to see how things were,

I remember on one of the rounds they called to our door. My Mam had twins four months old, and with five others she was a busy woman.

When the priest called she had just finished washing the twins, The bar of soap was still on the chair, He flopped down on top of it and we had to go upstairs to giggle,

When he left the house later he had the bar of soup stuck firmly on his arse. My Mam hadn't the heart to tell him

He got a free bar of soap out of the visit Joan.

[joan mack]

Priests at That Time had not acquired a bad name and it was usual to great them with great respect, If you met them on the street you would bow your head and say good morning Father, or Good evening Father.

They were also very influential and getting you a job, A letter from a priest was better then any reference and sometimes employers looking for honest reliable staff approached priests to know who they would recommend.

My Brother Brian wanted to much to be a priest and the priests took to visiting our house. But my Mother thought he was much to young to make such a big decision and she said he must wait until he was at least eighteen,

By then he had fallen in love and he had no more desire to become a priest.

I have met some wonderful Priests in my lifetime so funny and interesting, I have met some arrogant ones also. Our Parish Priest in Donaghmede is so funny and down to earth coming from the inner city and for years serving in Ballymun he is a breath of fresh air, If only all priests were like that.

At present fighting cancer he still says Mass and jokes about his condition. I hope we have him for a long time yet, He is quite young

[joan mack]

He got a free bar of soap out of the visit Joan.

Yes Vico a good bar of Lifebuoy Soap lol! I think he was aghast at the fact that there was a pot on the mantlepiece , My mam used to throw the water over their little heads to rinse off the soap, Then rest the pot on the mantlepiece

After a bath they would sleep for hours, One of us had to walk them around until they fell asleep before we were allowed out to play, This was a problem because if one fell asleep the other would wake him up.

One other Child was sent for the messages before going out to play, (I was never sent, I took to long)

My task was to make the beds and sweep the floors, When I finished I had a read of my Mams True Romances under her mattress,

The beds all looked so good when they were made that I wanted to get in to them.

We had sort of army blankets and always clean sheets My Mam loved clean sheets. But at night my Dads overcoat was thrown over the blankets and it was so warm, He took it off in the Morning to go to work. I think he only had the one,

I see my sons wardrobes with their fifteen shirts fifty jumpers endless amount of jackets. So many shoes etc and I wonder how we managed,

My Dad always had a clean collar on his shirt. He would curse and swear as he tried to fix it to his shirt, It was quite usual to have a blue shirt and a white collar,

The Collar was scrubbed with a brush and then starched, This is what caused the swearing,

I remember well one morning my mam searching for his old shirt, Later she found he had put the clean one on over the old one as he was to cold to remove it and the Clean collar did the business, After that she made sure to inspect him before he left the house

[Vico2]

I can remember my mother starching my dad's collars with Robin starch. A strange custom when you think about it.

[joan mack]

Yes Vico I remember Robin starch, If the collar was frayed My poor mother would turn it, That required a lot of sewing, It was time consuming, Collars were not easy to iron if you were not careful they could get creased, They had to be very carefully ironed and folded and then there was the feckin studs.

Even though my Dad who worked in bailey Son and Gibson wore an all over blue uniform it was important to him to have a clean collar showing,

On a wet day he would wear galoshes Its so many years since I seen galoshes, they would protect his one pair of shoes,

He walked from Downpatrick Road to Dolphins Barn and returned to Downpatrick road twice a day so he was a keen walker.

He used to ask us kids if we would like an icecream we would be so eagar until he took us for the long five mile walk and then we got the icecream, We started to associate walking with icecream so when he would ask did we want an icecream we would all say NO lol!

[Vico2]

I can remember that too Joan. My mother used to cut the tail off the shirt to re-do the collar when it got old.