Grandfather arrived in Tullamore when he was three years old in 1931. He lived in a house
in a place called Kevin’s Street known locally as Lumpur Lane. In 1932 he remembers the
Eucharistic congress and all the flags and bunting out all around the town.
He also remembers going to meet the funeral of Mr Kinaney who was killed when Williams’s
lorry crashed over the Liffey Bridge in Leixlip all the people on the lorry were thrown into
the River (including Mr Kinaney) they were returning from the congress. Grandfather started School in
the baby room in the convent and his teachers name was Mr Savage.
In 1935 he got his first holy communion and his teacher Sister Bernadette, is
still alive. After school he had lots of friends and he played all sorts of games such as hopscotch,
teesy beesy, tig, jip cat and hide and go seek, marbles he played hurling with pot sticks he
didn’t have real hurls and he played football with a real cow’s bladder which he got in Mr
Killeavys slaughterhouse.
Times were very poor in the 1930’s because there was an economic war between Britain and
Ireland, grandfather’s family felt this very much because his father was a cattle dealer, he used
to sell and buy cattle and Britain would not buy any Irish cattle. This ruined his father and he
never got over it he died in 1940’s when grandfather was 11 years old grandfather had to start
working as a messenger boy to help his mother rare his 5 younger brothers and sisters he
finished National school at 14 years old in 8 class with a primary school certificate then he
started his real working life.