This week, we’ve had a fantastic story sent in by one of our followers about growing up in Donnycarney in the 1940s and 1950s. Read the full excerpt below!
“We were all poor in Donnycarney so there was little competition to wear the latest fashions. It was a wonderful place to be reared, there was a great community spirit and it was very safe.
As children we played on the streets, there was very few cars about. Boys and girls all played together. There was seasons for all the games, chasing, kick the can, and races around the blocks. The girls mostly played marbles or two balls after school while the boys played football or hurling. It was after tea we all played together.
At Christmas skates, scooters and bikes were the gifts and the lucky ones shared without thinking with the other kids. We were such lucky kids, and when we all got better off we really appreciated what we had. When I see all the costumes on sale for Halloween it amuses me no end. In my children’s day they dressed up in their grannies shawl or had their mother’s dress on and a scarf around their head.
If boys got a cowboy suit or an Indian outfit for Christmas, that’s what they dressed up in for the next few years. I know they had as much fun as the kids today whose costumes cost a right few euros!”
Have you got any stories of growing up in Ireland, or growing up Irish abroad? Send us your stories, snaps and memories at community@museumofchildhood.ie, or on any of our social media sites: Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
We would love to hear from you!