Sophie Grenham’s Journey to School I had two childhoods. One was chiefly from infancy to my early teens in Hong Kong and the remainder was spent in my family’s native Dublin. Hong Kong, when I think of it, feels like a dream, as I’ve been in Ireland for so long. This thrumming, chaotic island in… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Sophie Grenham
Tag: childhood stories
‘A sadder sight it would be impossible to witness’: Criticism of the hiring fair and child labour in County Donegal in the early twentieth century.
By Megan McAuley ‘I recall the hiring fair in Letterkenny, when the small farmers’ sons and daughters were forced to offer themselves for auction to the ranchers in the Lagan Valley. They stood on the footpaths, had their muscles examined by the big farmers, and eventually were hired to them for a few paltry pounds… Continue reading ‘A sadder sight it would be impossible to witness’: Criticism of the hiring fair and child labour in County Donegal in the early twentieth century.
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Chloe Browne
Maggie’s Birthday Bus Growing up in a rural area on the Westmeath/Meath border, I was no stranger to a school bus. The bus acted as the bookends to my day, and was the social highlight of every schooling stage from four to eighteen. The very political hierarchy of seat selection, the sharing of snacks, the… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Chloe Browne
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Terry Christian
I started school, aged four, a month or so before my fifth birthday. It must have been after Easter as the blossoms were on the few trees that dotted Ayres Road Old Trafford. I walked to school from that day until the day I finished at my catholic Grammar school age 18. Each walk to… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Terry Christian
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Leanne McDonagh
“We never knew when daddy would come to pick us up from school with the horse and sulky cart but when he did there was fierce excitement for the journey home. I remember getting to the gates of the school and looking to spot the big blue HiAce van and trying to identify if it… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Leanne McDonagh
When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Robert Burns
Three o’clock and school was over. We slid out from behind our old wooden desks, the ones with the sloping desktop and the old inkwell holders, and darted out the door, making a beeline for the old shed where our bikes were stored. It was early June and at 10 years old I was in… Continue reading When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road: Robert Burns