The early morning walks to school that I experienced in the late 1970s have never really receded into the past, as they are revived every time I connect with any part of the Metals, the lanes that run parallel to the railway lines from Dalkey to Dun Laoghaire.
As we lived near Sallynoggin, at the top of the hill, and went to school in Glasthule, then the logical route to take to school was to walk along the Metals. This brought us out at the bridge near Padraic Colum’s house – only a stone’s throw from Harold Boys school. On our walks, as we gazed over the leafy banks and down onto the tracks my father would explain that the railway lines had originally transported rock from Dalkey quarry down to Dun Laoghaire seafront for the construction of the Pier. To our impressionable minds this was a revelation that transformed the familiar views of the quarry and Dun Laoghaire seafront, both visible from the bottom of our road.
Now, whenever I catch a glimpse of that familiar silhouette of the abandoned house at the top of the quarry, through the mist, or through the traffic on the Glenageary roundabout, it still quietly recalls my father’s voice expanding our minds with a little gem of information.
Alan Lambert has worked in multi-media since the late 90’s, making music videos and visual mixes for live events in Ireland, working in commercial graphic arts in Asia and America, and curating and presenting Irish experimental films in Africa, the Middle East and Russia. These activities enabled him to collect footage from around the world, which culminated in his first feature film Ouroboros: Ocean Dreams (2009). The film premiered in the 54th Cork Film Festival and was described by Maximilian LeCain, in Experimental Conversations, as a ‘powerfully enriching experience and an important film’In 2015 his environmental science fiction film ‘Pushtar’, filmed in Ireland and Australia but set in India in a post climate-change future, won the Spirit of IndieCork Award and was described by Jonathan Victory, in Filmireland, as ‘an outstanding contribution to Irish cinema.
On behalf of the Museum of Childhood Ireland and Robert Burns, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of our wonderful participants for their time and their stories. We are thrilled to be presenting this project and we hope you will enjoy following along with us.
You can see more on our When We Were Kings and Queens of the Road project below: