Throwback Thursday: Six of us shared a room, but we had the craic

Anita Philpott, who shared her perfectly lovely story last week of a dream encounter with racehorse legend Red Rum at Cork Summer Show, was thrilled with Throwback Thursday’s coverage.

“OMG! That was an awesome write up. I am in stretches. You shared all my research!” She added a few more piquant details. “Just to let you know I am still awaiting a response from Master John Jo O’Neill. And in my dreams, Ginger McCain really put me up on Red Rum and I rode him around the Cork Show parade myself! Well, dreams are good, aren’t they?

“In case you hadn’t seen it, Cork Show shared that whole article on their website. The secretary, Catherina, was over the moon to be included. But you will die laughing at this coincidence. Catherina had sent me to the historian and President who gave me a definite ‘No’ to Red Rum ever being there. However he did send me on to the lovely past president, Kathy Horgan from Lombardstown. She was president from 1989 to 1991 and she ended up bringing Desert Orchid to the show and he actually boarded at her stables in Lombardstown.

“Then guess what? This same Kathy Horgan once actually jointly owned a racehorse with my sister, Maria Philpott, and the trainer Eugene O’ Sullivan (uncle of the jockey Michael O’ Sullivan who passed away in January, RIP). Anyway when I am home in August she is travelling down to Kanturk to meet up with my sister, my mum, and me. She is a lovely lady.”

Well, how’s that for delightful coincidence, Anita! Obviously your family were well into the whole horse racing milieu, so no wonder you as a child were so eager to meet Red Rum. Well done you!

And well done our indefatigable features editor, John Dolan too, who, tasked with finding something – anything – on that event, managed to track down that wonderful Murphy’s advert we featured last week. Good work, John! Now we know (a) that Red Rum was really here in Cork in 1980, and (b) that it was Murphy’s Brewery that brought him over. Wonder if they gave him a pint or two afterwards? He would have liked that.

Here is another lovely bit of Corkonian history from the great Pat Kelly of Marion Park in Blackrock:

“You featured a drawing of Bridge St. by Gladys Leach on Throwback Thursday for June 19, showing Burwoods and the curved building at the turn of St Patrick’s Hill and McCurtain St. Many years ago, I discovered that Thompsons were once in Bridge St. In a very old photo, perhaps taken from the top of the tram on the bend to Bridge St, you can see a man on a ladder working on the frontage of Thompsons shop. That eventually became Burwoods, and later Vibes & Scribes. The small semi-curved building west of The Cuban House was the small barber shop of Lou Courteney.

“And those tunnels came up again! Of course there were tunnels in McCurtain St, and one in the car park of the Munster Hotel on Coburg St too. There was a very high cliff in the hotel car park, and close by Fitzgerald’s bakers had a very small space for parking their vans, and the Morris Minor vans would be parked in a tunnel. For many years, the cliff was used for cheap building stone, where they sourced the sandstone that built the North Cathedral - that stone was used it the tower, with limestone quoins. So many of our buildings have that combination of red sandstone with white limestone quoins – no wonder they’re the Cork colours!

“The cliff was eventually arched over to form an accessible route on to St Patrick’s Hill. On McCurtain St, the buildings on the Thompsons side in fact have no basements. You can see the cliff still visible behind Isaac’s restaurant. Thompsons at one time, I remember, had had two tall houses with steps to the first floor, and Cades, mineral water depot, which were demolished to make way for a giant Swiss Roll factory. The former garda barracks in McCurtain St did have a basement, and further up Summerhill you can still see the sheer cliff behind the curved apse of St Patrick’s Church and the long steep flight of steps (now closed) down the side of the church to the Lower Road level.

“I could go on and on - about seeing houses being built in the former Summerhill railway station, or the eastern block of Marymount being built, or the Church of the Holy Family, with doors into the pews, like Christchurch, as the Holy Family was at one time a Protestant church.

“Best wishes Jo. and keep up resurrecting older people’s memories. WE MAY BE OLD BUT OUR MEMORIES ARE STILL ALIVE!”

And you’re the finest and best example we have of that, Pat. Heartfelt thanks for your determination never to let the past history of our city die.

Another Corkonian has equally strong memories of and fondness for childhood scenes.

Tom Jones, now an expat living in the Florida Keys, was fascinated by our discussions here on Throwback Thursday of those various steps, tunnels and basements in Cork, and all the information provided by our readers on these subjects.

“Reading the pages sent the windmills of my mind into a flurry of personal recall. Hopefully all that I am about to relate will not be too long and meandering.

“Firstly, beneath the steps of the Lower Road and Summer Hill [via Clifton Terrace] there exist what appear to be three arched tunnel entrances. Now at one time they were bricked up to just half their entrances. This I know because as an adventurous child I climbed over them. But they did not go any further than that, so I can’t help but wonder what their purpose was. It must be hidden somewhere in the history of Cork.

“Secondly, with regard to Bridge St and McCurtain St, as both of them are of a higher elevation than Patrick’s Quay, you would expect those basements or tunnels. I recall a pub a couple of doors down on Bridge St from what was then Paddy Barry’s Pub on the corner.

"In the mid 1960s, in the midst of the Ballad Boom of Ireland, they operated a folk cellar where many local singers performed. While reluctant to admit it, I actually performed a song or two there myself… Later, in the early 1970s, some establishments on McCurtain St went on to operate night clubs in their basements. I actually can recall the names of some of them, and I’m sure others can as well.”

[They certainly can – Johnny Campbell, where are you? What was the name of that club where Rory joined up the day they opened?]

Tom Jones continues:

“Now, while enjoying the remembrances of Brian Cronin’s adventures in seeking temporary career opportunities in London, not unconnected with ice cream cones, I would also like to say well done kid on your considerable success in life thereafter as a hotelier. But, inspired by those London memories, I thought I would share some of my own trials and tribulations in England. Like so many other young men of Cork, I sailed on the Innisfallen in search of new experiences and opportunities.

“Perhaps a little background would not come amiss. My primary education was acquired at Blarney St CBS, and I then went on to attend Crawford Tech.

“Now for those who might not still recall, there were certain trades at that time which were not open to all, principally the construction trades such as bricklaying and plastering. Entrance to such trades back then was under the powerful auspices of nepotism. Indeed, one had a better chance of pursuing a degree in neurosurgery than applying for an apprenticeship in the construction trades. But unfortunately, neurosurgery wasn’t in the curriculum of Crawford Tech at the time.

“It was a time when many a man of twenty (and younger) said goodbye, to seek fortune or even opportunity on foreign shores. And the Innisfallen regularly set off from Penrose Quay, where many a tear was shed throughout the years as they bade farewell to their families.

“Yet when it came my time to ramble on, I saw it as an adventure.

“Nevertheless, upon arriving at Paddington Station, to be truthful I had really no plan or idea of what to do next apart from finding a place to stay. But a couple of volunteers from the Irish Centre, perhaps looking out for lost souls, as this was in early 1968 after all, helped me along. They directed me to an Irish hostel on Quex Road in Kilburn where I stayed for a few days.

“Now I wonder if the mention of that address will revive memories for so many people, not just from Cork but from all over Ireland? Kilburn at that time had a large contingent of Irish people, from Cork and Kerry in particular. To find a few days’ work, all you had to do was show up at the corner of a street near The Crown in Cricklewood. Here, many Irish subcontractors would load a few guys into a van and head off to the building site. For this, they paid you in cash by the day, no tax or any other deductions whatsoever. In essence, it was casual day labour, no record of anything. So, some guys would still sign on for the N.A.B. at the end of the week.

“From the Irish Centre I went on to find digs in another abode. To paraphrase a line from an old Furey Brothers song, there were six of us and we shared a room, but still we had the craic. I actually recall a bunch of us on a Sunday afternoon gathering around a street corner in Kilburn where someone had strapped a transistor radio to an iron telegraph pole, I don’t know why. Perhaps to enhance the reception of a Munster Final that RTÉ was broadcasting at the time?

“Along the way, I also found a job as a navvy with other Irish compatriots working on the Victoria Line in London. Plus, I also enjoyed the various pubs where I sang and hopefully entertained. I have to say I also enjoyed times in the National in Kilburn, the Crown in Cricklewood, and the Buffalo in Camden Town, before moving on to the midlands of England to work on the motorways.

“While I did encounter some tough times along the way, generally the good times were far more numerous. In retrospect, I recall it as a great, enlightening experience.

“I returned to Ireland in late 1971 to spend a couple of years working as a roofer throughout many counties of Ireland, before leaving dear old Erin’s shores in the mid 70s for far Amerikay where I worked and went on to further my education, eventually studying at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and subsequently creating an Irish-American family dynasty of my own.”

A great account of a Corkman travelling and gaining experience of life in harder times, Tom. Thank you so much for sharing it.

The rest of you out there, let’s hear your own memories. Email jokerrigan1@gmail.com, or leave a message on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/echolivecork.