My memories of growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Waterford city are still vivid, strong and fresh. Material things may have been in limited supply in my childhood, but the things that mattered most, love, friendship and family support were there in abundance.
Our neighbourhood was a safe and friendly place with lots of open space that we treated like a natural playground and magical wonderland. I remember as school ended and summer arrived, back gardens became the ideal location for using the imagination and enjoying carefree happy days with family and friends. “Cowboys and Indians”, “Hide and Seek”, and any other game that came to mind were acted out there. Our street, because it was virtually traffic-free, was also a safe venue for our pastimes. Hurling and football featured regularly and neighbours’ gates provided the goal posts. I loved the “Trolley” or Go-Cart season. Our trolleys came in all shapes and sizes and my brothers and I had endless fun racing each other. The cold winter of 1962/3 brought snow and ice and many of our elderly neighbours would not walk on the ice-covered pavements of the street. Our trolleys came to the rescue and they were used to bring messages to them. Bottles of milk, bread, sausages, rashers, vegetables, spuds and bags of turf were loaded onto the trolleys and delivered to the doors of grateful neighbours.
We held concerts at the side of our gable-end house which involved singing, dancing, gymnastics and tin-whistle playing. Props included my mother’s wedding dress and copies of newspapers provided excellent material to make triangular shaped hats. In summer we often collected rolls of sack cloth from J&L F Goodbody, the local jute factory, where our Dad worked. We built a make-shift tent in our back-garden and Mam and Dad might allow us to spend a night camping out, the only problem was that if it rained we got soaked as the material was porous!
Those were the days.
