THE GRUSHIE 1968

Every Saturday all the kids on the road would head up to the Parish Church.
It was'nt for Religious reasons it was more for Monetary reasons.
Sunday was Mass day.
Carroll's family home was literally around the corner from the Church.
Saturday was Wedding day in the Church and the kids would gather

for the Grushie.
The Grushie would happen after the ceremony and the Best man would throw a
load of coins out of the wedding car as it drove out of the Church.
One Saturday at about 2 o clock Bem,Rick,little Ger and all the little urchins gathered around the Church grounds.
The Wedding crowd emerged from the Church.They then assembled to get their photos done .

Afterwards the Happy couple get into their White Mercedes.  Then the Best man and grooms and Bridesmaids  get into their car behind.
There are about 30 kids all gathered anticipating with great excitement the fall of coins.
Some with holes in their raggy clothes .Some with battered shoes with flapping soles.
Talking shoes we used to call them.
Next the moment everyone is waiting for ,A hand comes out the car window and into the air goes
a load of coins."It's raining coins",shouts one of the kids.
The coins go everywhere , Tanners ,three-penny pieces ,pennies,halfpennies ,The odd  Shilling   ,so do the kids.
Girls ,Boys are rolling on the ground fighting over every coin.
Silver coins are  the ones everyone is after.

Bem spots a lovely shiny one and makes a dive for it.
Govo had dived at the same time.
Bem's shoe gets caught on the kerb and his sole rips open.
Heads banged together and while Bem and Govo are rubbing their heads , Josie picks up
The One Shilling coin.She jumps with joy and runs off.
After all the dust had settled all the kids head over to the Kiosk which was across from

the Church.It was situated in a roundabout.
Mister Carter was the blind man who ran it.
There was only a little hatch in which he served the Customers.
The amazing thing to the kids was he generally was able to know all the kids by their voices.
Any kid that tried to trick him with coins had no chance ,he knew the feel of them off by hard.
Penny toffees and loose sweets and Lollipops were the order of the day.
The kids who ended up with no money from the Grushie would be hoping for some scraps .

Generally most kids would share the goodies as they could be the ones who ended up with no money the following week.
Bem and Govo ended up with no coins but Josie came over with Bullseye sweets for Bem,whom she had
a soft spot for.         Bem went all red when the Boys all slagged him about Josie.                Bem threw a few on to Govo who was still rubbing his head and said to Bem,
"Carroller ,you have a head like a brick,but thanks for the Bullseyes".
Jim Brown who only lived across the road said,"Anyone fancy a game of ball ?".
"Yeah,go and get your football,Jimmy",says Rick.
"Can you get some sellotape ?,jimmy",says Bem.
"What for?",says Jimmy.
Bem holds up his shoe and moves the sole up and down and says,"Because I have a talking shoe".

"Ha ha,I'll see has me Ma got any",says Jimmy.
Jimmy comes back with the ball and a lump of rag.
"Here,try that ,no sellotape in the Gaff",he says.
Bem ties the rag around his shoe.
"That does the job",he says to Jimmy.
The boys play for a couple of hours.
It usually ended with siblings fighting each other.
This time it was Bem and Rick.  Bem had scored the winning goal and Rick who was on the losing side was not very happy.He was very competitive with Bem and started slagging Bem about Josie.
Handbag stuff it ended up.
"Your dinner is ready",shouted Jacky from across the road to Rick ,Bem and Ger.
The Boys made a dart for the house and Bem and Rick were neck and neck all the way to
the front door where Rick just got in first,poor Ger was left lagging behind.
The Da had made them a big fry up,Rashers,eggs,sausages and beans.

Every Saturday the Ma and her sister Joan would go into Town for some Retail Therapy.
Them few hours were precious to her as the rest of the time she was always very busy with 11 kids
to look after.
The fry was gulped down fairly quickly but Rick's plate was always empty first.
"Any seconds ,Da?",says Rick.
It was his regular question after every meal.
"No,Rick,sorry it's all gone ,have some bread",says the Da.
It's 6 o clock and only the 3 oldest boys,Rick,Bem and Ger are allowed back out to play.
"1 more hour and be back in for 7 o clock",says the Da to the Boys.
Out the door they go for another hour of playtime.

" LISBON LIONS 1967".

Back in the sixties when most people had no television people had to make their own Entertainment.
 Most houses had their own Wireless,as it was called back then ,now it's known as a radio.
We were lucky enough to have a T.V. in our house but all we had back then by the way of stations was R.T.E. 1.
Now and then they would show a few cartoons and that was the highlight.
Kids played all kinds of games on the streets.
Kids woke up ,went to school,came home ,done homework asap and then out to play.

Girls done their skipping and they also played a game which was called "Beds",in Dublin but more commonly known as Hopscotch.

Marbles was a very popular pastime for Boys.              
 But Soccer was the most popular on the streets of Dublin for all the young lads.
Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic were the most popular teams.

The 2 most popular players were Georgie Best of  Man. Utd and Jimmy (jinky)Johnstone of Celtic.
United had always got a steady supply of Irish players .
Celtic were founded by Irish priests.
Shamrock rovers were one of the most popular Irish teams.
Celtic and Rovers wore similar football strips,Green and white strips on their jerseys and white shorts.
Back then no one could afford a jersey.
Celtic had won the Scottish league the year before and they had a great run in the
European Cup(Champions league now).
Only the League Champions of each Country qualified for the European Cup.
It was a knockout competition and each round was played over two legs.
The final that year was being played in Lisbon.
Inter Milan and Celtic had made it to the final so there was great excitement on the streets of Dublin.
Everyone in Ireland treated Celtic like an Irish team as they were founded by Irish Catholic priests.
The Da had just bought a new Wireless and we all gathered around it while the match was on.
Back then the reception was'nt so good so there was a lot of buzzing noises coming from the Wireless.
Milan score first,everyone is downbeat as they had a great defence and were difficult to score against.
They had won the European cup twice already(This was Celtic's first final).
Celtic were playing some great football according to the commentator on the radio.
Next Celtic equalise from a shot by their fullback ,Tommy Gemmell.
Everyone is in raptures.
Bem,Rick and little Ger are jumping around with excitement.
"Ssssh",says the Da who kept trying to tune in the Wireless.
The Ma is sitting at the Kitchen table doing a bit of knitting,She looks as cool as a Cucumber.
Next a roar comes over the Wireless,"Chalmers has Scored for Celtic".
We all ran out on the streets screaming with joy.
The Da called us back in,"Lads they have'n t won yet there's still 6 minutes left.
Those 6 minutes felt like 6 hours.

Finally it was over,Celtic were European Champions.
Everyone were on the streets dancing with joy,even the Ma left down her knitting to join us.
   Everyone went to school the next day with a spring in their step.
After school we all replayed the final with our own matches.
Everyone wanted  Celtic as their team.
"The Lisbon Lions"....... European Champions.
About a week later the Ma called the boys into the Parlor one
day after school. "I have a surprise for you boys",she said.
"Close your eyes",she says to the 3 boys,Rick,Bem,and Ger.
"Here you's are",she says as she hands over 3 jumpers to the boys.
The boys try on their jumpers with great excitement as these were no ordinary jumpers,
They were in the green and white colours of Celtic.
"Ah ,thanks Ma",they say.The Ma had worked hard all week knitting them for the boys when they were either in school or bed or out playing.
"You's can thank Rita when you see her as she helped me to finish them for you",she says.
The boys grab a ball and go out to show off their new" football jersey's".
They were the envy of the road for awhile after that all thanks to the Ma.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX1968........THE RED DEVILS
It was Man Utd 's turn in 68 as they beat Benefica 4-1 at Wembley
after extra time,with goals from Brian Kidd ,Bobby Charlton(2) and the great George Best.
Benefica had the great player Eusebio on their side.

A TRIP TO BELFAST.1966

A TRIP UP THE ROAD.......1966
"Right,Kitty ,you sit in the back with the Baby........Rick and Bem ,you 2 in the front seat",says the Da
as he tries to organize us all into his car.There were 6 kids now,young Philly,the baby was born the October before.  "Dad,can i go in the front too",says Ger.  "There's not enough room,Ger",says Da.

"That's not fair",says Ger.  They head off to the Ma's Ma down the North Wall where they were leaving in the Baby ,Philly to Auntie Joan and Lily for the day to mind him. The Ma's Ma (our granny) was coming with us on a trip up to Belfast.   Bem and Rick were put back in the back seat with Ger,Rob ,Jacqueline and our poor granny Maggie. Da driving and the Ma in the front seat.The car was an Green Austin A 40 (probably a bit bigger than a Nissan micra). We  were all pretty squashed in the back....Back then there was no Motorway so we had to go through every town on the way,Dublin city centre,past the Airport,Swords,Drogheda ,Dundalk before we crossed the border into the North and then it was Newry,Lisburn,Portadown and then Belfast. A total of over 100 miles.Bem suffered from travel sickness so he had to have the seat at the window.The fresh air flowing through the window kept us all nice and cool.

When we got as far as Drogheda ,we stopped and had a picnic on the side of the road.
Ham sambo's and egg// onion ones.
It was a welcome relief to be out of the car for a little while.
Finally we arrived in Belfast with great excitement.
Maggie,our nanny bought us kids an ice pop each.
"Can I have 5 ice pops,please?",says Maggie to the Shopkeeper.
"We call them Ice lolly s up here",says the friendly Shopkeeper.
"That's 3 Shillings please",says the guy.
Maggie pays for them and we all cluster around her and get our Ice "lolly s".
"Thanks ,Nanny",we all say excitedly.
"You're welcome",she says.

These were not the ones we were used to in Dublin.
These ones were shaped like rockets.
We had never had ones like this before. After we had our rocket lolly s,the Da went back into the shop and bought us chocolate.
The big kids  got a mars bar each.They did not have them in Dublin back then.
The small kids got milky bars.
Even white chocolate was rare in Dublin but was in every sweet shop in Belfast.
We all slept like babies on the journey back to Dublin.
.................................A Few Years later the Troubles started up in the North,We were lucky we were there in the calm before the storm.

The Titanic ship was built in the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast in 1909...
It was reckoned to be unsinkable according to experts at the time,unfortunately it sank on it's maiden voyage when it struck an iceberg en route to America in 1912.

"Bem has turned yellow"......1966

One morning back in 1966 us kids were clambering out of bed getting ready for school,the Ma was downstairs getting the brekkie ready ,when she heard a big thump thump bouncing down the stairs,it was little Ger(he was not so little any more)"Ma Ma" he cried."Whats wrong ?, gerard,spit it out "....."its Bem he s turned yellow".....With that kitty bounced up the stairs to have a look........."Right Ger go in and get Rita ,she will have to bring yous to school, its off to the Doctor for Bem".      "Right stick your tongue out ,son ,and say ah"said the doc......"Ah" said bem......."Okay Mrs C, bring this little fella home and an ambulance will collect him later"......Bem was delighted to have time off  school ,and an ambulance  coming especially for him.. It turned out a long day waiting for the ambulance to arrive,all the kids had come home from school when it arrived,Bem was a bit disappointed when instead of sirens all we got was a loud rap on the door.........In comes the ambulance man with a big grey blanket and tells the mother that all Bem 's clothes must be left behind, including his bodice and jocks as he was going to a fever hospital .Bem takes his clothes off then he is wrapped in a blanket feeling very vulnerable but worse was to come ,The front door was whipped open and the ambulance man scooped Bem up his arms and to his horror there was a few kids outside.Bem held onto that blanket so tight his little hands turned white.The kids were giggling as Bem was being put in the Ambulance.Off the ambulance went with just Bem and the 2 ambulance men(The Ma had a clatter of kids and no one to mind them),When they got to Cherry Orchard fever hospital in Ballyfermot they brought Bem into a room strapped in a stretcher and left him there alone,then in walks this huge nurse and she produces this big syringe and without a word tries to inject Bem.  Well now Bem wasn't having that and he and the nurse had a big struggle when she had to give up.Next day when Bem was more settled in, the Doctor came and explained that Bem had to get an needle,this time Bem offered no resistance.It turned out Bem had to get an needle every day for the next 5 weeks while he was in hospital(he had yellow jaundice).After a couple of days Bem was well settled in.There was 3 other males in the ward of all different ages .Bem being the youngest(8 years old) and the eldest  about 60 years old.They were all confined to their beds and not allowed to leave them even for the loo.It was a bedpan and jug job..All they had to wear was a long shirt ,no bottoms, no jocks. One day one of the other boys jumped out of bed and was running around when the nurses caught him. They grabbed him and put on this huge pair of jocks on him with big strings dangling from them which were then used to tie him to the bed.They told Bem he would get the same treatment if he got out of bed so he  stayed in bed as he didn't  fancy been tied to the bed ,even the old guy was afraid to get out of the bed.After a couple of weeks they were all released one by one except Bem.One day Bem was surprised to get a visit off the old guy.He had to come back for a check up and he dropped in to say hello."There's someone to see  you", says the nurse.   He hands me a bag. Bem was excited as he opened the bag.Inside the bag was a packet of fig rolls and a bunch of Bananas."Thanks so much ,my favourite biscuits and fruit",says Bem.Back then it was a rare treat to get a few biscuits ,let alone a whole packet.   

.A few weeks later it was Easter and as Bem was  on a choc free diet the Ma  said she would keep Bem's egg at home for when he got out.Back in those days you were lucky to get 1 egg. Anyway Easter Sunday in comes the Ma and the Da for a visit.Then after awhile in comes  Aunt Peggy,  and she places a bag with an Easter egg beside Bem's  locker and the  Ma tells her about Bem's choc free diet.Anyway after about a half hour the Aunt Peggy says her goodbyes and leaves.Bem says to the Ma, "Will you bring home the egg that Peggy gave me?". He looks beside the locker and lo and behold its nowhere to be seen.With that Bem jumped out of bed,not caring if the nurses caught him to tie him up and looked everywhere but alas to no avail.The Da,says"I thought I seen Peggy picking something up".Bem got upset.The Ma says,"It's okay Bem ,maybe she brought it home to mind it for you until you get better".  Bem never did get that egg.It later transpired the Aunt on hearing about Bem's diet whipped the egg back into her bag and brought it away with her .There was no consoling Bem he cried for ages and the nurses even took pity and allowed him out of bed for a little while.After 5 weeks Bem was allowed home and spent 3 more weeks off school.  The kids all loved Bem when he got home .he thought they missed him.They were just after his Easter eggs(word had spread about Aunt Peggy in the family and Bem ended up getting a lot of eggs).xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S. 1966 was the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter rising.
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A TRIP TO NELSON'S PILLAR........1965

                     Every Sunday The Ma would get all us 5 kids ready and haul us all on board the 22 bus or if the Da was not working into his A40 AUSTIN car and bring us to our Nannies place  down in Sheriff st beside the docks.   Living in their flat was the Granda Michael, Nanny Nolan and 3 aunts,Joan,Lily and Rose.(Granda Michael "Bisha" Nolan along with his 2 sons ,uncle Paddy and  Christy "Bisha" Nolan were dockers and Christy had spent time  sailing around the world on a merchant ship).......One Sunday ,in  1965,Aunt lily brought the 3 stooges .....Rick ..little Ger and Bem on a stroll up to town,(Rob and Jacqueline were too small to bring)..It was a Beautiful sunny day .We all had our matching shorts  (just the boys) and our bodices under our T-Shirts(Bodices were like little buttoned vests ).We walked up along the Boundary wall until we reached Connolly Station,When little Ger started moaning.."Lily, Lily, I cant walk anymore me legs are hurting",he says.Now little Ger even back then was as solid as a rock.Anyway lily scooped him up and threw him on her shoulder and we headed up Talbot st.Little Ger looked down at us and started smiling.   Rick  says to lily."Lily that's not fair, can we have a lift too ?"   "Feck off " she says ."I have me hands full with this lump,He weighs a ton". And with that we all started laughing except little Ger who was not impressed been called a Lump.Next we got to a sweet shop and bingo ,little Ger starts whinging ."Lily i'm hungry ,Can i have sweeties"?

 In lily goes and gets us our goodies .After we scoffed our sweets Little Ger wanted to get back up on Lily but she told him to walk .Bem and Rick we're delighted,and started calling him a big baby,which prompted him to run at us like a bull,we were in stitches and took refuge behind Lily.We eventually get to O'Connell st and we says to Lily."Lily can we go up there ".pointing up at the pillar."Okay" says Lily and over we go .We got to the bottom of the pillar and looked up and on cue Little Ger started moaning that his legs were too small to go up the spiral stairs....so Lily throws him over her shoulder and starts up the stairs with Little Ger's woolly hair bobbing up and down .he looks at us and smiles and gives us a triumphant wink.Poor Lily was struggling up them stairs with Ger on her shoulder .Eventually we made it to top and had a look out over Dublin ...Lily had to give us a lift to see out over the rail.There was wire mesh all above the rail so there was no danger of falling . The people down below looked like ants walking around. We skipped back down the stairs,even little Ger ,with poor Lily lagging behind.We jumped on a bus and we ran up the stairs to the front seat,we felt we were driving the bus. We all slept like babies that night ..even poor Lily ...zzzzzzzz
P.S. A year later in 1966 the pillar was blown up by the IRA.

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"OUR LITTLE PRINCESS"..........1965

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"She's a little Princess ",gushed one of the neighbours as they all peered into the
Moses Basket.

 The 4 Boys were standing in the corner of the room taking it all in.
The Ma had just arrived back from Hospital with her fifth child,A Baby Girl.
"What is her name?",says Rita."We are calling her Jacqueline",says the Ma.
"Ah that's lovely",says one of the neighbours,"Are you naming her after Jacqueline Kennedy?".
"Yes,we are",says the Ma.
Rita says," Jacqueline Kennedy might be the First Lady in America  ,but Jacqueline is our little Lady here ".
They all have a laugh.
Bem had Butterflies in his tummy,he was so excited to have a little sister .
All that Weekend the front door was like a revolving door with all the visitors
that came and went. Dolls and teddy Bears were all around the Moses Basket.
Little Ger takes one of the Dolls and starts to play with it.
"You're a Sissy",says Rick laughing .
Ger was not happy,"Am not",he says .
"You are so",says Rick.
With that Ger runs in to the Kitchen. .
"Ma ,Rick said I'm a Sissy",he says.
"Do'nt mind him pet",says Ma as she strokes his big head of hair.
Ger was happy for the bit of attention.
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 P.S.Later that year (Nov. 22),John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,Texas.
Everyone was in shock ,grown men and women wept openly in the streets of Dublin and all over the World.  His family came from Wexford ,so everyone in Ireland felt like they had lost one of their own.
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Part 4......1964.
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Saturday morning and little Ger wakes up first and goes downstairs
and wakes up the boys with a roar, "Where's my Ma".
Rick and Bem jump out of bed and with Rob trailing behind they leg it down the stairs
taking 2 steps at a time.They go in the Kitchen and there is the Aunt Lily trying
to comfort Little Ger as he hugs her leg,"It's okay ,your Mammy will be back in awhile",says Lily.
The Ma comes in later and tells us that the Da had a crash on his Motorbike and was
in hospital.The boys are all upset,but the Ma cheers them up by telling them they can visit
him the next day in the Hospital.
"What's a Hospital?",says Ger.
"It's a place people go to get better",says the Ma.
On the Sunday they all go to Jervis St Hospital to see the Da,Big Ger.
His leg was in plaster from his hip right down onto his foot,It was a bad
Break and he had to get permanent plates and pins in his leg.
"Bang goes my football career",says the Da laughing.
He allows the boys to sign their names on his plastered leg.
He would be out of work for 9 months that year recovering.
Later that year Bem was doing a Dress Rehearsal for the Christmas Show in Junior School on the School
Stage .Himself and His schoolmates were decked out with Black Berets and Sun glasses
and marching and singing the song,"A Nation once again".
In pops the Da on his crutches and calls Bem and the Boys over and gives out drinks and chocolate to all of them..
The Boys were all delighted as back in them days it was a big treat to get Chocolate as money was very scarce,and generally you could only afford
toffee bars which cost one penny.
You rarely got a chance to eat one all for yourself as there was always a kid
lurking around looking for a share of it.
Every Friday was goody night in our house at 177 so the Da used to send the 2 eldest(Rick and Bem) up for a block of ice cream and a bottle of minerals and a bag of Cleeves broken toffee bars which were very tasty.
The Ma used to line up the cups(glasses were only to be used for special Occasions)  and first put the ice cream in and then pour the minerals in on top.
It was every kid for themselves and every cup was emptied pronto.
There was no waste back then ,everything was consumed ,plates were licked clean
after every dinner and the Ma used to say,laughing ,"There's not much cleaning on them dishes,yous have practically
licked them clean".                                                

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