Aug 23 2007
Martin Sneyd and Martin Coffey in the Phoenix Park, 22 Sept 2021…
“Be Safe, Be Wise, Be Careful…”
Bernard and Mary Coffey
It’s 2019 and a New Year begins, the Cabra History site is 12 years old this year. Thank you all for your support over those past 12 years, I hope you enjoy what you see and read of days gone by in Cabra West…MC
‘Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside…’
‘Here’s the news at six o’clock…’
‘I was only thirteen years of age…
When I first went on the Street
A ribbon in me curly hair
And not a shoe upon me feet…’
‘The Oul Cuppa Tay…’
I was left behind a tenement door
One cold and weary night
Wrapped in a shawl
In a rain drenched hall
As my mother she took flight
‘A Dying Art’
‘Years ago my older sister had loads of these patterns. She made beautiful dresses for when she went out dancing. Our kitchen table was commandeered and away she’d go, cutting and sewing almost as fast as the sewing machine could keep up. She never bought a dress, just a pattern and she’d make her own outfit...’
‘Button Drawer Heaven…’
‘My Ma’ had one of the biggest collections of “Things” that she kept in her “Button Drawer” in our old kitchen dresser. There were shirt buttons, blouse buttons, waist coat buttons, trouser buttons, cuff buttons, collar buttons, coat buttons, army buttons, red buttons, blue buttons, green buttons and loads more besides. There were also belt buckles, shoe buckles, show laces, small pins, big pins, dressmaking pins, drawing pins, bits of thread, sewing needles, darning needles, sack needles, safety pins, nappy pins, long zips, short zips, zips for trousers, zips for skirts, zips for jackets, collar studs, plastic things to stiffen a shirt collar with, the odd sticking plaster, a corn plaster, bits of old ribbon, elastic bands, a garter, broken pencils, a nib, bottle tops, a scissors, two combs, hair clips, hair slides, Green Shield stamps, used postage stamps, a mug handle, old coins, rent receipts, milk bottle tops, bent nails, a rusty screw, a drawer handle, a measuring tape, bits of collar lace, rubber washers, Lyons Tea coupons, corks, a cough bottle label, a nail clippers, an old brooch with the clip broken off, elbow patches, clips off a pair of trouser braces and the list goes on….’
Finbars School/ The School around the corner
The Bars it kept us occupied
In learning what we know
Some kids would bunk off when they could
Because they didn’t want to go
The learning process worked for some
While others were wayward bound
The cane was the school deterrent
With a swish and hurting sound
But back then in the fifties
The schools paved the way for you
You learned to take the knocks in life
In all that you would do
Now looking back we see the truth
Of how it worked for us
As we’re streetwise in all the things we do
And carry on without a fuss
By/ Tony Gorman
‘When I was just a little boy I asked my mother what will I be…’
Making a Rolls Royce for my nephew…
1962 Cabra West Wedding…
The Cabra Grand Picture House…
‘I’ve seen a few of them in Cabra…’
Great company and great food. Myself and my pal Ambrose O Shea went for our breakfast this morning into the ‘Elephant Cafe’ on Fassaugh Avenue. The young lady is Ioana or Johanna to us and she works in the Café…
Visiting the old school…
BROOMBRIDGE BATHERS
“And don’t forget to keep in touch with the older folk back home…”
