Cabra History.Com

‘I wish I had a penny for every time the Ma’ brought us in here. We nearly always came out with new second-hand clothes or shoes. I got me Confirmation suit in here and the it went to my Uncle’s afterwards. And the Ma’ would always take us into St Nicholas of Myra church to light a candle to Blessed Martin. He always helped the Ma’ whenever she was stressed out with us kids. She’d be in the height of it and suddenly she’d look up at the ceiling and say “Holy mother of God, Saint Anthony and Blessed Martin de Porros grant me patience…” and then a few minutes later she’d be grand, especially when we’d of all scarpered out of the house and left her in peace. The Ma’ knew a lot of the Dealers from the market. It was a great place for all those Mammies trying to manage with big families and especially with a gang like we had. When the Ma’ would pick up a pair of shoes and tell you to try them on you never asked what make they were or what label was on them. Sure most times what she bought was too big for us and she’d tell us we’ll grow into them and we did. And that’s because the Mammy always knew what was best for us and even if we had to stuff newspaper into the toe of the new second-hand shoes it didn’t matter. Wouldn’t it be great all the same to walk around Meath Street and that for just one more time with the Mammy…’