meetthemusicianinterview

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MEET THE MUSICIAN

MARY WALSH, CRAGROE, TULLA, CO. CLARE.

Song Do your best for one another.

Questioner: When were you born?

Mary: 1^st. of August 1918.

Questioner: Where were you born?

Mary: In Inchaboy, near Gort, Co. Galway

Questioner: How many people were in your family?

Mary: There were five altogether, I had two brothers, Willie and

John, and two sisters, Bridget and Catherine. Catherine

died of diphtheria when she was eighteen months old.

Questioner: What was your father's and mother's occupation?

Mary: They were farmers, but my father had lived in New York for seven years where he drove a streetcar.

Questioner: Did you have many aunts and uncles?

Mary: I had only one uncle - William Blanche and six aunts on my father's side and two aunts on my mother's side.

Questioner: Where did you go to school?

Mary: I went to school in Lough Cutra, near Gort, on the main road from Ennis. Lord Gough had given the old Protestant School there to the Catholic children - he owned Lough Cutra Castle nearby.

Questioner: What age did you start school?

Mary: I started in March 1925, so I was about 7 years at the time.

Questioner: How far did you have to walk to school?

Mary: Three miles, in snow, hail and rain! And we used to walk barefooted in the summer months.

Questioner: Did you like school?

Mary: Yes I loved school, and I loved the teachers there too.

There were over ninety girls in Lough Cutra School the

year I started.

Questioner: Did you have many friends?

Mary: Yes I had lots of friends, and I'm still in touch with some of them. One of the longest friendships is with my friend Kathleen who lived nearby and I knew her before I started school and we still write to each other.

Questioner: What games did you play?

Mary: I hurled with the neighbour's children, and then we used to compete in the high jump at Sports.

Questioner: Did you sing or do music in school?

Mary: No we didn't do music but we used to sing at the

Feiseanna in Gort.

Questioner: How many subjects did you do in school?

Mary: I suppose I did about six or seven, I can't remember exactly.

Questioner: How long were your lunch breaks?

Mary: I think maybe a half an hour, maybe longer in the fine weather.

Questioner: Did you play an instrument?

Mary: No, but I always longed for a violin but never got one. I did learn a few tunes on the melodeon and used to play for set dancers.

Questioner: What did you do when you left school?

Mary: I went to the Technical School in Gort. We did cookery and sewing there and Business Methods as well as the other subjects.

Questioner: What was your first job?

Mary: I worked in a bar / grocery shop in Gort although I would have preferred to have worked in the Drapery business.

Questioner: How much did you get paid?

Mary: I think it was about six shillings a week then.

Questioner: What age did you leave school?

Mary: I was about sixteen or nearly seventeen when I left the

Technical School in Gort.

Questioner: What books did you read?

Mary: 'Knocknagow', 'The Homes of Tipperary','Glenanaar', 'Neath the Banners of Spain' and 'Ireland and The Adventure of Maeve'.

Questioner: What age and year did you get married?

Mary: 1952- in November, so you'll know what age I was then

- you can make make up that one.

Questioner: Did you go on a honeymoon?

Mary: Yes we did, we went to Dublin, and the hat was blown off my head when we got out at the station - it was so windy.

Questioner: What did you do in your spare time?

Mary: I used to knit for my family and I listened to the radio and read sometimes.

Questioner: How did you get around?

Mary: I had a good bicycle.

Questioner: Did you ever get a bad illness or suffer from anything?

Mary: I got meningitis in 1969.

Questioner: When you got married did you still go to the house dances?

Mary: No not many, I did go to a few the first year but then when the children came along I stayed at home.

Questioner: What celebrations did you have for Christmas?

Mary: We used to visit all of the cousins' houses and they would come to us.

Questioner: What kind of Easter Eggs did you have at Easter?

Mary: My mother used to bring us chocolate eggs but I never really liked them.

Questioner: What games did you play at Halloween?

Mary: Snap apple and diving for money, also you picked one of three or four saucers which were filled with water, or clay, or one with a ring when blindfolded. I can't remember if there were any more.

Questioner: Did you go to bonfire nights?

Mary: Yes when we were young we used to go with the neighbours and Mike Ruane used to play the tin whistle for us.

Questioner: When were they held?

Mary: The night before St Johns - do you not know that?

Questioner: Did you cut turf in the bog?

Mary: No but I did put it out on a wheelbarrow. My brother used to cut it with a sléan

Questioner: Did your family have men working on your farm?

Mary: It was very seldom we had because we had our own help.

Well a neighbour would come in sometimes if we needed

help in a hurry and then we would pay them back again.

Questioner: What music do you listen to?

Mary: I listen to Irish Music and especially to Clare FM I love

Irish music, I would have music before food, I would live

on music.

Questioner: Did you travel in the course of your music career?

Mary: Well I did go to marquees and dances - I used to play for the reel set at dances.

Questioner: What musical instrument would you like to have played?

Mary: The violin - I would have loved a violin but money was scarce then -'Whatever sounds in the cottage or hall, the violin is surely High King over all'.

Questioner: Do you think in years to come that Traditional Irish

Music will still be played?

Mary: Oh yes, it will always be played - What about the Ceili

Bands and all? They are playing very well now.

Questioner: Do you have a favourite song?

Mary: Its 'Do your best for one another' I got that song from my mother.

Questioner: What do you like about your favourite song?

Mary: The words of this song, if you listen to them there is a very good message there - Do your best for one another and if we all did that the world would be a far nicer place.

SONG The Darkies

(Anne-Marie shows medals her great-grandfather had for fighting the Black and Tans)

Questioner: Did you know anyone who was on the' run'?

Mary: I did - Dan Ryan, he was shot in the leg. And I also

knew Pat Cooney.

I can tell you the story of the Loughnane brothers who

were shot that time.

Questioner: Do you remember the first cars?

Mary: Yes I do, they were only two in the parish at the time, one belonged to the Clandillons and the other was a hackney car.

Questioner: Do you remember the money changing to Decimal

Currency?

Mary: Yes I do and I had no bother with it, it came very easy to

me.

Questioner: Do you think children nowadays are more spoilt?

Mary: Well maybe a bit, in my day I got a doll for Christmas and that was all I got for the year. If the head fell off we sewed it on again and had to make do with that, and I think we had plenty.

Questioner: Do you think people are more selfish nowadays?

Mary: No not really, I think children are very nice to talk to and

I always enjoy their company.

Questioner: Do you like the changes in the times?

Mary: The parties now are so different to my day. If we were asked to a party in my day there would be no children there and we could enjoy ourselves and dance the night away. I was at a party at Christmas and all the children were there with their parents and there was no dancing at all - such a difference.

Song Lisdoonvarna