Hi Bill, I thought that I would jump in here while Riobard is playing Nurse, cook and housekeeper and talk about bere Island in the thirties Some of you may not realize it but we still had english soldiers on the Island til 1938. Their presence made little difference to the people of the west end -Ballinakilla and Derrycreeveen. Most people there had their own boats to go back and forth to town but the rest of the Island depended on the military boats.. There was a launch called the'magpie" that usually made the morning run and a small steamer called the "Mc Hardy' that usually went in the afternoon. Civilians needed a pass to travel on the boats although they didnt always have to show it. Murphy's general store located in the village had most supplies that were neededsuch as food and coal but for shoes and clothing you had to go outside. There were two schools in the island, one in the west end and the other near the village..There was a huge area called the "rec"(recreation grounds) beside our school, with four fields.One eacg for cricket soccer rugby and Gaelic football. I don't believe it was originally planned for gaelic football but that 's what we used it for. We were lucky to have such a fine facility for a "playground'. There was a third school for the military kids but it was pretty well phased out by then To be continued

Hi Bill, Jim et al, My Grandfather used to be 'third hand' on the 'Jackdaw', which according to my Mother, did a similar job to what you describe the 'Magpie' doing. Was there a theme going on here with the bird names do you know? I've never heard tell of the Mc Hardy though, must ask my Aunt before it's too late !! My Mother, being a bit older than you Jim (she'd be 94 on the 1st of March !!), used to tell tales about the English soldiers, but I think they were of a different nature to those you would tell. As there were no lights, still very few, along the roads, anyone smoking a cigarette could be spotted well ahead. They would 'dog' their cigarettes, then she and her friends would wait for the soldiers to draw close and ask for a light in order to engage them in conversation and have the 'craic' !! Happy days !! Look forward to more from you Jim. Ann Chilton - Granddaughter of Mike (Og) O'Sullivan. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2013 3:12 PM Subject: [BEARA] Bere Island in the 30's > > Hi Bill, I thought that I would jump in here while Riobard is playing > Nurse, > cook and housekeeper and talk about bere Island in the thirties > Some of you may not realize it but we still had english soldiers on the > Island til 1938. Their presence made little difference to the people of > the > west end -Ballinakilla and Derrycreeveen. Most people there had their > own > boats to go back and forth to town but the rest of the Island depended > on > the military boats.. > There was a launch called the'magpie" that usually made the morning run > and > a small steamer called the "Mc Hardy' that usually went in the > afternoon. > Civilians needed a pass to travel on the boats although they didnt > always > have to show it. > Murphy's general store located in the village had most supplies that > were > neededsuch as food and coal but for shoes and clothing you had to go > outside. > There were two schools in the island, one in the west end and the other > near > the village..There was a huge area called the "rec"(recreation grounds) > beside our school, with four fields.One eacg for cricket soccer rugby > and > Gaelic football. I don't believe it was originally planned for gaelic > football but that 's > what we used it for. We were lucky to have such a fine facility for a > "playground'. > There was a third school for the military kids but it was pretty well > phased > out by then > To be continued > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

Good morning Ann, all, Ann Chilton <[email protected]> writes: > My Grandfather used to be 'third hand' on the 'Jackdaw', which according to > my Mother, did a similar job to what you describe the 'Magpie' doing. Was > there a theme going on here with the bird names do you know? Yes, it's an old, old custom. If Donal were still with us he could probably elaborate at great length. He was something of a sailor and boat builder, among his many talents. If you do a web search (google or any other search engine) for "naming boats after birds" you'll find a number of references to the practice. Our Irish ancestors have been doing it for a long time, as have many other people, including the Chinese! -- Bill