A neighbour visited last night and brought with him some old photos of people in the locality. These would all have been taken in the fifties in and around Frenchpark. How things change, black and white photographs, everyone sitting in line for the photo very formally. No instant look at the photos either like we can now. These would have been taken into town on the weekly visit, left at the shop and picked up the following week.
The woman sitting on the ledge here was our visitors Mother. I think the machine behind the horse was for turning hay. As a small child I remember my Grandfather using one of these in the seemingly long hot days of Summer. Were the days really like that then or is the child’s view through rose tinted spectacles? I wonder…
Three pretty girls all dressed up in their Sunday best. Everyone had what was called their “good clothes” which they wore to Mass and all day on Sunday. For the men it was always a suit and tie, for the women a pretty dress and coat or a skirt suit which for some reason, in Tipperary anyway, was always called a costume. I wonder if these three were headed off to Mass or on a day out somewhere. Of course visiting friends and relations was always done on a Sunday too so maybe they were going visiting.
This picture is a bit blurred bit it gives an idea of the typical Grandmother figure of the time. Always dressed in black, a figure to be respected by all. This woman had the reputation of always having a smile on her face, she must have been happy with her lot.
Last but not least another one of smiling Granny. I wonder if these two lived in the same house or was it visiting day? A happy day anyway.
I love these old photos, they bring one back to a time long gone, a time when as a very small child I probably had little appreciation of what we actually had back then. Makes me sound ancient but I’m not, to me anyway, I was born in 1958. My Grannies, both of them also wore the black. One of them died in 1981 the other in 1983. Of course not everything was perfect in those days. Years later we realise that sexual abuse was rampant in the church. Unmarried Mothers, as they were called, were often ostracised by their families, sent away, often never to return. At that time everything was swept under the carpet but thankfully the truth came out in recent years.
Many thanks to our friend Hubert for giving permission to share these photographs on my blog.
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