Gerald,

You were not the only one frightened of John bless him. My uncle died when he was 21, or so I was told. My only memory of him is sitting in his wheelchair and very disabled in the little front living room of my Granny McShane's house in Barnsley's Row. I was 3 or 4 I think. My two sisters and I would huddle together clinging to my dad's legs as John tried to say something to us.



I remember so well that little house with its half door. My gran's lace curtained window with little gate-table underneath adorned with lace tablecloth and something (perhaps a vase or plant pot) sitting on top. A roaring fire burning in what I remember as a black range. I can see the narrow stairs winding up to the left of the inside of the front door. One had to pass the door to the 'master bedroom' on the way to the narrow kitchen which led to the outside yard. No TV. Just the sound of the ticking clock high up on the mantlepiece. My two sisters and I would 'call in' to see our gran as our mother instructed us to do on our way home from the covent school. Our arrival would be announced with "Danny! its our Sammy's wee girls! Give them a sugared piece!"

Hi Ann

My mother used to do the same with the newspaper on fire up the chimney . A nd i was also scared , the smoke filled the street . Also she used to open the top room window , and sit out on the window sill, and clean the windows , laughing at me on the inside calling her in , in case she fell . And these were known as the good old days .
Regards!
Tommy .

Tommy, when we lived in Lawnmount Crescent, I also used to sit out on the upstairs windowsills to clean the outside of the windows. Was I wise, or was I wise?

Dot
I'm pretty sure that Danny and my dad called it The Casbah because that was in an old movie, and was depicted as a den of iniquity, to which normal decent citizens ventured at their peril.
We could laugh about ourselves in those days.

I just googled Casbah. 1948 film, and Peter Lorre was one of the main actors.
So I wasn't far off the mark.

Dear Dorothea, I hope you don't mind me contacting you, I have been trying to trace my Irish relatives for many years without any luck, I saw your message & thought I would ask if you could possibly help me, well here goes!, my grandfather was called Joseph McShane, he was living at 25 Bridge St, Lisburn, I believe he had sisters? I got this info from my grandmothers marriage certificate, they married in Exeter, Devon in 1942, my grandmother told me he died very young at 21, he was a dispatch rider in the war, in the royal marines, I would love to hear from you, Take Care, Patricia

Frank;I may even have moved into that house where the McGrogans lived. We moved from 5 to 2, and then up to the Green, 13 or 14, before I was a teenager. I think that was progress. Somebody looking on here would remember better than I do. But I will never forget watching my cousin die in my mother's arms in Piper's Hill; nor her words to her sister as the tears ran down her cheeks;"He's coul, Mary." Blood tingling in the ears of a child.

I remember the Phillips doing the chimneys also doing the same work were Joe Speers and his father who both worked in the old Gasworks, and John and Terence Coburn from Mill View were also sweeps

Hi Dabbler, I was just wandering if you would know of a Joseph McShane, who lived at 25 Bridge Street? he died aged 21 in the war in 1944, he was my grandfather & I have been trying for many years to find out more about him & would love to find my Irish relatives, if they are still around, I'm afraid I don't have much info about him, all I have been told is that he had sisters, & his dad was John McShane, he worked as a general labourer, I would be so grateful if you could get back to me, Regards, Patricia Mary Yates nee McShane

Dunno if this is a windup, Patricia Mary, but you are asking a man who hasn't lived in Ireland for more than fifty five years about an Irishman who died in the war at twenty-one, and who had a father named John. If it's a serious query, I'm sorry I can't help. If it's a joke, laugh and the world laughs with you.
Goodnight, posters, readers, and friends.

Hi no its no joke, I have searched for many years to try & find out about my grandfather, but nothing, I was hoping you may have remembered or knew any McShanes back then when you did live in Ireland, Take Care, Patricia

Hi just saw your memory that was my great grans shop in hillstreet. I have been trying to get pics can't find any. My dad grew up there with his sister's 😊

I remember donegans shop well was billy donegan in ivans st a connection