Low Tide at Rossbeigh

The Long Day

I was ten and half years old when my father was killed crossing the road in England. This happened on a Friday night the 11^th of 12^th 1976. At the time it was not easy to get in touch with us as we had no phone or neither had the neighbours.

As a family we got up Saturday morning not knowing what had happened to our father. My mother and my sisters went to Tralee to a dancing feis. My Nan was looking after my brother and me.

Myself and my brother met up with two of our neighbours. They were brothers too. We headed off around the bogs and fields with our dogs hunting as we thought.

The news came back from England to the Garda barracks. The Sergeant knew our family and he knew my mothers first cousin quite well.

They headed off to look my mother in Tralee. But we were missing with our friends. As the afternoon was now here we were heading off home to do our jobs. When we were almost home we were passing one of our neighbours’ house laughing and joking like young fellows do.

The lady of the house appeared and said “Have ye any respect for the dead? Have ye any shame?” She had heard us laughing. We still did not know what she was on about.

Then it came “Yer father was killed in London last night.” I remember looking at my brother and he looking straight back at me. He was a year and half older than me.

We headed off home and our Nan told us the news we did not want to hear. We just headed off to do our jobs, which was to milk our Nan’s cows which was by hand. Our Nan joined us.

The three of us started milking in our buckets. None of the three of said anything to each other. But you could hear the three of us crying. I don’t remember the reaction of my mother or my sister at the time.

My next memories are of us heading off to Cork airport by mini bus to collect my father's remains. It was a long day. I sat in the back of the bus on my own thinking “This can’t be true, it has to be somebody else.”

I remember meeting my mother in Cork airport. She was with my aunties and their husbands. We got no time together as a family. As well as all these there was all the neighbours their as well.

So it was back on the bus again alone again with my thoughts. We stopped off in Macroom for something to eat. All I did was look at the coffin in the hearse. All I did was watch it all the way home, cry and think of my Dad. I was in my own little world.

We got back to our church. It was dark and cold. There was a crowd waiting outside it in the yard. As we got out of the bus, we were swarmed by people wanting to offer their sympathies. At the time they thought they were helping us but all they did was separate me from our Mum and brothers and sisters. But this is what I remember next was my headmaster pulling me in to him and cuddling me. I will always remember that kindness. It was the one good thing to happen to me on that long day.

The next day was OK because the Galway crowd, my Dad’s crowd, was there and I was their pet so I was well looked after those days. But nobody asked me was I OK until thirty years later and I was not.

Joe's Story

Joe’s Story

Joe is a 30 year old man in prison for the shooting of a man in Reno. He is serving a life sentence but he has only served 10 years so far and he is finding it difficult in prison waking up every morning to four walls, and when he hears the whistle of the train, he longs for freedom. He is very lonely and sad and jealous of people on the outside. He thinks of the freedom that the train would give him if he was able to get on it and travel far away, see different places and do things he dreamt of doing. He also thinks of how life would have been if he was a free man, like meeting a gorgeous young lady and getting married and rearing a family. Joe also thinks about his parents and brothers and sisters and what he missed out on, he misses his mother’s love as they were very close to each other.

Joe also recalls the day he shot that poor man in Reno for no reason and he regrets it very much and will for the rest of his life as it has ruined his life and those that were close to him.

Joe dreams of freedom and a different way of life but the click of the key on the cell door reminds him of reality and a sad and lonely life.

A Day Out at Crag Cave
In October 2009 we went to Crag Cave. It was a day out for the group Mossie, Mike, Jer and myself, Lucy and Jane came too. We have worked together for 5 months. We travelled from Killorglin to Castleisland by car. We went to the souvenir shop. Then we waited there for 20 minutes. Then we were taken to Crag Cave. Crag Cave is one of the largest caves in Ireland with a total length of 3.81kilometres.

The cave was developed between 1987 and 1989 by building a shaft which is the only man made entrance and putting in pathways, railings, lights and a music system. It was opened to the public on 20th May 1989. After visiting the cave we went to the restaurant for a meal. After the meal we came out and we visited Castleisland. We walked around the shops. We came back to Killorgllin for about 3 o’ clock. It was a very enjoyable day.

Santas Glasses

Story for my children

Santa’s Glasses

It was Christmas Eve. All the work was done. All the family were relaxing around a lovely glowing fire. The colour was a lovely golden colour. “Will I put more coal on the fire?” said Dad.
“No” said the children “What about poor Santa?” Then Dad replied it was every man for himself. Dad was joking as usual.

Then Mom said “Have ye put a bottle of Guinness out for Santa?”
“Don’t be silly” laughed the kids “You can’t drink and drive.”
“Clever children” said Mom “Of course he can’t have a Guinness. I will leave him a glass of milk and some carrots for Rudolph”
“Good old Mom” the children said.

The boys talked excitedly amongst themselves. “I wonder will he bring our BMX bikes and a surprise.” Then they looked at their beautiful little sister in her buggy. “He had not better forget our little princess or he will be in big trouble” they said with a smile.

“Well now” said Mom and Dad “We think it’s time to go to bed now boys.”
“Oh do we have to?”
“Hmm I’m afraid ye do. Well if ye don’t, Santa will not come to ye. Off ye go now boys.”
“Good night” and they were off to their beds. But as excited as they were, they were soon in a heavy sleep and soon the whole house was in a deep sleep. Snoring could be heard all through the house.

Midway through the night, Mom and Dad heard a rumpus in the back garden. They got up to take a look. The dog was jumping around enjoying herself. You would have to be there to believe it.

There was Santa, bottom sticking out of the hedge and reindeers were falling down laughing. “Ye will wake the kids with all that noise” said Mom.
“It’s OK” said Santa “When I fly over a house, I sprinkle magic sleeping dust down on it and it will keep the children asleep.”
“Are you drink-driving?” asked Mom.
“Oh no” laughed Santa “It’s because I lost my glasses tonight somewhere over the North Pole. I expect some polar bear is wearing them now. I’ve been crashing all night but this is the first time I got stuck. Please pull me out because I have a lot more boys and girls to see before it gets bright.”
So Mom and Dad pulled and pulled until the three of them fell to the ground laughing.
“I think you should use the front door” laughed Dad.
“Yes I will, it will save us time and we need all the time we can get because of all our crashes.”
“Well” said Mom “I have a present for you. A pair of Dad’s old glasses”
And off Santa and the reindeers flew into the night sky, still laughing. Hopefully Dad’s glasses worked – fingers crossed!

THE STORY OF BABY JOHN

I loved listening to Mum telling us stories of her life time and some of them stick in my mind.Iike the time she was expecting one of my older siblings and was living with my Granny and Grandad in Shankill in County Dublin. My Dad, at the time, was a long distance lorry driver and Mum said that Dad would leave licorice sweets under the pillow, that way my sisters and brothers knew that Dad was going to be home at some stage anyway.

Mum went on to say that she went into labour on Sunday morning. You didn't have to go to hospital then unless you had to - it was the midwife that delivered your baby. Granny made the dinner and in the meantime had sent Dad down to get the midwife. Half way down the road, Dad stopped to watch a match in the field and forgot all about Mum. Instead there he was shouting "Come on! Come on!" to the team.

After a while my Granny went to see where he was and lo and behold, there he was shouting. Well, Gran took off her shoe and began to beat Dad around the field. "I'll give you come on!" she said. Dad had forgotten and got side-tracked. My brother was born a few hours later and Mum and baby were fine. My Mum laughed at the idea of Gran running after Dad and belting him with her shoe.

A Day Trip to the Aran Islands

A DAY TRIP TO THE ARAN ISLANDS



On the 25th of June a group of new-found friends went on an outing. We travelled by minibus and there were 9 of us. We left Killorglin at 6.15 am and got the ferry from Tarbert to Killimer and on to Ennistymon for breakfast which we really enjoyed. We then went on to Doolin and got a ferry to Inis Oirr , the name of the boat was the Happy Hooker – what a name!
We had planned to take a trip round the island by jarvey but they seemed a bit expensive. We also considered bicycles but we finally decided to walk which was more enjoyable as we had more time to chat and share some jokes.
The scenery was breathtaking with lots of stone walls and very small fields which looked like gardens. There were a few cows and goats there.
We went to a pub called “O’Flaherty’s” for a drink as we were parched as the sun was really shining on that day.
We left the island at around 5pm and travelled to Doolin where we had dinner. We missed the ferry from Killimer so we had to make a longer journey home. We had a lovely bus driver called Teddy – he was most obliging. We really enjoyed the day and everyone was very happy. I would like to thank the teachers for their input into the day trip.