English Accent Irish Soul
The Irish in Birmingham 1960 to 2010
Irish in Birmingham, has been serving the welfare and cultural needs of the Irish community since 1957. We were delighted when the Heritage Lottery Fund agreed to fund our oral history project which we launched in May 2011. We wanted to explore the childhood memories and recollections of Irish people, and those with Irish descent, resident in Birmingham during the five decades of 1960 to 2010. The theme of the decade, with its resonance within the Irish community informed the process of oral history as we captured the childhood memories of five people born in each of the five decades. We were keen to discover how each decade’s cohort related to their Irish heritage and what influenced them in their sense of belonging to the Irish community. “The project has been a fantastic opportunity to explore Irish history in the city during the last 50 years through the personal experience of many people. It has been a hugely participative and enjoyable project, led by Michelle Aucott from Irish in Birmingham, that’s involved superb and committed volunteers, artists, teachers and most especially those who have shared their personal histories and memorabilia with us.The project outcomes will help influence future learning and greatly extend the archive material of the Irish in Birmingham held by Birmingham City Council.” Hugh Tibbits, CEO of Irish in Birmingham This project has done more than ensure than the collective memory of the Irish community is preserved for posterity. It also represents a journey of discovery for the many volunteers involved. Motivation for joining the project varied, some were themselves of Irish descent and wanted to find if their own experiences were shared by others. Some wanted to ensure that the project went further than the usual stereotypes “the men on the building sites and the women all nurses”. Some just wanted to know more about the community they have lived as part of for many years “before the people with the stories are gone”. All felt some trepidation about what they were undertaking and whether they would be up to the role, the interviewing in particular. Fears were dissipated though by the training programme.
“For the volunteers there are many other benefits; the learning of a new skill, new friends made and the knowledge that they have been part of the only project that has tried to examine what binds the Irish community in Birmingham together. Like the project itself, the impact on those who volunteered will be positive and long lasting” Liz Daw, Volunteer “I am truly grateful for my opportunity to be a part of this project. Listening to the stories of Irish immigrants and their children has been such an indulgence and a privilege, I have thoroughly enjoyed my explorations into my Irish heritage, the skills I have developed and the fabulous people I have met in the process” Fiona Dunphy, Volunteer The Autumn of 2011 was occupied by the gathering of precious memories. The quality of the interviews testifies to the commitment and ability the volunteers achieved. However, the volunteers contribution doesn’t stop there. Many have been closely involved in the development of the exhibition along with the other main output from this project, the production of teaching packs which will be distributed to schools to promote Irish culture. “Quite simply this project wouldn’t have happened without the dedication, passion and vision from our volunteers. English Accent Irish Soul is testament to the Irish Community for all their hard work, commitment and integrity . We have been very fortunate to capture some fantastic memories. We will now finally have on record the contribution that both Irish and Irish decent people have made to the city of Birmingham, which will be stored for future generations to hear.“ Michelle Aucott, Project Coordinator, Irish In Birmingham
This project has been produced and delivered by Irish In Birmingham and funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund
‘English Accent, Irish Soul’ is an exhibition in which I find myself acting as both a participant and a proud champion. When asked to record my experiences of growing up in an Irish household in East Birmingham I jumped at the chance. As I let loose with details of drinking fizzy pop in the corner of now long-closed Irish clubs or standing shivering on the sidelines of Glebe Farm watching grown men try to hit each other with sticks, I realised that relatively little attention had been paid to the shared experiences of the children of Irish immigrants. What I knew from the outset was that my experiences wouldn’t be unique. That anyone who had been part of an Irish family had experienced that moment when you’re being asked to shush as some auld fella from some obscure branch of your family starts to sing a mournful ballad from the homeland. Like many from my generation Irish culture, and religion, played a central part in our experience. From Irish dancing to altar serving to Hurling, at some point we’ve all been either reluctant participants or enthusiastic advocates. Admittedly, I was at the ‘reluctant participant’ end of the scale and as much as possible tried to assimilate myself into what we might call a ‘Birmingham’ culture only to find that there was no such thing, for this is a City shaped by the diversity of its citizens, Irish foremost amongst them. This exhibition certainly has the city experience at its heart. From memories of the clubs and pubs where we had our first drink to the fear and worry caused by events such as the Pub Bombings.
From the annual celebration of our heritage with the St Patrick’s Day Parade to the civic pride we felt when the now-gone JFK memorial was erected. Whatever decade the participants in this project are from, it’s clear they share a feeling of protectiveness for the cultural and economic legacy of their community. The labour our parents did – as railways workers, builders, bus drivers, factory workers, cleaners – goes some way to define the class we associate ourselves with. For the experience of the Irish in Birmingham has been largely a working class experience. Many of the generation I am part of may well find themselves in the professions but we rarely shy away from an excuse to tell of the camaraderie we felt as members of the extended Irish in Birmingham family. During my teenage years, much to amusement of my English friends, I would always refer to the annual trip back to North East Galway to visit friends and relatives as ‘going home’, just as my mother still does today. It’s a habit I find hard to break. I hope like me you’ll find this exhibition brings memories of ‘home’ flooding back and along the way helps you reflect on what it means to belong to one of the most vibrant communities we have in this city. Dave Harte Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications, Birmingham City University
Holy Communion
“When we were practising for first holy communion, the priest gave us some practice bread and when we tasted it I said to my friend, this tastes like cardboard and everyone was going urggh like this because they didn’t like it and we said we hope it doesn’t taste like this in the future. And they had to give you a communion prayer and after you had to go to either Mary on that side or Jesus on the other so you got a Hail Mary or an Our Father and then you had to light a candle either under the big statue of Mary or Jesus and they do it because Jesus is the light of the world and that’s why they do it.”
“I I grew up in a Lodging house, my dad was in a poorly paid factory job and my mother had the joy of being the landlady of the lodging house so as I grew up obviously I was moms little helper, my brother and sister came along subsequently after, so I was the main take the dinner into the lads bring the dishes out, all of the lads that came to the house were I would say were 100% Irish so I got to meet a lot of lads from different counties. They all went predominately into the building sites around Birmingham, a few of the lads went into the factories, British Steel and Dunlop as it was then. We did that for a number of years.�
Lodging
Summer Holidays “It was fabulous where we used to stay more at my mom’s parents, they stayed over there and they had a big bungalow and it was a very small town then and that was just amazing we had so many friends to play with and I used to be quite upset when we had to come back to England again because I felt like I was at home and granny would have the chickens outside and it would be very kind of countrified and you know you get to know all of the neighbours and I remember walking up to the village and getting the water from the old water fountain and we would come back home and my uncle who lived with my grandparents, he would make bicycles and we would jump on the bicycles and go down the lanes and play in the haystacks, yeah, they were happy times”
“We would all pack up and go off to Ireland, get the train up to Holyhead, get on the ferry, I think my uncle used to come up and meet us and take us back down to my grandparents. We used to go back to my mom’s home place and we would be there for the six weeks and we just used to absolutely love it. You asked earlier about how you felt you were Irish when you were younger and that was one way because you would like go back to school and people would be talking about the holidays and they might have had two weeks in France which was exotic and you would say you had been in Ireland for six weeks or seven weeks I am sure the holidays were longer then.”
Irishman’s Hero
“Like many Irish households we had a JFK picture, had to have a JFK picture every house we went into on our holidays in Ireland had a JFK picture. So you knew the JFK story very early on in your life, as a person of Irish descent growing up, you knew full well who he was and what happened so happening on a big memorial of him, yeah I can understand that, people wanting to celebrate his life because he meant something to the Irish community.”
“From then onwards if we weren’t dancing we were singing and Ann King would come around on a Friday evening and say there’s a feis, which is a dancing competition, in Manchester tomorrow can I take the girls and my mom would say I can’t afford it I haven’t got the money and somehow the dancing teacher would provide the taxi or the train fare but we always used to go and we’d go to Manchester or Cardiff to dance in these competitions and we’d have no money for hotels we never stayed in hotels then, it was a case of someone standing up in the hall and saying we have a group of children here from Birmingham who can put a couple up. when you think about it, it was really unsafe because we were going into houses where we didn’t know the people but nothing ever happened to us we were well fed and looked after.”
Dancing and Music
Pop and Crisps
“Mom & Dad were really heavily involved with the Mayo association when it was run in the Irish Centre. So I remember like nights going down on a Sunday evening after mass in St Anne’s or in English Martyrs and then go down to the Irish Centre, I think mom was the Treasurer at the meetings and they would go in and have all their Mayo association meetings and me and Darren would be sitting out in the bar like with crisps and some cordial and you’d be allowed to have a few goes on the machine but you weren’t going to get too many more goes on the fruit machine because we weren’t made of money as they used to say.”
photo by: Helen Sweeting
St Patricks Day
“Of course the St. Patrick’s Day parades in Birmingham were fantastic and still are they are just an amazing day out really, it’s where everyone Irish, English any nationality, any culture, meet up and just celebrate the day really you don’t have to be Irish you just have to enjoy the craic really I suppose as they say, so every March, that is fantastic I look forward to it, just a great day out I was always involved with playing music on floats, I played for bands, for irish dancers, competitions and stuff over the years so I was always involved with the parade rather than at the side of the street watching it, so as far back as I can remember, I can’t remember what year it restarted, I was involved in it, it’s just an amazing day, it really is, it just gets bigger and bigger and better and better and is probably one of the favourite times of the year where everyone comes out of the woodwork to be Irish.”
Exhibition Launch
“So many memories and beautifully present. Title sums it up so well.”
“This exhibition really gives a flavour of where we started and how far we have travelled and the promise of times yet to be experienced. “
“Just spotted one of my relations in a photo! Great event. Well done to all.”
Above image: sewing wall created specifically for the exhibition by members of the Irish Community.
“Very good, exceeded expectations, thanks to Michelle and colleagues for all of the hard work that went into it.�
“A wonderful idea, very well presented. An inspiration to encourage dialogue between generations, family and friends alike.�
“What a wonderful idea to remember Ireland in Birmingham! It was a lovely time, we were poor but happy and your neighbours were your family back then.” “Fascinating and inspirational.”
“Great exhibition, great photos and pics, loved listening to the voices on tapebrought back lots of memories.” “Fantastic exhibition, well presented. Well worth coming, may this continue!”
Ann Duffy and Mum stood in front of the exhibition community montage wall.
“Excellent exhibition, beautiful moving photographs, also liked the audio commentaries. Really well done.�
Above image: Exhibition montage wall, visualisation spanning five decades of Irish history key project themes.
“A wonderful love letter to the Birmingham Irish.” “Interesting and enlightening, beautiful by its simplicity. Wonderful tribute , so pleased I visited.” “A fascinating display . The depravation in so many of the pictures is horrendous, people must have despaired at times. But, the spirit they had shines through many of the pictures.” “Brought back some great memories and a great title.”
Image: ‘Red Lemonade’ installation by Claire Farrell, EC Arts
Hugh Tibbits It seems like a long time ago that we sat down and thought about submitting an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for an oral history project. We had recently merged the old Irish Welfare and the Irish Forum into a new charity and we wanted to develop a project that combined both the wellbeing and cultural strands of our work.
The many hundreds who visited the exhibition spoke enthusiastically of the event and how it touched their lives, triggering memory and understanding of their own history. These records will all be held at the central library for prosperity; future generations will be able to share the oral history of the Irish in Birmingham.
The decision to focus the project on childhood reflections of those growing up in Birmingham since 1960 was influenced by the ‘how Irish are you?’ census campaign. We wanted to know how families handed on the baton of Irish identity to children and how this differed during the 5 decades since 1960.
Our huge thanks go the Michelle Aucott who so excellently coordinated the project; to all the superb volunteers who were so crucial to the success of the initiative; to Maurice Malone who managed the project; to the artists, designers, staff and students at South Birmingham College, the library staff and other professionals who gave of their experience and knowledge; to the Custard Factory for hosting the exhibition; the Heritage Lottery Fund whose funding and mentorship made the project possible; to all those visitors who came to see and hear but most especially to the participants who shared their memories and reflections for us all to enjoy, learn from and cherish.
The resultant project has been outstanding. The key outcome we set ourselves was to learn from the community we serve and to develop materials to pass this learning on to other communities and generations. The materials, be that the written or oral records, the teaching pack and memorabilia, have brought alive a vibrant and living heritage.
Project team
90’s
Embroiderers
Michelle Aucott at Irish in Birmingham, Maurice Malone at Irish in Birmingham, Izzy Mohammed at Birmingham City Council Archives & Heritage,
Daniel Green, Kirsty Donovan, Shannon Hynes, Liam Jordan, Niamh O’Brien.
Exhibition
Saoirse Reilly, Caoimhe Reilly, Pupils from St Brigid’s RC Junior and Infant School Northfield: Joseph Smith, Michael Smith, Mary Ellen Brennan, Aoife Harley, Orla Harley, Bronagh Harley, Mia Lynskey, Patrick Minihane.
Bernadette Aucott Sanj Kavanagh, Helen Ludlow, Dawn Williams , Eileen Simons at South Birmingham College, Carmen Burkett at South Birmingham College, Fiona Dunphy.
Claire Farrell, Curator EC Arts, Ian Richards, Curator Heavy Object, Sarah Nokes, Curatoral Assistant EC Arts Special thanks: Dave Harte, Gary Wood. Helen Sweeting Interviewees 60’s Mike O’Dwyer, Eileen Sullivan, Jim Foley, Kevin Hayes, Patricia Hayward, Mary Nelson, Carole Scanlon, Patricia Riley, Patricia Wright, Marion Healy, George Healy. 70’s Dave Harte, Annette Duffy, Maria Millar, Sean Reilly, Gerry Creegan, Colin Keogh, Loraine O’Rourke. 80’s Patricia Corrigan Reilly, Mark McCabe, Maria Cleary, Iestyn Williams, Kate Barry, Amy Dixon, Daniel O’Connor.
2010
Interviewers Liz Daw, Fiona Dunphy, Anthony Foley, Margaret Farrell, Elizabeth Barker. Transcribers Carmel Moffitt, Jackie McDonald, Patricia Riley. Technical Advisors Dave Harte, Clive Duncan, Mykal Brown, Don Aucott, Deidre Duignan, Special thanks to Anthony Foley, Clive Duncan, Mykal Brown at South Birmingham College.
Special thanks to the following for assisting with this project in a variety of different ways: Mike Hopkins at South Birmingham College, Clare Haines at Heritage Lottery Fund, The Custard Factory, Mary McGarry, Michael & Anne Collins, John & Ellen McGeoghegan, Jim Ranaghan, Dave Harte, Gabrielle Scanlon, Tessa Woodall & Kylie Morris, Jonathan Reynolds Rachel O’Brien,, Anna-Maria McAuliffe, Catherine Sullivan, Anna Walsh, Derek McDonagh and staff at the Burlington Hotel, John & Anne Tighe, proprietors of ‘The Spotted Dog’, Vince Jordan and musicians from the Monday Night Traditional Irish Music Sessions, at ‘The Spotted Dog’, Carole Scanlon, Tricia Scanlon and students from ‘Scanlon School of Irish Dancing’, Eddie Fitzpatrick, proprietor of ‘The Lamp Tavern’,
Marian Healy, proprietor of ‘The Old Crown’, Very Rev Canon Patrick Browne, Parish of St Anne, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, John McGuiggan, Sister Mary Joseph Sister Sabina, Sister Teresa and all members of The Tuesday Club, Rose Mockler, Anne Hollywood, Rita Thewlis, Management of the ‘Irish Centre Birmingham’, Keith Sweeney and players from ‘Sean McDermott’s Gaelic Football Club’, Rebecca Coogan at St Brigid’s RC Junior and Infant School, Maria Cleary at St Brigid’s RC Junior and Infant School. Extra special thanks to Liz Daw and Fiona Dunphy, thank you for making this project everything it should be.
This project has been produced and delivered by Irish In Birmingham and funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund
Irish In Birmingham St Anne’s Parish Centre Alcester Street Deritend Birmingham B12 0PH T: 0121 604 6111 F: 0121 604 6662 E: info@irishinbirmingham.com