Christmas Time in The Curragh

[Brendan]

I'd like to thank Matt for providing a wonderful forum where we can reminisce about our time growing up in the Curragh. Coming from a family of 14, Christmas was a wonderful time for us.

We had the turkey and ham cooked in one of the messes because the oven couldn't hold the 20+Lb bird. More than anything else, Christmas in the Camp was simple and quiet. Midnight Mass was always packed and there was so much jovial and warm greetings among neighbours.

Merry Christmas to all.

Brendan

[Matt McNamara]

Hi Brendan

You are right about the Curragh at Christmas time.
I was at nine o clock Mass on Christmas Eve with my family. It is a beautiful Mass with a lovely atmosphere. Lots of old family friends are always there and always the occasional person that you haven’t seen in years.

Anyhow Happy Christmas and all the Best for the New Year to all the ex-Curragh residents where ever you may be.

Matthew

[Kentgal]

To Matt and all who passed OUR way or cast an eye ore this site. A fantastic framework of historical value.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR.

For the future too.
All the above which we knew and lived, in goneby times side by side in the Curragh.
.....Through School days.....Sports days....Swimming Baths......Picnics on the plains....Hide and seek through the furzs.....Summer Fruit Farm for a few bob....Gaelic Hall Concerts.....7 Christmas Dinner Dances & Musical Society at the Gyms....Kids partys in the Mess ......Caddying on the Golf Course...Jutebox & Hops at the Weslene....Curragh Picture Hall & Ma Sands....Shopping at Dobbins, O Donnells & Kennedys. Saturday nights when Peter Hicky changed the Church Flowers & stampede for the Ma to have last weeks to perk up the Sunday dinner table....Happy.....Healthy....Holy Times!!!!
Amen

[rose5mcdonaghtce]

November the 29th today won't be long until the man in the red suit will be making his rounds, for small children who are probably expecting him any day its a shame, Christmas decorations and cards on sale in the shops since September, Halloween and Christmas fare side by side in the stores. Not the case in our day, Christmas baking would have been going on in earnest over the last few weeks to give the cakes and puddings a chance to mature, but there would not be a card or bauble in sight in any of the shops until we were into December and sometimes a week or two into it.
There were no ToysRUs, Argos Catalogues or advertisements for toys on TV. Think Sindy and maybe Action Man might have started to get popular towards the end of the 60's. There were no themed toys from TV programmes, just traditional toys for boys and girls i.e. nurses sets, dolls, tea sets, prams, guns and pooches, rifles, toy soldiers, cars etc for the boys.
Around the begining of December Powells and Easons got the toys in and these were displayed in the windows. We were told to go and look and see what we wanted Santie to bring us. There would be a gaggle of kids at each shop all huddled outside, each shouting I bags this or that and someone would rain on your parade telling you that five or six others had bagged that already. Now nobody came home with a list the length of their arm, all the kids picked one item, I always picked a crolly doll and this was my main present and an annual of whatever comic I was into at the time. We usually got a Chrsitmas stocking filled with sweets, a compendium of games usually 99 in it a post office, a shop, these would be pocket money toys really. Gertie Coyle would ask what Santie was bringing and then say was there anything else you saw you'd like Santie to bring if he could, always picked a decent dressing doll better quality than the ones on the back of the Bunty, this would be made from cardboard, she would say she would have a chat with him and see if he would bring it and he always did. Don't ever remember writing a letter to Santie, no need we saw him at the Christmas Party and he always asked what we wanted for Christmas.

Rose

[Aisling]

Hi Rose,

That was lovely to read. Bought back memories of years ago before it became all so commercialised. But still love this time of year. Can't believe it is so near already.

Aisling.

[teresap]

Hi All well Rose you definitly brought back the memories, we all had a wonderful time at christmas, looked forward to the parties and we all got something similar which was wonderful, and wondering what santa was going to arrrive in. I miss the midnight mass as you would not get the atmosphere here, maybe its because we all knew each other and all the old faces that came back each year. My son only asked me yesterday did I miss the Carol service as he loved them, the childrens play, cadets singing, and i do a lot. I would like to wish you all a very Happy and peaceful Christmas.

[rose5mcdonaghtce]

Have just finished putting up my Chrsitmas tree and decorations its early I know but its a lot of hassle so may as well get a decent run out of it. I like Christmas always have, give out about the running around and the cooking, but without it the winter would be even more long and dreary. Putting up the tree and decorations was'nt quite so much hassle in the sixties on the Camp. We used to have a real tree, loads of cotton woll, tinsel and baloons going on and one set of lights about twenty in all, can remember a time we had no lights. One Christmas Eve the lights went, the Da did all the usual checking, screwing in all twenty of the bulbs and tried the spare but to no avail, at about a quarter to six the Ma gives in and decides we can go to Maginns for a new set. Am delighted heading off with my big sister as I am worried Santie will pass the house if there are no lights on the tree, when we get there Pat Maginn RIP is locking up the shop, Monica tells him we want a new set of fairy lights and he announces he has none left all sold out, I took to bawling that Santie would probably not come to our house because we have no lights, he promptly opened the shop, climbed into the window and started taking down the ones he had pinned around the window and asked would that do, off down the road with us delighted drawing pins still attached. Those lights lasted for years Monica was still using them on her tree for a good few years after she married. They were always referred to as Pat Maginns lights. Maginns always gave a Chrsitmas box to their customers usually a tin of biscuits and of course the calendar, as I was the main messenger in the house I usually got to bring them home the last Saturday before Christmas, I would go to Maginns four times on a Saturday morning with the little red book, for my Mam, Mag Cummins, Mrs Ambrose and Mrs Gorman was not allowed do it all in one go, would be up and down like a yoyo all morning, good job we lived in McDonagh, but always got a Trigger bar for my trouble from him on the last call. Used to love the mixture of smells in Maginns, groceries, parafin oil, new wallpaper, fresh bread etc., could never leave without him reminding me to tell Mam about whatever new product he had for sale.
Rose

[rose5mcdonaghtce]

We had a dog called Spot who had three good legs and one stump, born that way, but boy could he get about, one evening in May the Da on his way home from the Depot and as usual Spot seemed to be able to tell the time, he would run to meet him, all excited running in and out between his legs, jumping up the usual canine excitement, this particular evening he tripped him, he fell into the channell and shattered his leg, had to have surgery, lie in hospital for months with the weights and pulleys, come Christmas he was still in plaster and on crutches.
Anyway Chrsitmas party in McDonagh is on, in school all morning just wishing the hours away, home at 12.30 not able to eat any dinner, too full of excitement. The scrubbing and getting ready begins at last, washed head to toe, new clothes and three yards of red ribbon and new slides applied to hair. Left to sit on couch in front room until everybody else is ready, watching out the window to see if anybody else was making their way to the barracks.
Eventually leave and the first leg of the party is the film, usually The Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy who we called Fatty and Skinny. Sweets dished out during the film, usually by Paddy Cleary who should have been a childrens entertainer always some bit of craic with him.
Film over the band out on the Square playing Jingle Bells, Rudolph to lead the kids over to the dining hall. Tables set with white table cloths each setting with a plate of childrens favourites buns, sweets etc., there would be ham sandwiches, but the kids not too interested in them, there would be tea and of course the bottle of Mahons red lemonade. The mammies sat at different tables keeping the babies and toddlers with them, which was brillant no one telling you to eat a sandwich before you started on the trash, they were usually served a glass of sherry. While the eating went on members of the band played all our Chrsitmas favourites, a display by Paddy (Plumps) McCormack RIP and some of the lads from the gym and of course nothing structured in it, laughs all the way.
Dining over would be told to be quiet and listen there would be great commotion out on the Square you would think there was a fire in the dining hall with the run for the doors, Santie would be arriving on the Square he could be in any type vehicle, but you could be sure it would be green and the property of the Defence Forces. This particular year he arrived in a lorry, but did not walk back to the hall with all the kids in tow, Davey Crocket was with him, Santie had broken his leg, apparently he had slipped on the ice in the North Pole and much to the boys glee he needed Davey (who had a brillant costume on) to give him a hand with the presents, these were given out in alphabetical order so we waited a while for our turn. Eventually they get to S and up we go. Am sitting telling Santie what I want for Christmas and how good I was and how my Da had broken his leg as well, how his crutches were just like his, padding and insulating tape on every part that put pressure on the body, Santie just nodded his head never uttered a word. Back down tearing the brown paper wrapping off my present, looking for the Da to tell him about Santie being in the same boat as him and show him my pressie. The magic and the spell the Chrsitmas party put on me and everyone else that attended stopped me putting two and two together, the identical crutches, the Da missing since the film, that was Santie and that was that. Don't ever remember any of us kids thinking that the real Santie did not come to the party as they do to-day, but then again it was the only Santie we saw. One year when I opened my package I discovered a gun and pooch talk about disappointment and disgust, how could Santie think I was a boy, I had hair down to my bum , ribbons like helicopter blades and wearing a dress, the wailing began only to be drowned out by Noel Tyrell in another corner of the hall who had received a food mixer that you turned a handle on to rotate the blades (no batteries required for our toys).
Was concerned the same mistake would be made on the big night.
My own children and now grandchildren attended and attend Christmas parties I often wonder do they get the same enjoyment as we did, the parties they attend seem a shambles compared to the parties on the Camp in the sixties, or is it the innocence that makes the day.
Have to say to this day when the man in the red suit appears that little bit of buzz from by-gone days returns.

Rose

[rose5mcdonaghtce]

Hi,

Have just returned from Dunnes Stores, packed, thought I was being clever going over at that time but it seems everyone else had the same idea. Bumped into a few campers so that made it worthwhile.

There was no late opening in any of the shops on the Camp, no place open on St. Stephen's Day, no fridges or freezers, no panic buying and nobody starved to death over the festive period.

Rose.

[Brendan]

Merry Christmas to All Campites

It's a while since I've been on. I have to say I am blown away with the compilation of stories, memories, thoughts, experiences and goodwill. Keep them rolling.

I can't thank Matt enough for this wonderful forum and to the great contributors. I'm looking out my window at the snow here in upstate New York, but my thoughts are at home.

God Bless to All,

Brendan

[willie078]

Best wishes to everyone and a happy new year.

Willie O'Brien