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Written by Geordie McCrum
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Friday, 23 May 2008 |
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Those
of us lucky enough to grow up in The Meadow of the 50s and 60s had a number of
McCrums as pals – I remember with fondness the late Eamon, with whom we’d play
football in the Big Green – then there were Terry and Liam who were of an age
with us, class-mates and pals, and there is Martin (altar-boy in St Bridgets)
and Finnoula.
Geordie,
their father still lives in Derrybeg
Drive and has done for the past 58 years. Before that the family lived at 64 Canal Street. Geordie reminisces,
‘When
we moved in, most of The Meadow houses – here in Derrybeg Drive and in Killeavey Road - were still under
construction. There were no roads or
footpaths. It was essentially a great
building site. That of course suited me,
being a tiler myself.
I
tiled four houses in Slieve
Gullion Road which was ‘complete’ three years
before our row.
There
was a great religious balance here. There were families up the road there called Bailey, the Barrys,
McCandless and of course the Lindens who are still there.
Billy
Russell was Pipe Major in the Frontier Pipe Band. People say Billy left the Meadow because of
The Troubles but that is a complete fallacy. He had four children and he got a four-bedroomed house in Shandon Park. That’s why Billy left. The Meadow
was a great place then. Still is. We never had any trouble or bigotry. Everybody respected everybody else.
……… more later …………
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