Throwback Thursday: ‘The memories came flooding back to me’

Today, Rory Gallagher’s beloved Stratocaster is auctioned at Bonham’s. We don’t yet know, of course, what the outcome will be, and where the much-travelled instrument will end up. Will it come back to Cork, or will it be the prized possession of some ardent collector? We will have to wait and see.

Someone who made a special pilgrimage to the auction preview last Tuesday was Johnny Campbell, who has more reason than most to that guitar and its owner.

Johnny, of course, toured with Rory to Hamburg in the mid-1960s, playing together in the lively clubs there and soaking up the incredible atmosphere in what was then the heart of the rock club world.

Those were amazing trips we made, Rory and I, and I will never forget them. Our accommodation, practically underneath the stage in the main club where we played was pretty basic, to say the least, but discomfort was hardly noticed.

“We were there, in Hamburg, we were playing for the crowds, and who knew what might come next? After all, the Beatles had worked the same clubs only a few years before, and went on to become a music legend. As did Rory himself of course.”

Back then, its Mr Campbell, they rarely saw the light of day, but if they were on the early shift, they would head off afterwards to hear the music being played in the other clubs on the strip. It was fantastic.”

Johnny returned (somewhat reluctantly) to the well-trodden route of UCC and subsequent jobs, but never lost his ion for music. In fact he still plays regular gigs at the Corner House on Coburg Street, on the first Friday of every month.

When he knew that Rory’s Strat’ would be on view at the preview last Tuesday, there was no hesitation. Over he went, to renew his acquaintance with the scratched and battered instrument on which Gallagher worked his incredible magic.

“It was a bit of a reunion really, and the memories came flooding back, I can tell you.”

DIY TOYS

We have had several responses to last week’s topic of creating our own toys, among them one from Jane Kelleher with accompanying Snip Strip image showing how to make a doll’s pram.

“It’s from Golden Hands, a magazine that came out in the ’60s. I bought it every week and learned so much about handcrafts. When I saw that piece in Throwback Thursday about making a little mobile tank from a cotton reel, I immediately ed this.

“You used the cotton reels for wheels, and attached them with wire (those coat hangers are handy for that) to a shoe box. Then you cut out the pieces for the hood and glued them to each other and to the box, and finally added a length of string so you could pull it along.

I wonder if today’s kids get the same thrill out of ready-made toys?

Tim Cagney, who told us about that cotton reel tank, was delighted to read about the Meccano sets on the same page.

“Yes, Meccano was wonderful. I once knew a naughty boy who fashioned a catapult from a set. The thing was unbelievably strong, compared to the bits of forked twigs the rest of us had to snip from trees. Another chap made a crossbow - a most deadly weapon!

“I never actually had Meccano myself - my parents weren’t well off enough. However, I made many trips to Woolworths, where I purchased Airfix kits, together with the glue (polystyrene cement) and those little tins of Humbrol paint.”

Woolworths was a magical place, he avers with nostalgia, and we are inclined to agree. Who re those tall counters (well, they were tall to small children anyway) and the things they sold? Up the big staircases was the first floor and toys like tiny penny dolls, games, and, especially at Christmas, marvellous crackly wrapping paper with its own very special aroma. This was where the Hula Hoop first made its appearance too. Oh, we miss Woolworths, and the enchantment it offered to youngsters with a penny or two to spend.

Tim agrees heartily.

“They also sold really useful stuff such as electrical flex and screwdrivers. Actually, believe it or not, I still have one of the latter - a ratchet-equipped device, which enabled the to alter the rotation of the blade (left, right, static). Still one of the handiest things I possess.”

CARE HOME MEMORIES

We have a lovely message from Jean O’Connell who tells us that Throwback Thursday is very popular in the care home environment:

“Dear Jo, I wish to thank you for your wonderful articles and trips down memory lane.

My mum is in a nursing home and I read aloud your articles to her and other residents. The pleasure and laughs and conversations generated by them is immeasurable.

Keep up the good work, Kind regards, Jean”

Well, that is really heartwarming. You should start to collect their own memories, Jean, as they look back, inspired by what they hear from our pages. There is so much still to collect out there!

HOTEL PRICES

a few weeks back, Brian Cronin shared his memories of growing up in a hotel on the Lower Road? Subsequently, we mentioned on Throwback Thursday the extortionate cost of hotels in the present day? We got thinking and wondered just what it did cost to stay overnight back in the ’50s or early ’60s , before Ireland got a bit too big for its boots and decided to make people pay through the roof. Naturally, we asked Brian. He was of the opinion that it was about 12/6 (twelve shillings and sixpence) at that time.

“Our hotel really was more of a bar with bedrooms as our mum had to use most of the bedrooms to accommodate the family,” he added.

Would someone out there like to make a rough estimate of what 12/6 then amounts to now, and let us know? It’s almost impossible to calculate, we realise, but what we would all like to know is what the relationship was between weekly earnings and the cost of a bed (and breakfast of course) for the night.

Michael Kenefick, from Whitegate, if you , said they were allowed 15/ (fifteen shillings) for overnight stays in the 1950s when he travelled with the Calor Gas lorry. Any other memories or long-treasured receipts out there? Share them with us if so.

Brian Cronin added to his memory of 1950s prices the following comment, which agrees with our own opinion: “Since we are now living in Spain, we’re a bit out of touch with hotel rates in Ireland, but our eldest son - a geologist - takes groups over to the west of Ireland on a regular basis, and has found both room rates and dining out to be very expensive. He is heading to Kinsale next month and again has found hotel and B&B rates to be higher than expected.

He usually stays in single rooms which of course makes it even more expensive than sharing a twin or double room.

The one thing Brian really objects to – and here, we imagine, we will hear a chorus of agreement - is “hotels banging up the room rates when the dates coincide with special events such as pop groups or big sporting matches and the like.” And so say all of us!

LIFTING WEIGHTS

Speaking of sport, here is a message from Michael O’Flynn, commemorating someone who did so much for his community: “I wonder if your readers would be interested in the story of The Marian Weight Lifting Club. This used to be run by Jim Cody, who ed away after a long life recently. Jim was a legend in weight lifting/ powerlifting/ bodybuilding when there were only a handful of gyms in Cork city.

“Nowadays, there is an oversupply – in my view anyway - of gyms, and every hotel, sports club, school and community centre has one. That wasn’t the case back then.

Jim taught many young fellas how to start off using barbells and dumbells properly and safely. There were no women/ young girls lifting at that time, unlike nowadays when gym hip seems to be evenly divided between the sexes.

“Anyway, think of the gym in the first Rocky movie and you get an idea of what the Marian Weightlifting Club was like: very basic and rough and ready (unlike today’s swanky gyms with heating, air con, saunas etc). But a great atmosphere and craic.

“It was located up a creaky wooden stairs on Knapps Square where there is now a block of apartments. Jim Cody was a regular mass goer and there was a picture of Our Lady on the wall hence the name ‘Marian’.

“He and the other old timers who trained there knew from experience and common sense how to train, and they ed their knowledge freely to newcomers. No third level sports science courses in those days.

“Funnily enough, though, their mantras and advice look vindicated by modern methods. ‘Train heavy one day and light the next. Don’t train heavy twice in a row’ was one of their sayings. Nowadays the ‘ light’ session is called a ‘recovery’ session.

Jim never held up the Arnold Schwarzenegger type as an example to newcomers starting off. (Arnie made no big secret of the fact he used steroids and Jim Cody hated performance enhancing drugs.)

“Instead, Jim pointed out the older lads in his own gym who looked as fit and healthy as people half their age. And I think he kept training himself into his seventies.”

Who re Jim Cody and perhaps trained at the Marian on Knapp’s Square? Tell us your recollections of this valued man.

SEEKING CORK ANCESTORS

Now, we have received an interesting query from someone trying to find details of her Cork-born ancestors. Journalist Tangiora Hinaki is from New Zealand and came over to London recently to cover the Aboriginal Marlya Choir performing at the Barbican. She seized the opportunity of being close by, and made a special trip across to Cork to visit the Emigration Museum in Cobh and see if she could find out more information about her ancestor, John McGee, who left Cork in the 1880s or thereabouts.

“His father was James McGhee, and his mama was Mary Davidson. I have managed to collect some information from ancestry.com and other sites, but would love to get more. I wonder if the surnames McGee/McGhee and Davidson would ring any bells with your readers?”

Tangiora supplied us with the information she has already managed to find, as well as a picture of John, who married New Zealander Pikluha Irulka. If the names she gives ring a bell, then please us immediately, and we will ensure that Tangiora is given everything that may help her in her search.

Tracing ancestors in Ireland from a time when very few records were kept, let alone survived, is never easy, but often just a stray link is enough to continue the search that bit further. See if you can help!

As always, we want to hear your memories of days gone by, Email [email protected]. Or leave a message on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/echolivecork.