Throwback Thursday: The nurses who answered an unusual SOS 

Throwback Thursday reader Tom Jones has written all the way from Florida to say how much he is enjoying the subject of the many steps around Cork city in recent weeks.

“I actually climbed all of these mentioned, yet it is hard to decide which set is the steepest,” he said.

“ittedly, while the vast number of steps are situated on the Northside, there are some on the Southside, particularly off Douglas Street. Or at least a combination of steps and hill.

“Upon subtracting the upper part of Patrick’s Hill (an Everest, truly!), then I believe Fair Hill is the steepest hill in Cork.”

Tom adds: “Those were great photos of the Rock Steps last week. They bring back so many memories.

“I was born in 1950, and for many years I climbed them every day on my way to Blarney Street School.

“From 64, Shandon Street, I walked along North Abbey Street, then at the Garda Station turned up the enclosed narrow steps to the Rock Terrace, continuing from there up the Rock Steps.

“Therefore, I have many fond recollections of climbing them and playing there as a child.”

We mentioned the Devil’s Chair element of the Rock Steps last week, and Tom adds: I too recall sitting on the Devil’s Chair - also clinging to whatever hand and foot holds were available on the rock face to see how far we could go up without actually setting foot on the steps themselves.

“Don’t all kids try things like this? Well, we did back in my day. Do they do it now?”

We asked readers if they could identify any of the children pictured on the Rock Steps in the late 1950s and early 1960s in last week’s Throwback Thursday.

Tom stated: “While I would not have the recall of others’ contributions to this article, and could not help to recognise any of the children, a good friend and classmate of mine in Blarney Street School lived on that Rock Terrace in the 1950s. His name was Richie Cooke, later known as Richard T Cooke, a historian and collector of folklore of old times in Cork, and a stellar er of many local festivals to recall, rejoice and reflect on times now long past.”

Mr Cooke ed away in October last year.

Tom Jones also added another name to those who lived in the area of the Rock Steps - “Mickey Leary, a stalwart and founding member of various folk music clubs in Cork.”

Tom continues: “I also recall back in those 1950s days of yore, the children of the Rock Terrace putting on a play or pantomime of sorts there.

“As a source of recall, these visages are still forever etched in the hippocampus of my brain to relive once again my childhood experiences of growing up in Cork.

“I also recall the two aforementioned tenders tied up in tandem on Lapp’s Quay outside what was then Suttons Hardware Store. While I know one was called The Killarney, what was the other one called, was it The Munster? That is just a guess by me, so let others test their recollections on that submittal.

“As always, a pleasure to share with your readers my recollections of my childhood years in Cork.”

And our pleasure to receive them, Tom. Keep ing!

Noel O’Flynn, from Midleton, also has memories of those tenders: “From my recollection, we had two enger ferry boats servicing the huge liner ships anchored offshore in Cork harbour. These ferry boats were named Cill Airne agus Blárna and used to ferry engers ashore and offshore at Cobh.

“I think an Blárna was sold off before Cill Airne, and An Cill Airne was converted to an eatery presently berthed quayside in Dublin. Always enjoy your Throwback Thursday!”

We also published some memories from Tomás McCarthy last week. He, you may , had some information on those tenders, and also revealed the games that he and other cadets played with them out of hours and out of observation.

We begged him for more details, but like a true gentleman, he declined: “As for further reflections of those days, I have been advised to say that what happened with the cadets in the Cork RTC Marine Department must stay with the cadets of the Cork RTC Marine Department...

“However I see that the rest of your piece concerned a lovely photo of children on the Rock Steps. The period was before my time (although I did live very close by on Blarney Street for a number of years).

“Coincidentally, last year I purchased a Gladys Leach framed print of Winter’s Hill, which was just a little bit further along from the Rock Steps, both of them running from Blarney Street to the North Mall, if you were lucky, or vice versa, if unlucky (hard work all that climbing!) She really had a great talent.”

Thank-you for that, Tomás. And of course we respect your secrecy with regard to doings in cadet training days…. Well, maybe you’d whisper it, just to us, would you? Ah go on, go on!

You reminded us of Johnny Campbell’s memories of touring with Rory Gallagher in Hamburg and other German cities back in the 1960s.

Pressed for the exciting background details, Johnny observed, with a swiftness that suggested he had been asked that before: “What goes on tour, stays on tour…”

All right, all right. Old boys’ network clearly!

But what were those merry little tugs of the Lee called? If they were not the Killarney and the Munster, what WERE their names? Somebody must know, surely? They did such a sturdy job for so long, they deserve a place in our local history too.

Well, right on the button, reader Michael O’Riordan has come in with some timely information:

“The little tug in that picture by Gladys Leach was the S.T. Richard Wallace and not the Killarney. Leach portrayed the Wallace here, almost certainly, as pulling one of the mud barges to the mud-pumping station at Tivoli.

“The barges would have been filled by the bucket dredger Loughmahon, and its contents would then have been sucked out and pumped ashore by the pumping unit called the Montgomery, a.k.a. ‘the Monty’. This process went on for decades to form the industrial estate that is now Tivoli Docks. I know this from personal experience, but you may check it online, viz. https://www.corkcity.ie › tivoli-docks-issues-paper PDF. 1 May 2017.

“There were other tugs besides the Wallace,” adds Mr O’Riordan, “but never one called Killarney.

“I still do read Throwback Thursday every week! Beir Búa!”

If that means, as I think it does, “carry the victory!” thank-you, Michael. We will do our best.

And you remind me of my grandparents’ mission statement, printed on all the stationery, boxes, and bags, at O’Brien’s Ice Cream Parlour, which the family ran through the entire 20th century on MacCurtain Sreet.

‘An lamh laidir in uachtar’ is the O’Brien clan motto, ‘the strong hand uppermost’, but they chose the alternative translation of “the strong hand in ice cream”, since they made every bit of the delicious stuff themselves.

And now we have a perfectly wonderful story from Brian Cronin, who has shared with us in the past his memories of growing up on the Lower Road where his mother ran a hotel.

Brian, of course, in later years became well known as the legendary master of the Blue Haven in Kinsale, before he retired to well-deserved relaxation in Spain, but to achieve that lofty pinnacle, he spent many years learning his trade in different parts of Ireland and England.

One such place was Buckler’s Hard on the edge of the New Forest (where many of the English navy’s ships, including those of Nelson’s fleet, were built). Here he was tasked with opening a hotel for Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

“In 1965, Lord Montagu decided to convert the ancestral home of the Master Builder, Henry Adams, to a boutique hotel, and it was this event that brought me to Bucklers Hard in the spring of 1965, after my two year stint learning management skills in the different departments of the Kensington Palace Hotel in London,” recalled Brian,

“The change from London to a small hotel in the New Forest proved quite a challenge for me, but I was imbued with enthusiasm at the prospect of being a hotel supervisor for the first time at the age of 21.

“Lord Montagu had been a regular enger on board the Cunard Queen Mary transatlantic liner - based in nearby Southampton - and had recruited not only an experienced head chef, and several commis chefs from the Verandah Grill of the liner, but also an Italian headwaiter, and several dining room staff.

“Several of these staff were a bit wary at being placed under the direction of a young Irish manager - particularly the dining room staff who, as ex-stewards, had a weakness for ‘the devil’ demon- but I had a good working relationship from the word go with the head chef, David Hicks, a blunt, straight-speaking Londoner who was aware of my Kensington Palace background and was also an excellent chef.

“I had just two months in which to prepare the hotel for its official opening on the Whit Bank Holiday weekend and set to work with a vengeance.

“However, an unexpected event nearly upset all our plans. We had a staff house in Beaulieu village where some of the waiting staff were accommodated.

“On the Tuesday evening prior to the Whit weekend, a late night party was held in the staff house and I received a frantic call from our local bobby in Beaulieu that the house had caught fire and several of our staffs, who were clearly intoxicated, had already evacuated the burning building.

“By the time I arrived, the local brigade had extinguished the fire.

“The following morning I fired the lot [of the staff involved]. “

Brian continued: “We now had only half of our original complement of staff with a reception for 500 VIP guests on the horizon, so I telephoned my sister Rosemary in St John and St Elizabeth’s Hospital in London for help.

“Mercifully, she would be free for the coming weekend, so I begged her to round up a few of her colleagues, and on the Thursday night, using the hotel minibus, I collected six nurses from Brockenhurst railway station.

“On the following morning, I arranged a crash course for the girls in waitressing and bartending and by Saturday we had a new team of waiting staff raring to go - all Irish nurses including my sister Rosemary and a lovely blonde nurse Anne Twohig, who was later to become my wife.”

Well, don’t leave it there, Brian! We must, simply must know what happened next! And weren’t you quick off the mark at the tender age of 21 to think of Rosemary and her fellow student nurses as a way out of the predicament?

Rosemary, we were great friends at school together in St Angela’s, and I well your cheerful laugh as you found everything in life fun and to be enjoyed to the full.

Tell us more this minute, Brian!

What are the memories that will stay with you lifelong? Let us hear them.