This memoir tells the story of the first twenty-one years of my life,
growing up and coming of age in the working class Dublin Corporation
housing estate of Crumlin.
Although humorous when telling my tale, the book also includes stories
of abuse, death and loss. The chapters unfold from my unlikely birth -
the youngest of fifteen children - to Crumlin life, the death of my
brother Paddy in a London road accident and the abuse I suffered through
a 'Christian' Brother at school. From a little boy priest in Blackrock
College and then as an apprentice projectionist in the Kenilworth Cinema
and a year as clapper/loader in Ardmore Studios. The story goes on
through my difficult teenage years of alienation from my father and his
death at the age of seventy, a month before my 21st birthday and a few
months before my marrying my pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend. That
marked the end of my life in 147, Leighlin Road and the start of my life
as a married man and father-to-be.
This book will be of interest to anyone of a Dublin/Irish heritage who
will understand my journey. Back in my day emigration, particularly to
England, was part of Irish life and that is reflected in my story.
I am an experienced storyteller and now I am finally telling my own
story of the years that formed the man I am today.
