‘My mother died still despairing that her only daughter had emigrated’

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Alyson Meadowcroft, Jersey, Channel Islands

I left Ireland in 1990 having started my teaching career in West Belfast in a Catholic school at the height of the Troubles. My feet had always been itchy so I took up a teaching post in Jersey in the Channel Islands.

I thought I would stay five years and then move on. But I didn’t. I retired from teaching in 2013 and I am still here. That’s how life makes plans for you without you knowing!

My mother died in 2003, still despairing the fact that her only daughter had left home. She never really came to terms with it. Since she died I have only been home four times to visit the grave. There was no other reason to do so.

I am well settled here in Jersey and have some good friends. There is a big Irish community here but I don’t get involved. Instead, when St Patrick’s Day comes round, I celebrate with one of my closest friends. I still feel Irish though and take a big interest in events, good and bad, back home. Perhaps I will visit again one day.

[ irishtimes.com/picturing-the-irish-diaspora. ]