Family Fortunes: The last hurrah of our childhood holidays, Galway, 1956

In the picture my sister Angela and I are on holiday in Salthill with our aunt Margaret, who brought us up. It’s 1956. The girl on the motorbike is Noeleen, girlfriend to our brother Vincie, who took the photograph. For many years my aunt, Angela and I had taken our summer holidays in Bundoran, but this year Angela and I had pressed for a change, partly because Noeleen and Vincie were joining us, and I think we perceived Salthill as perhaps more exotic. Noeleen and Vincie would marry a couple of years later but, at the time, it was unthinkable that a couple would go off on holiday on their own.

The weather was atrocious. I recall a bus tour of Connemara in the pouring rain where the scenery was totally obscured. The guide told us what we were missing. "On our right are the Twelve Pins mountains." But we did get a glimpse of the cottage where The Quiet Man had been filmed a couple of years earlier.

We stayed at a B&B. The family of the house were in a chalet in the garden; this was a common practice at the time. Portion control was evident at mealtimes. After one particularly spartan meal, Vincie, incensed, and proclaiming himself to be starving, suggested we order sandwiches to make his point. We were horrified: to complain was another unthinkable.

The nightly dance in the Seapoint Ballroom made up for everything for Angela and me; we had a great time. “Do you come here often?” “That fellow is eyeing you up.” “Will I give him the ladies’ choice?” “Would you like a lemonade?”

On the way home my aunt said: “I don’t know about you, but it’s back to Bundoran for me next year.” Sadly it would prove to be the last hurrah of the childhood holiday. I had one more trip to Bundoran with her years later, but accompanying us were a husband and three children.

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