Marie was born into an Irish family in Birmingham in 1965. She talks about her family and going to Ireland on the ferry for every holiday until the age of 8. Marie discusses the experience of moving back to Dublin and living there from 1974-1979. The move coincided with the Birmingham Pub Bombings and Marie talked about how the Irish community was treated following the incident.
Marie describes how life was very different in Dublin and how strange she found the experience of attending a strict convent school. Her mum found it difficult to settle in Ireland as women had fewer rights there in comparison to England. Her relocation to Ireland instilled in her a desire to see more of the world and fostered a love of music. Music continued to play a significant role in her life and was one of the factors that drew her to her future husband at age sixteen.
Marie describes the family’s return to Britain and her experience leaving school during a recession. She speaks about completing a youth training course in administration which eventually led to her 34-year career with Birmingham City Council in their procurement department.
Marie talks about the school she went to when she moved to Ireland aged 8…
“Oh it was very strange. It was, obviously, being uprooted from everything that you knew and placed in this alien environment and starting—I went to a convent school so we were taught by nuns, which was a very weird experience because I’d come from a school where you were taught by men and women. Going to this convent school where it was very strict, where you had to have all your uniform specially made for you—even—they did knicker inspection to make sure you were wearing the right knickers which was very, very strange. And also, I was put back a year because—because obviously I was going into the school system there, I don’t know whether there wasn’t any room or because it was in between or whatever, so I was actually put back a year. But it didn’t seem to matter because in Ireland they concentrate on different subjects. In England there was a lot of English whereas in Ireland, they concentrate a lot on Maths and Sciences. So it was kind of, like, a strange start to a new school because we were focusing on different subjects. When I started, because of my age, I didn’t have to learn Gaelic whereas everybody else did and I used to have to—but it was weird because I didn’t have to learn it but I had to sit in the class and listen to it. So, obviously you pick up little bits and pieces which I don’t remember now, by the way, [Pat laughs] but I do remember picking up on certain bits and then we had to obviously say prayers for every class and we had to pray in English and in French which was a bit weird as well. And every now and again they’d do Gaelic prayers as well and a lot of the nuns were very small and, kind of, very embarrassed about everything. I remember one particular sex-education class [laughs] where, basically, they’d put a diagram on the board and then the nun disappeared and that was it. So, we didn’t get any further than that. I was thinking, that’s not a very good start is it? For a sex-education class. So, yeah, I remember going to school there well”.
For more information on accessing Steph’s full interview or transcript please email faisneis@unaganaguna.org
