Ruth describes her initial move to London…

“I came to London in '89, March '89. And I just said to everyone like, "I'm going to London for six months, see you in six months, or I might stay." Because I thought, oh I'll have a safety net, I won't be— it won't be embarrassing if I come back. I was very worried about my Mum, but she held up stoically and sent me letters about everyday for— you know. 

I moved in with Ailsa in a flat in Gowlett Road. It was the upstairs, like the first floor flat. And— so all Cork people. Me and Ailsa shared a bedroom. It was just a very typical shared house with people stealing each other's food and complaining about smelly feet… they used to go to Irish pubs and stuff… But it wasn't for me, do you know what I mean? I said to Ailsa "I did not come to London to sit in an Irish pub."

You wouldn't be seen dead— dead in an Irish pub and talking to people. I had wanted to come to London like to go to, you know, gigs and like ‘The Tube’ [music tv show on channel 4] used to broadcast sometimes from like the Town and Country club as it was then, the Forum [in Kentish Town], and I was like, “oh I want to be there,” you know what I mean? It's all happening. The bands are there. And like everybody looks fantastic - their clothes and their hair and their make-up and everything so— No, I didn't come to like— So, they used to all go to the pub and I like used to sit in the flat listening to pirate radio stations.”

In 2018, Ruth was interviewed by her eldest daughter Amy. Ruth was born in Cork in 1968, the elder of two children. She describes secondary school, holidays in East Cork, and her social life as a teenager which included drinking underage in pubs and having house parties. Ruth talks about her parents’ difficult relationship. She describes her mother’s depression (following her own’s mother’s suicide when she was in her twenties) and hospitalisation for ‘a breakdown’ after giving birth to Ruth. Ruth describes ‘glorious’ teenage years in Cork, the move to London at the age of twenty in 1989 and life as a new emigrant. Ruth describes her unplanned pregnancy and being an anxious and self-conscious new mother. She talks about her excitement at being higher education at Birkbeck, University of London in the early 1990s and wonders if she would have ever been able to take up those opportunities to self-fund a BA, MA and PhD had university fees been as expensive then as they are today.

For more information on accessing Ruth’s full interview or transcript please email faisneis@unaganaguna.org