4. Stirring Memories - “I loved the dance halls... I used to say, oh I wish it was Saturday night!”

10/19/22 • 14 min

It’s Saturday night. You get dolled up in your favourite dress, jump onto the bus in Dún Laoghaire and make your way to the Arcadia dance hall in Bray. Perhaps you’ll meet a few nice dance partners. Perhaps you’ll meet your future husband! Either way, a great night of music and fun lies ahead.

Nowadays, you’re likely to meet a romantic love interest online, but for young singletons in 50s & 60s Dún Laoghaire, the dance halls were the place to be. The likes of the Top Hat, the Ierne and the Arcadia were exciting scenes with music from the infamous showbands of the era, an escape from the mundanity of worklife and offered the thrilling possibility that you may meet the love of your life on the dance floor.
ABOUT 'STIRRING MEMORIES':
What was life like in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown over the years? Storyteller Helena Byrne posed this question to members of local day care centres in the county over a number of months last year. Trips to the Baths on sunny days, shopping in the much loved local shops of the past such as Lee’s and Lipton’s; and getting dressed up for a Saturday night out in the Top Hat!
These audio recordings were collected and curated by Helena Byrne with the members of day care centres around Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in Summer/Winter 2021.
A huge thanks to the staff and members of all the participating Day Care Centres for sharing their stories especially: Beaufort Day Care Centre (Glasthule), The Clevis Unit (Leopardstown), Leopardstown Park Day Centre, Mount Merrion Friendship Club and Shankill Day Care Centre.
The project, a joint initiative of DLR Libraries and DLR’s Age Friendly Programme, was supported by the Creativity in Older Age Fund, part of the Creative Ireland Programme.

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3. Stirring Memories - “Have you picked up your gas mask yet?”

While Ireland was of course neutral during World War II, childhood memories for those growing up in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area were undoubtedly still impacted by this huge historical event. Some of the darkest aspects of what the Irish government called ‘The Emergency’ were seen through the rose-tinted glasses of youthful innocence. Collecting your gas mask from Dalkey Town Hall and playing with it on the walk home was an exciting novelty, and the Air Raid Shelters scattered around the County made for the best makeshift playgrounds. Certain foods such as flour were rationed, leading to what was by all accounts, a very unpleasant ‘Black Bread’. Childhood naivety aside, the sense of danger generated by bombings in Dublin, still created palpable anxiety in the local community here.
ABOUT 'STIRRING MEMORIES':

What was life like in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown over the years? Storyteller Helena Byrne posed this question to members of local day care centres in the county over a number of months last year. Trips to the Baths on sunny days, shopping in the much loved local shops of the past such as Lee’s and Lipton’s; and getting dressed up for a Saturday night out in the Top Hat!

These audio recordings were collected and curated by Helena Byrne with the members of day care centres around Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in Summer/Winter 2021.

A huge thanks to the staff and members of all the participating Day Care Centres for sharing their stories especially: Beaufort Day Care Centre (Glasthule), The Clevis Unit (Leopardstown), Leopardstown Park Day Centre, Mount Merrion Friendship Club and Shankill Day Care Centre.

The project, a joint initiative of DLR Libraries and DLR’s Age Friendly Programme, was supported by the Creativity in Older Age Fund, part of the Creative Ireland Programme.

Next Episode

5. Stirring Memories - "I’m just popping out to the shops.”

Stop by Boland’s bakery for your bread. Perhaps visit Monument Creamery, where the worker behind the counter will cut to size and weight the amount of butter you want to purchase. Pop into Edward Lee’s for your drapery and watch your money fly along the mechanical ‘cash carrier’ to the cashier. The lack of large grocery stores or home fridges meant that a visit to your local shop was made several times a week, if not every day. However, far from describing the errand of daily shopping as a laborious task, interviewees deeply reminisce the local stores they often frequented, as well as other establishments such as cafés and cinemas across Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. These stores were social hubs in the community, a place to connect with neighbours and get your daily dose of banter. A far cry from the self-checkout tills in large grocery stores today, you knew your local shop keeper and he or she knew you.
ABOUT 'STIRRING MEMORIES':
What was life like in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown over the years? Storyteller Helena Byrne posed this question to members of local day care centres in the county over a number of months last year. Trips to the Baths on sunny days, shopping in the much loved local shops of the past such as Lee’s and Lipton’s; and getting dressed up for a Saturday night out in the Top Hat!
These audio recordings were collected and curated by Helena Byrne with the members of day care centres around Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown in Summer/Winter 2021.
A huge thanks to the staff and members of all the participating Day Care Centres for sharing their stories especially: Beaufort Day Care Centre (Glasthule), The Clevis Unit (Leopardstown), Leopardstown Park Day Centre, Mount Merrion Friendship Club and Shankill Day Care Centre.
The project, a joint initiative of DLR Libraries and DLR’s Age Friendly Programme, was supported by the Creativity in Older Age Fund, part of the Creative Ireland Programme.