Dolly O’Sullivan

Interview by Lorraine Hughes on November 27, 2013

Gender: Female

Birth date: 1928

Area: Ennis

Report date: December 9, 2015

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Time Description
File 1 0:00:00 - 0:08:00 MOVING TO ENGLAND - Dolly was born in Ennis on 15/03/28. Her father had a commission in the Irish Army. After WWII he put in for his discharge but he couldn't find work in Ireland. Shortly afterwards he sent for the family. Dolly was 16 at the time. Before that she to the convent of Mercy in Ennis. The Reverend Mother was Reverend Mother de Salles from Tipperary. She met her husband, Dominic O'Sullivan and they married on the 30th June 1953 at St Mary of the Angel's church, Bayswater. A Scotsman, Fr Swift married them. They had their honeymoon in Kerry. They put £500 deposit on a house in Acton. She moved to England in 1947 and they moved back to Ireland in 1994.
0:08:01 - 0:09:31 EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS - Dolly recalls her mother taking her to the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932.
0:09:32 - 0:13:37 SCHOOL - Dolly speaks about the Convent of Mercy school in Ennis. She recalls that the nuns were strict. She recalls being able to read a newspaper at six years of age. Dolly left school at fourteen.
0:13:38 - 0:23:27 LIVING/WORKING IN ENGLAND - Dolly worked in a shop in England. She would get commission for sales. She remembers the first time she was introduced to her future husband. He lived in digs opposite the church she went to and then she danced with him at a St Patrick's Day dance. She worked in a shop on the Portobello Rd. Then she worked as a clerical officer on St Mary's Hospital, Harrow Road, Paddington. Mrs Fagan from Mayo was the nursing officer. She describes her work.
0:23:28 - 0:25:46 JF KENNEDY - She recalls the time when JF Kennedy was shot.
0:25:47 - 0:27:52 RATIONING - Dolly speaks of rationing during WWII. She recalls going down Petticoat Lane and buy clothes on the black-market. She says whale meat was offered to her mother by a butcher.
0:27:53 - 0:42:00 LIFE IN LONDON - She talks about her life in London including when she had her son. He was born in St Mary's, Praed St. Hospital. She recalls her time working in St Mary's Hospital, Harrow Road.
0:42:01 - 0:44:33 SONG - Dolly sings the song “Where We'll Never Grow Old”

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