Category: Memories

We took a train from Glasgow early in the morning of the 6th of August. At Manchester we transferred to a train to Rochdale, which is where my dad’s next oldest brother, Walter, lived. We left Rochdale on the 21st of August so we were there for two weeks.

Walter Commins had gone to school with his youngest brother in Southport, so I think these two brothers probably knew each other better than some of their older siblings. Walter married Ivy and they lived in a semi-detached house. They had one son, Michael, who was married and living in his own home when we came in 1966. I still keep in touch with Michael, as he is good at keeping in touch with me. He is the only one of our generation that had the surname Commins. He has two sons and grandchildren so the name will live on through them.

Walter was very kind to us both by housing us and by taking us on many day trips, including Yorkshire, the Lake District and Northern Wales. Shorter trips included Southport and Blackpool. During the two weeks we were in this part of England, there were several rainy days, but we seem to have had leisurely days at Walter’s home on those days and they were able to find nice weather for the longer trips.

We had time to visit shops and meet people. Michael and his wife Brenda took us dancing one evening in Manchester. I remember it as a rainy evening, and Michael had problems with the windshield wipers. As long as he was driving, they worked well, but as he slowed down or came to a stop at a traffic light, the wipers slowed down or stopped too. I remember the dance hall, but I was not the most social person in strange places, though I remember dancing with people there. Michael was a year or so older than my sister, so I think she enjoyed the evening a bit more than I did.

Yorkshire

We took a day trip in the car from Rochdale via Halifax, Leeds, York, Scarborough, Whitby, Ripon, Harrogate, Burnly and back to Rochdale, a trip of a little over 400 km. The records say we were out for 12 hours, not getting back until 10:30 pm. In particular I remember seeing the York Minster and the seaside at Scarborough.

The route would have taken us through much of Yorkshire, including the North York Moors National Park. We saw many of the main Yorkshire towns. I don’t know now what the actual route we took, but given the list of the places we passed through, it would have been a good circle tour of North East England.

Southport

Though my dad was born and spent his childhood in Dublin, he went to school in Southport in England. His older brother, Walter, went to the same school. Because they were Irish, they were Big Pat and Little Pat. My dad never talked too much about his school years, except to mention that he went to church services enough during his years there to keep him going for the rest of his life. The school would have been a residential boys’ school.

Access to Southport from Dublin would have been a boat from Dublin to Liverpool, then a train the few miles north to Southport. As my dad was born in 1911, he was probably attending the school in Southport from about 1920 to 1927.

Uncle Walter drove us to Southport, about an 80 km drive from Rochdale. Southport is on the west coast of England, about 27 km north of Liverpool. Today it is a popular seaside resort town. It has extensive sand dunes. We saw the school that Walter and dad had attended. The buildings were still there, but I’m not sure if they were still used as a private school.

Lake District

This was another long day trip. We saw several of the lakes, Windemere, Grasmere and Coniston Water. Having read so much about the Lake District, it was interesting to have a car tour of the area. I think we were lucky and had a beautiful day for the trip.

As I have been to the Lake District since 1966, my memories may get mixed up. I remember the lakes and nature being very beautiful and the towns very crowded. Comments on a postcard: “This part of England looks much like B.C. with the lakes and mountains.”

North Wales

I remember this trip better than some of the others. I remember the castle and the mountains. We first drove to Liverpool, crossing under the Mersey River via the Queensway Tunnel which comes out at Birkenhead. We then drove to Queensferry and from there followed the north coast of Wales, making quite a few stops to see places along the way.

Llandudno is a large seaside resort. Bangor is a university town. We crossed the Menai Bridge and saw the island of Anglesey. We stopped at the castle in Caernarvon, or Caernarfon Castle as it is now called. It is an imposing construction from the 14th century and dominates the skyline in the town. (The name Carnarvon was also the name of the closest side street to where I grew up in Vancouver BC, so seeing the original Carnarvon was very interesting.) We then headed inland via Betsw-y-coed and Ruthin, passing by Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.

The trip was about 350 km, so another long day seeing the sights. I remember the weather being good that day which made it a very enjoyable trip.

After two weeks with Uncle Walter and Aunt Ivy, we took a bus to Stratford-Upon-Avon on the 21st of August. It poured with rain and Aileen sat by the window, which was leaking. She developed a cold that day. We stayed two nights in Stratford-upon-Avon. We saw all around the town, though didn’t attend a play at the Shakespeare Theater.

We arrived in Glasgow by boat from Northern Ireland. As it was an overnight boat, I slept for a few hours and was up early in the morning. It was interesting watching our progress up the River Clyde. It was quite narrow already when I got up in the morning and we passed mostly the dockyards. This was the first time that I saw the sign “dead slow” and wondered what it really meant as dead people don’t move at all!

We arrived on the 29th of July and left again on the 6th of August. We stayed with a friend of our parents, Madge Cummings and her sister, Jessie Izzat. Madge had known our parents when they were living in Glasgow during the Second World War. Madge and Jessie lived in an apartment in an old building. The ceilings in the apartment were very high. In the kitchen they had a clothes rack which they pulled up above head height to dry laundry or towels. It certainly got things out of the way.

I remember learning to play Mahjong, the original game, in the evenings. Madge and Jessie also took us on several car trips and showed us around the Glasgow area, as well as a day-trip to Edinburgh.

The Trossachs

Scotland has many beautiful, wild areas, even close to Glasgow. We were taken to see Loch Lomond, drove through the Trossachs National Park and stopped at Stirling before returning to Glasgow, a drive today of about 150 km. This was a day trip by car.

Stranraer

One day we took the train to Stranraer where I had a penpal. We visited with her and her parents. They took us around the area, showing us the local sights, treated us to lunch at a hotel, then we headed back to Glasgow by train. Stranraer is where there is a car ferry between Northern Ireland and Scotland as the distance between the two is very short here.

Edinburgh

From a postcard: “Dear Granny, Hi! We got to Edinburgh though the day we went it poured the whole time. In spite of the rain we toured Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle. Jessie, who had her car, showed a little of the city, but as it was raining constantly and we weren’t prepared for it, we didn’t stay too long. It is pouring again today, so we will do our washing this afternoon. Your granddaughters, Aileen and Patricia” (Written by me)

One of the challenges we had when travelling for so many weeks at a time, was having to put up with the inevitable bad weather. I particularly remember it being terribly wet the day we went to Edinburgh and not getting out of the car much at all. Jessie was very good to us, but there wasn’t anything she could do about bad weather, except be flexible with what we did.

When I read my sister’s summary of the trip, I find listed a lot of things that I have no memory of at all. For example, a train to Gurrock and a steamer across the fjord and around a peninsula to Tarbert.

There was also a car trip to Prestwick Airport and Ayr, which are south of Glasgow.

We spent six days in Belfast from the 23rd of July to the 28th of July. The train trip from Dublin took two hours and we stayed in a guest house. We had no relatives or people to visit here, so were completely on our own for sightseeing.

This was a time of relative peace in Belfast so the city itself was relatively quiet. We explored the city but also took trips out of the city.

I remember taking the local bus to Bangor, which is 20 km to the east of Belfast and on the sea. We walked around the town center and down to the boat harbor. We had heard about the place from Audrey who had spent a week with her family there. One comment in a letter was that it was windy and therefore cool.

I also remember climbing Cave Hill on the outskirts of Belfast, so that we were looking down over the city. It was a nice climb up and quite open countryside looking down over the city.

We took two bus trips. The first one was to Portrush on the northern coast and the Giant’s Causeway, just outside of Portrush. Here we could see across to Scotland. I found the Giant’s Causeway very interesting and enjoyed scrambling around on the rocks.

The second bus trip was to the Mourne Mountains which are to the south of Belfast, but still in Northern Ireland. According to the letters, this wasn’t a very exciting trip, but we would have seen a slightly different type of scenery.

We left Belfast in the evening, taking an overnight ferry to Glasgow, sleeping in a large dormitory.

Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland and therefore is an important city for the Irish people. This was also the city that my father grew up in so I have always been a bit interested in Irish history.

My dad grew up on the north side of the River Liffey in a predominantly residential area. I have visited the area several times and the house that he grew up in is one of a row of housing on a street that is relatively busy now.

We spent quite a bit of time in Dublin (July 10th to the 22nd) and we visited with most of the relatives that lived there at that time. Many different people took us on drives to see the countryside around Dublin as well as visiting different attractions in the city. We also had time that we organized for ourselves. We took two bus tours – Glendalough and Boyne Valley. We also took a walking tour of the center of Dublin.

One of the outings that I remember in particular was the day at Dublin Zoo which is located in Phoenix Park. Audrey took us, her four boys and Uncle Ken in her little Austin mini. With Audrey driving and Uncle Ken as passenger in the front seat, that left my sister and I in the back seat with four boys. It was a bit crowded and not at all safe by today’s standards now that everyone has to wear a seat belt. Back in 1966 it was accepted to have six people in the back.

I don’t particularly remember many of the animals in the zoo, but it was a fun day. We had a picnic lunch which consisted of liver pate and sliced beets. In the crowded car, weaving along the streets between the other cars on the road, I got very queasy sitting in the back seat with my sister and four boys! It is interesting what sticks in one’s head many years later. I was not impressed by Irish driving habits.

Uncle George took us and one of his grandchildren for a drive one afternoon to the west of Dublin. We visited the Japanese Gardens at Kildare, which I enjoyed, and I also remember us driving by the Curragh Racecourse at Kildare.

Another memory is of us stopping at a pub in Ireland, I think with Audrey, and even though I was only 16 years old, and not legally allowed to drink, I was allowed into the pub. I was given a mild alcoholic drink which was a mixture of lemonade and beer (if I remember correctly). Drinking culture in Ireland was very different from what I knew from home.

Over 50 years later, I don’t really remember that much from these two weeks in Dublin. Impressions of people and places stick, but not the details. Even reading letters that were sent home about our activities, hasn’t prodded memories at all. It’s almost as if I was reading about another person. But it was fun to meet my dad’s family and get an impression of Irish history.

One day we took a bus tour that took us north of Dublin. It was an interesting trip that took us to several historic sights in the area.

One stop was at the Hill of Tara, which is ancient burial sight. It looks like a mound but there were many ancient monuments there.

We also stopped at Newgrange, a national monument. It is a prehistoric tomb, which looks like a mound. Both of these two sites would have given us information on the people who lived in Ireland 5,000 years ago. I don’t remember much of that history now, but information can be looked up on Wikipedia. But I do remember wandering around Newgrange and the area around it.

Another part of this tour was seeing the place where the Battle of the Boyne was fought – a battle in 1690 between the deposed King James II and King William III. This was basically a battle between two groups of Englishmen fighting over the throne of England, but on Irish soil. Never having been that interested in battles, my memory of the area is almost non-existent.

Drogheda was the last stop on our tour. It is about 50 km north of Dublin.

We arrived in Dublin on the 10th of July and stayed until the 23rd of July, so almost two weeks. We met those of Dad’s siblings who were living in Dublin and their children. It was an interesting experience to meet relatives that lived in a completely different country to us.

Audrey and Uncle Ken

Audrey was a 33-year old mother with four young boys, aged 9, 7, 4 and 3. With four active boys, she did not work outside of the home, but I think she was very busy in the home. She was also looking after her father. I don’t really remember her husband but I think he ran his own business. They had a large house so I presume they had a reasonably good income.

Uncle Ken, a widower, was her father. Audrey’s mother was my dad’s sister. During the Second World War my mom and dad, and eventually my sister, were living in Glasgow, Scotland and Violet, Ken and Audrey were living just outside Glasgow. Audrey would have remembered my sister as a baby.

In 1966, Uncle Ken was living with his daughter and had his own small suite in her house. He was no longer in good health, but was still driving a car. He was very kind to us during our visit in Dublin. We had met Uncle Ken before as he and Aunt Violet had visited us in Vancouver in 1955. It was mentioned in one of the letters how nice it was to meet someone we had met before.

The first couple of nights we stayed in the Marine Hotel in Sutton, paid for by Uncle Ken. It was a very short distance from where he and Audrey lived. When Audrey went off for a week’s holiday with her husband and children, we were invited to stay in the house with Uncle Ken. They were very hospitable people.

Aunt Vera

Vera was a widow, a seamstress and 61 years old. She lived in a typical row house with a little garden at the back. She had a low income. She did not have a refrigerator which in 1966 would have been a sign of low income. But she was a very kind aunt and invited us to stay with her for a few days. I remember her as a very kind and hard-working woman.

One memory from staying at Vera’s had to do with milk and ice cream. As she didn’t have a refrigerator and it was summertime, milk had to be bought fresh every morning. One day she was feeding us dinner and Victor and Dierdre were there too. When we had finished the main part of the dinner, Victor dashed off on his motorcycle and bought some ice cream that we had for dessert. There was no way for Vera to keep it frozen, so it had to be purchased immediately before consuming.

Uncle George

Uncle George was a recent widower, 71 years old, but a very kind and interesting person. He took us out for several drives. One was out to a Japanese garden and to the horse racing park at Kildare.

Mabel

Mabel, Uncle George’s daughter, had four children who were 18, 16, 13 and 10 years old, considerably older than Audrey’s children. Mabel was only about fifteen years younger than my dad. Mabel would have been forty years old in 1966. I remember two of her children from that trip. Avril was a little bit younger than me (13 years old), but accompanied us on one of the trips that Uncle George took us on. We also visited Quentin who was in the hospital with a broken leg. I also remember visiting Mabel’s home and enjoying my evening there.

Mabel was married to Bernard Gargan whose father had started a candy factory and he was now running it. We were taken to see it. The day we were there they were making jellied candies, something like Seigmenn in Norway. Very sugary and not at all healthy. But it was interesting to see how the candies were made. I can’t find many references to the company now (J.M. Gargan and Company) so I presume it was closed down a long time ago.

Uncle Jack and Aunt Gertie

I don’t remember this couple so very much, though Uncle Jack was tall and slender. He was 73 years old in 1966, so I’m sure he was retired. He was the oldest sibling in the family. From the letters that I have reread, they took us for a drive and also took us to their own home, which had “not a thing out of place, or a speck of dust”.

Glendalough is a valley with two lakes in County Wicklow, about 50 km south of Dublin, in the Wicklow Mountains. The name, Glendalough, means the “valley of two lakes”.

We took a bus trip to visit this famous location with its tall round stone tower, stone church and many ruins. We learned the story of the location and its ruins. I’m using Wikipedia as my source of information at this writing.

The main tourist attraction is the early medieval monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. Most of the old buildings are in ruins, but the round tower is still standing and St. Kevin’s Church is still intact.

The round tower is about 30 meters high and was built as a landmark and probably also as a storage area. The entrance to it is 3.5 meters from the base and there are several floors inside. If the settlement was attacked, it could also be used as a place of refuge.

There are the remains of several churches plus a cathedral. Over the centuries it seems to have been quite a large settlement here, as there would have been farms, workshops and dwellings connected to the monastery.

Today it seems to be a popular place to get out of the city though there still seems to be tourist buses. The current bus tour starts at 9 am in the center of Dublin and gets back at 17:30. (Except that during the corona-virus pandemic tours are temporarily cancelled.)

One of the reasons for visiting Ireland was that my Dad had grown up in Dublin and still had a lot of relatives in the area. There were also relatives in England, some of whom we visited. In the following information, birth dates should be reliable, but some people who were living at the time the information was collected may have since died and therefore there is a question mark. They may also still be living. I have very little contact with the Commins family.

My dad was the only one of his siblings that moved farther away than England. When my mom married him in 1939, she moved to England to marry him. They got married on the 5th of May in 1939, moved to Glasgow and the Second World War started in September 1939. Dad’s sister, Violet, lived just outside of Glasgow so they saw each other regularly. Audrey was 6 years old when my mom and dad got married and was their flower-girl. Shortly after the war ended and travel was again allowed, my parents moved back to my mother’s home area, settling in the Kerrisdale area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

During the 1950s, both my dad’s sister, Violet and her husband, Ken, and dad’s brother, Robert and his wife, Gertie, came to visit us. So when my sister and I visited Dublin we had met Uncle Ken about 11 years before.

George Allen Commins (1866-1953) married Emily Florence Egginton (1869 -1930) in 1892. They had ten children:

• John Egginton Commins (1893-1982), usually called Jack, married to Gertrude H. Carrol (1892-1873), no children, living in Dublin in 1966
• George Albert Commins (1895-1977), married to Gertrude Maisie Dillon (1885-1966), one daughter, Mabel (1926-?), living in Dublin in 1966. Gertrude had died in January 1966, just a few months before we came to Dublin.
• Robert Henry Commins (1896-1981), married to Gertrude Ganil (?-1966), one daughter, Joyce (1934-1975), living in London in 1966
• Florence Gertrude O’Shaughnessey (1897-1981), married to Samuel O’Shaughnessey (?-1951), no children, living in Richmond in 1966
• Violet Maud Inglis (1899-1959), married to Ken Inglis (1889-1969), one daughter, Audrey (1933? – ?). Ken was living in Audrey’s house, in Sutton, Dublin in 1966.
• Edward Alexander Commins (1901-1964), often called Neddie
• Adeline Victoria Commins (1902-1920)
• Vera Constance Sweeney (1905-1991), married to Owen Sweeney (1890-1962), one son, Victor (1942- ?), living at 70 Sundrive Road, in Kimmage, Dublin in 1966
• Walter Reginald Commins (1909-1989), married to Ivy Nellie Clegg (1907-1997), one son, Michael (1944- ), living in Rochdale, England in 1966
• Albert Edward Commins (1911-1989), married to Margaret Joyce Heaps (1907-1986), often called Pat or Paddy (my father), two daughters, Aileen Margaret and Patricia Joyce. Living in Vancouver, B.C. in 1966.

Of the younger generation we met:

• Mabel Gargan, married to Bernard Talbot Gargan (1919-1984) and had four children, Edward Trevor (1947-2009), Malcolm Glifford (1950-?), Averil Janice (1953-?) and Quentin Talbot (1956-?)
• Audrey Dickson, married to Roy Dickson (1935-?) and had four children, David Kenneth (1957-?), Alan Richard (1959-?), Gary Robert (1962-?) and Ian Andrew (1963-?). I’ve always had a special relationship with Audrey as we have the same birthday, the 13th of December, though she is 16 years older than me. She was very good at sending a birthday present every year.
• Victor Sweeney was unmarried in 1966, but married Deirdre Flanigan in 1967 and had two sons, Leo (born in 1970) and Ian (born in 1977)
• Micheal Commins (the only male to carry on the Commins name), married Brenda Hays in 1964, but had no children in 1966. Later they had two sons, Christopher (born 1969) and Julian (born 1974)