大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with William & Georgina McVeigh, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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Billy
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The allotments were on the embankment from Anandale 鈥� Anandale Embankment.

Georgina
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You know right up where the weir is now? There are still some allotments of the left-hand side now. On the right-hand side there were allotments too, and that鈥檚 where my dad鈥檚 was. And the dairy farm 鈥�

B
The streets of Kandahar street, Delhi street, Elgin Street and Delhi Parade formed a square. And in that square was the dairy farm 鈥� Ross鈥檚 Dairy Farm.
And in the winter, all the cattle were brought down into byres there and they did the milking there. And it wasn鈥檛 until the event of, when they had to pasteurise the milk and all the rest of it, that they then were taken over by, I suppose what was called Ulster Creameries or something of that order.

G
In the summer they took the cows up quite near where we live now.

B
Up to the Cairn鈥檚 Hill area, the Knockbracken area 鈥� the fields there. And that鈥檚 where we live now.
They walked them down. I went with them, helped them walk them down, and out again. They didn鈥檛 know they were going out. They wanted all, most of the boys went because they liked everybody all running up the side of them to keep them out of the streets. And they just walked them up. And I don鈥檛 know, we probably got something to eat there, a drink of lemonade or something, but I don鈥檛 remember that. We were out anyway. Every day was out.

Right up the Ormeau Road, right up to Newtonbreda and what鈥檚 it called, Newton Park. Or else the other place they had was just at the start of the Cairns Hill Road, just in to the right, and just before you come to that big garden centre they had fields there for the cows, and I used to go up and help them. And it was a joy, a treat. If you were very good you got a lift up in the van up to there when they were feeding the cows. Of course you helped to feed the cows when they鈥檙e doing that. And they were glad of your help, but we were glad to get there. It was good, do good summer running.
鈥淲here is he?鈥�
鈥淗e鈥檚 away with the cows鈥�.

G
When VJ day came the weather wasn鈥檛 as good, and they had up in Ross鈥檚 yard, they cleaned all the byres out and that鈥檚 where we had our party. The big byres.

B
I remember having to hose it all down. But there you go.

G
It was a different world, really.

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