Cambridge Avenue, Ringsend 1969

© Ann Brien

This was the avenue where I lived from age two and a half to seventeen years. Perhaps because of this I've never lost my love for the old two up, two down, red brick terraced house.

You might also notice from the above image that not many of my neighbours had cars. Only the families where the husband had any kind of a good job were the ones privileged to own such luxuries and some of these people even had a telephone installed in their hallways! We had neither car nor phone but what you didn't have you didn't miss. Taken in May 1969.

Coastguard Station, Ringsend 1969

© Ann Brien

My best childhood friend lived here. I lived just down the road but this was our real playground, the long gardens at the back of the houses and open grassy areas leading from them provided perfect fodder for our young imaginations.

Opposite those houses still runs the River Liffey with its old wall from where I used to stare out to sea. The image also shows to the left, after the bus-stop, the slip-way and you can just about see one of the upturned rowing boats. Taken in May 1969.

St. Catherine's Home and ESB, Ringsend 1968

© Ann Brien

St. Catherine's Home, a one-time convalescent home for TB sufferers. I've been told it is a listed building so I guess it still stands, a grim reminder of dark times. It's directly across the road from the sea view image below.

In the background stands the ESB (Electricy Supply Board) Poolbeg Station which generates most of Ireland's electricity supply. Taken in the summer of 1968.

Old Sea Wall, Pigeon House Road, Ringsend 1968

© Ann Brien

This is the one-time beautiful sea view from between the Coast Guard Station and the ESB, Poolbeg, Ringsend. I would spend a lot of my time just staring out there, it was so calming. On winter evenings I would peer into the dark river, her waters black as ink, the eerie sound of the fog horn ringing in my ears. Later I would trade the coldness of the night for the warmth of my home. Taken in the summer of 1968.

Pigeon House Road, Ringsend 1968

© Ann Brien

My greatest memory of this "waterfall" is of summer evenings when men and boys would be lined up with their fishing rods and nets, all silent....waiting. Taken in the summer of 1968.

The Early Years (1)

© Ann Brien

A very shy little Ann in my back yard in Ringsend, Dublin, the family home until I was seventeen. Taken by my cousin with her Brownie camera in 1954. I was two and a half years old.

The Early Years (2)

© Ann Brien

That's me in the back yard of my aunt and uncle's cottage in Charlemont Row off Harcourt Street, Dublin. All those cottages have now long since been demolished. Taken by my cousin in 1956. I was five years old.

The Early Years (3)

© Ann Brien

This was a very special day - my First Holy Communion. The photo was taken once again in my cousin's back yard in Charlemont Row off Harcourt Street, Dublin. Taken by my cousin in May 1959. I was seven and a half years old.

The Early Years (4)

© Ann Brien

This was taken on the hall door step of a neighbour I used to babysit for. In fact it's on the morning after the little boy's first birthday party which of course I attended (that's him sitting beside me). The year was 1960 and I'm eight and a half years old.

The Early Years (5)

© Ann Brien

I remember the day this was taken. It was in the yard of St. Brigid's Primary School, Haddington Road, Dublin 4 where I attended from six to twelve years of age. The year was 1960 and I was eight years old.

The Early Years (6)

© Ann Brien

Twelve years old in Ringsend Park, Dublin. Taken on a bitter cold January morning in 1963 by a neighbour (note the snow footprints and me blinded by the bright sunlight!). I particularly love this photograph as it shows the park I knew so well as a child before the erection of tennis courts and other sporting facilities.