1919 - The British Government was apparently concerned about what was happening in Ireland but, seemingly, only to the point that those it considered to be unoffending Irish people (!) might be treated the same as the rebels...
...that's one of sixteen pieces we'll be posting about here on Wednesday, 10th September, 2025, and that particular piece emphasises the propaganda practises that 'The Empire' employed in the approximate 54 to 65 countries that Westminster colonised and/or annexed and in the approximate 171 countries in total that were affected by it's political and/or military 'influence' ie where it exerted significant military and/or political control.
And, unfortunately, Ireland is included in those figures.
1920, Westminster and Ireland - a British spy network in Ireland was uncovered by the IRA, as was a 'spy instructor' ; the 'work' they were doing was investigated by the rebels as was the main player, the 'instructor' : and some of his 'extracurricular' activities were then made public...
1922 - the British administration in Ireland was, as expected, keeping a close eye on Mr Collins and his supporters to ensure that they were indeed on-side with the Treaty of Surrender and were actively engaged in hunting down the republican renegades (!) - updates re the lack of any such double-dealing were regularly sent back to Westminster...
1923 - "Put silk on a goat and it's still a goat' : this foreign august body of world leaders and intellectuals might just as well have been presented with a naked man as they declared, in unison - 'Oh the kings clothes are immaculate, not a stitch out of place, all is in order, move along there, nothing to see here...!'
...and that's all yer gettin' for now!
As stated, we'll be putting clothes (I'll get me coat...!) on the back of the above four pieces, and about a dozen other ones, on Wednesday, 10th September, 2025 : so do, please, give us a shout then ; sure we're tailor-made for ya...!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - see yis again on the 10th!!
Sharon and the team.
Ireland, 1919 - Irish republicans began operating what turned out to be a massively successful fundraising operation but, when the Republican Movement split a few years later, a legal scramble ensued to claim ownership of it...
..and you can 'claim ownership' of the rest of that piece on Wednesday, 27th August 2025, when we post it, along with about fourteen other pieces, tellin' ya 'bout some things that happened between 1798 and 2003.
1919, Dublin and Westminster - a few months before the murderous Black And Tans were spawned, written correspondence changed hands between some of the political and military British heavyweights which give insights into who wanted what unleashed in Ireland to deal with the rebel fightback...
1920, Leinster - two Tans had been killed in a shoot-out with Irish rebels and their comrades wanted revenge. In the early hours of the morning, two lorry loads of them drove into this village and knocked on a few doors, before lining-up across the width of the road, shouldering rifles...
So do, please, give us a shout on Wednesday, 27th August 2025, for the missing jigsaw pieces and a few complete sets!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - see ye on the 27th.
Sharon and the team.
In early August, 1919, in Munster, Ireland, armed Irish Volunteers ambushed an enemy patrol, killing two of their number, which prompted Westminster to attempt to stop any future rebel activity by specifically naming certain organisations as having been outlawed (!) in that specific area...!
Yes, indeed - that'll learn 'em!
And learn this you, yerself - on Wednesday, 13th August 2025, we'll be talkin' more about the above, and mentioning about a dozen instances where the outlaws (!) never learned their lessons either...
In the late 1970's and into the 80's, foreign companies in Ireland started to import their own workforce rather than employ the indigenous Irish, but cheaper wages wasn't the only reason...
Ireland, 1920's - existing British legislation to 'deal' with the Irish rebels was felt to be too soft, so new legislation was brought in which "limited civilian oversight..."
In the 1920's, political and military spin-doctors in Westminster designed a new method of "putting fire in the belly of its military and paramilitary groups and gangs in Ireland..."
So do, please, give us a shout back here on Wednesday, 13th August 2025, 'cause if'n ya don't, y'all be puttin' fire in our bellies to do somethin' about it...!
Thanks for the visit, and for staying long enough to read the above : hope to see ye all on the 13th.
Sharon and the team.
A BRITISH "SUPER SLEUTH" IN IRELAND IN THE 1920'S...
Ireland, 1920's - the Four Courts in Dublin wasn't the only conflict zone in the country between the IRA and Free Staters that the Staters went cap-in-hand to the British Government and its army, looking for a lend of artillery pieces to use against their former comrades...
That's one of a number of pieces we'll be writing about on this blog on Wednesday, 16th July 2025, naming some of those who agreed with Michael Collins in demanding heavy artillery pieces to use against their former IRA comrades ; the Four Courts in Dublin is perhaps the best known such occasion, but it wasn't the only one, for shame.
In this Irish county in the 1920's, the Crown Forces and their colleagues in the RIC were proud of having established more that two dozen fixed bases from which they 'kept the peace' in that particular county.
But their peace-keeping (!) prowess was called into question by the local rebels and, within eight months, they were reduced to having only six such structures to duck and dive in...
Ireland, 1920's - this British 'super sleuth' in Ireland, who had made a name for himself as "a wicked-looking marvel" in other British outposts further afield than Ireland, verbally bet his bottom dollar on the outcome of a certain phase in the on-going Irish struggle, nearly had the hand taken off him...and lost the bet!
So do, please, give us a shout back here on Wednesday, 16th July 2025.
'Cause if'n ya don't, we might have to borrow somethin' from the Brits and pay y'all a visit...!
Thanks for reading : see ye on the 16th!
Sharon and the team.
'PINCH-POINTS' AND PATIENCE...
Munster, 1920's - something foreign 'washed-up' on the coast and it caught the attention of the IRA, who went to see for themselves - and they 'found' a tidy amount of treasure...
...and that's just one of the twenty pieces that'll be 'washed-up' on this blog on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025, when we'll also be visiting an Irish gas field which didn't benefit the State economy and we'll be talking about 'pinch-points' and patience -
From 2002 - an Irish gas field, 30 times the size of the previous big find and believed by industry sources to be the biggest find of the time in European waters was (mis)used as a bargaining chip by Leinster House politicians to the point that even their bought-and-paid-for colleagues in the trade union leadership thought it was a bridge too far...
Early 1920's, Munster - on the same day that a 'pinch point' had been established by the IRA, waiting for the Crown Forces to enter it, their comrades over 100 miles across country were also patiently waiting - for a goods train carrying enemy supplies. Forty-five-odd miles away from there, at that same time, this IRA ASU had lost patience with a wannabe spy in its area...
So do, please, have patience (!) and give us a shout on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025, and don't leave us waiting...
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - see y'all on the 2nd!
Sharon and the team.
So ya had to leave the house you were sheltering in quickly, and you left a bit of gear behind, but at least you managed to get away, as did your comrades.
The grouping that you and your mates escaped from weren't calling for a cup of tea, but you were still annoyed that you left a certain something behind and, so annoyed were ya, that you wrote a letter to the bossman of that grouping insisting that it be returned to you!
And sure whaddya know - didn't he write back with a favourable response...
...and that's just one of the twenty-one pieces that we'll be writing about on Wednesday, 18th June, 2025 -
South-East Ireland, early 1920's - dozens of armed IRA Volunteers were laying in wait for the enemy troops when they heard noises from behind them.
Those that escaped established an inquiry and the informer was paid a visit...
1920's - Items of clothing were left behind in an IRA safe house in the South of the country but, as the British soldiers were closing-in for the kill, the owners of those items escaped. But they weren't content to leave it at that and letters were exchanged between the British Commander and the IRA leader...
Early 1920's, Dublin : a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher produced a diagram which, he hoped, would help him to square a circle...
Thanks for dropping in, and for reading this 'lil promo piece : we'll be filling in the above three gaps, and eighteen other ones that ya don't know about yet, on Wednesday, 18th June 2025.
We'll see yis then, hopefully!
Sharon and the team.
...and 'Bye 'Bye Morocco and Spain.
We landed in a Dublin that was suffering under a cloud burst and a cool-in-the-shade breeze blowing.
Four of our menfolk were waiting for us in 4x4's, which was just as well - we each of us had a 20kg, a carry-on, a backpack and oversize handbags, so we needed all the space we could get!
And I think we'll be doing it all over again, in September or October next ; we'd do it sooner, but the villa's booked out for June, July and August.
Anyway - back to basics : I'm back to work late in the coming week and back to blogging on Wednesday, 28th May, with a twenty-piece (or thereabouts) script which the two lads have been working on over the past week - I've just to edit it here and there and add a bit of a verbal sting wherever I feel it's needed, if I don't come down with the bleedin' flu first!
I've seen a digital copy of the post and, among the other bits and pieces we'll be writing about is a piece from the early 1900's when a discussion in Westminster in relation to the then Sinn Féin organisation turned into a verbal autopsy (or post-mortem examination!) on the RIC, the pro-British 'police force' in Ireland, and how that discussion was acted on in Dublin and the repercussions it had on the already-low moral of that grouping...
From the 1920's -
"Between requested transfers and orders from their bosses in Dublin and Westminster, the (British) barracks was soon abandoned because, now that it was known to be 'of interest' to the IRA, the enemy forces knew that the rebels would be back.
And back they were..."
Also from the 1920's - hundreds of yards of road were covered by the IRA ambush team, all armed with rifles.
A smaller operation had been carried out in a nearby village, in the expectation that the enemy forces would call-in reinforcements who would drive into the trap that had been set for them on the way to assist their colleagues.
But...
...you'll just havta wait until Wednesday, 28th May 2025, to find out what happened!
Thanks for reading ; see ya back here on the 28th!
Sharon and the team.
"Experts within the industry allege that many claims of 'dry holes' drilled by the oil companies in the past were in fact positive finds, held over for a later day.
Leinster House has been remiss in not securing a deal that would ensure similar structures and benefits were set up here as part of the licence requirements.
Industry experts say our politicians and civil servants must be held accountable, and explain their actions in exposing Ireland to such losses and in failing to protect our interests..."
We'll have a much-shortened version of our usual Wednesday offering appearing here tomorrow (Wednesday 26th March 2025) due to family arrangements in relation to Confirmations, anniversaries, birthdays and other clan gatherings in Dublin and down the country, all of which took place in the same period that the firm I work for, and with, requested me to choose five work companions to trial a new office that we have opened in Dublin City Centre.
The new building is self-sufficient and state-of-the art (seriously so - it's like the Star Ship Enterprise!) and the company owners and management asked us to run it through its paces over four days and four nights - working, breakfast, lunch etc on the premises, sleeping in the night quarters, testing out the gym and pool facilities - yes, gym and pool! - and a host of other luxuries that make the building far too nice just to work in!
So there ya have it, my tale of woe - myself, three other Young Wans, two of the office lads and three security men, four days and nights in a futuristic building that practically ran itself.
Rough, it was, 'cause there was no hairdressers or nail bar on site (...although the other bar was open)...!
Anyway - thanks for reading ; we'll be back tomorrow, Wednesday, 26th March 2025. And if ya don't show up, I'll programme the new building to track ya down and nuke ya...!
Sharon and the team.
This man was born in County Cork in the 1800's and made a name for himself as a person who could be trusted, a respectable worker. He made it his business to contact like-minded people with similar interests, social and political, and together, eventually, they numbered in the hundreds, then in the thousands...
In the 1940's, a house in Ballsbridge in Dublin was raided by the Free State Special Branch and a working man who was staying in the house was taken away by them for questioning. The raiding party was led by an ex-IRA man and the man they removed from the house was an active IRA Volunteer, but the Staters didn't know that at the time. But, when they found out afterwards, the Staters stitched him up...
...and that's just two of the 20-or-so pieces we'll be writing about on Wednesday, 5th March 2025.
1900's - Mixing 'sports' and politics : various weapons were used in clashes between Irish republicans and what this blog would consider to be blood-thirsty 'sport' enthusiastics ie those who apparently enjoyed seeing poor animals being injured and/or killed. During at least one such clash, a handgun was produced, and used...
An aberration in State politics in the 1950's, and not one that 'suited the suits' in Leinster House. This man was an ordinary 'working-class joe' with a social conscience and he acted on that conscience. And the 'suits' on the benches beside him didn't appreciate that...
Early 1920's - the new Free State Army were 'throwing shapes' at the IRA in this town in Munster but they were ill-equipped to do so, and their leadership knew it. Both army leaderships came to a compromise, of which some of the IRA men disapproved, insisting that they should instead push home their advantage...
Ireland, 1920's - this high-ranking member of the British judiciary in Ireland spoke out about both sides of the coin, even if he did get his "recklessness and wickedness" confused...
...but don't you go gettin' confused on us, now - we'll be here on Wednesday, 5th March 2025, with the rest of the above pieces and a dozen or more other bits.
Thanks for reading - see ya on the 5th!
Sharon and the team.
Tipperary, 1920's - troubled discussions within the IRA about how the fight was going, and a Free State soldier with his own troubles - he had decided that fighting against the Republic was not for him, that he wanted to fight for it.
And he intended to 'come across from the Dark Side' with weaponry, which he had access to...
...and, on Wednesday, 26th February 2025, you'll have access to the rest of that story.
And access, as well, to about 15 or 16 other pieces that we've either put together or are working on -
- 1900's, Ireland ; two competing armies, one of which intruded on the printed success of the other, and did so shamelessly...
- Ireland, mid-19th Century ; the British had intended to execute these Irish rebels but the world-wide outcry made them hesitant, at first, to do so, and then convinced them to call off the executions. Instead, the rebels were sent to 'a Hell on Earth...'
- Monaghan, early 1920's ; this man served the half-crown in the British Army, was seated at the 'Top Table' in a pro-British Army support group and had applied to join the RIC, and was known to be 'on friendly terms' with both of those military bodies. People who didn't appreciate that 'friendliness' were mapping his movements...
We'll be 'mapping out' the above for ya, and other bits and pieces, on Wednesday, 26th February 2025, so give us a shout, if ya don't get lost between this and then.
Thanks for reading - see ye all on the 26th!
Sharon and the team.
From the office of Michael Collins to Westminster, 1920's - a letter of assurance that the armed men who had liberated a British Army payroll, killing an English soldier in the process, would be hunted down and punished. Mr Collins ordered the Republican Police and his State Army to assist the RIC and the British military in doing just that...
That's one of about 18 pieces we'll be writing about on Wednesday, 12th February, 2025, on this blog...
Why was it that, in the 1970's, the Leinster House administration purchased a grave in a cemetery just outside a small country town...?
Ireland, in the early 2000's - 'Black Gold' wasn't only valuable for the financial benefits it itself bestowed, but also for the 'add-ons' ie the provision of services, jobs in manufacturing businesses, infrastructure work, port upgrades etc, but short-sighted, greedy politicians thought otherwise...
..and we'll be putting some meat on the bones of those two, as well.
There'll be a few paragraphs on a few happenings from the 19th Century up to the 2000's, so hopefully yis will find something of interest for yerselves but ya won't know that until Wednesday, 12th February 2025. But, if'n ya don't, here's a few shillings ; sure ya can ring someone who cares...!
Thanks for dropping in - appreciated : see ya on the 12th!
Sharon and the team.
We got a good start on our Holy Communion preparation work last week, and managed to have a bit of craic with family members as well ; we secured a lovely venue (choice of three, 'cause we were early on the hunt!), food menu decided and agreed on, colour scheme (table dressings, flowers, coasters, placemats etc) music choice (and volume!) and new outfits to change into.
More so nowadays than when we first started with the prep works years ago for Holy Communions and Confirmations, it's like planning for a mini wedding-type event now - nothing left to chance, 'Plan B's' in place just in case...!
Anyway - we'll be up to our usual shenanigans on Wednesday, 29th January 2025, as we'll be posting a 16-part blog on various instances in Ireland, which took place between the 18th Century and the year 2002...
Dublin, Ireland - born in the mid-18th Century in Ireland, and buried in what was then a quite cemetery in the heart of Dublin City Centre in the early 19th Century, this military and political revolutionary is not remembered as fittingly as he should be...
Ireland, South-East of the country, early 1920's - this IRA Battalion Commander was on a 'Most Wanted' list circulated by Westminster and their lackies in Dublin Castle, but always avoided capture. When some of his comrades decided to support the British in partitioning Ireland, he knew that his 'safe houses' were no longer safe, as the search party would now consist of former comrades-in-arms. He knew he had to look abroad...
Today, 2025, State and local politicians are in the process of people- trafficking so-called 'asylum seekers/refugees/migrants' into the State for reasons of financial gain and 'pats on the back' from their new bosses in the EU etc but, as can be read in this 23-year-old article, the same politicians once sold a complete coast of this country for a few hundred Euros...
We Irish gals were once made of sterner stuff than we are now (although some of us still carry the old DNA!) and, in the late 19th Century in Ireland, some of the less-than-sterner-stuff Ladies attempted to put societal shackles on the Ladies who still carried that old DNA...
The four pieces above will be explained in full, and twelve other articles as well : so, if yer not booked up with mini-wedding-type events yourself, give us a shout here on Wednesday, 29th January 2025.
Or may God forgive ya your sins if'n ya don't...!
Thanks for dropping in - hope to see yis all on the 29th!
Sharon and the team.
...AN OLD SCORE WAS STILL SETTLED.
First things first - BAH HUMBUG to the whole bleedin' lot of yis!!
We're back 'On Air' after our Christmas and New Year Jollies, which were particularly hectic this time, due to the Grandchildren getting more numerous, older, wiser and harder to please!
Time was when we could put a thrupenny bit (!) into their Christmas cards and sure they'd near spend most of it on you in the corner shop but now the corner shop is a Turkish barbers or phone repair shop (yeah, right...) and a few bob is no use unless ya can Revolut it or scan it from your phone or watch, apparently!
Anyway - on Wednesday, 8th January 2025, we'll be doing some reminiscing of a different sort -
Ireland, 1920's - false pretences and titles were used by Leinster House to persuade the gullible that it was in their interest to locate, imprison and/or execute those who still sought and fought for a peaceful proper justice for Ireland...
From 2003 ; even twenty-two years ago, this phenomenon - while perhaps less noticeable to those who considered it unlikely, immoral and unworkable - was used as a method by State politicians to keep journalists 'sweet and on-board' and today, in 2025, to suggest that it is one of the reasons (if indeed not the main reason) why some people actually decide to become a 'journalist' should sound unreasonable and unlikely only to the gullible...
Ireland, 1920's - his commitment to a 32-County Ireland had put this man in the sights of gunmen and mercenaries from Westminster and now that same steadfast commitment had placed him, once again, in very real danger from Irish gunmen and mercenaries who were once in the same sights as he was. He was in the bedroom of a venue in Dublin when his old comrades kicked the door in...
From 2002 - the tolerance people have for illegals is gone. There is a mood in the State that immigration laws need to be toughened up : that was 23 years ago, but it wasn't this State that was being referred to...
Ireland, early 1920's - poverty, labour unrest, strikes and threatened strikes, military and political upheavals and, as those issues were to the fore, the body of a man was found in a ditch. The man had a military background, but had made his peace with all concerned. Or so he thought...
The lads tell me that we'll have a 12-parter ready to go for Wednesday, 8th January 2025, including the above five pieces, so put us on your list for then.
Don't have me to come down the feckin' chimney after ya...!
Thanks for checking back in. We missed ya...
Sharon and the team ; see yis all on Wednesday, 8th January 2025.
In the early 1920's...
..this republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher, by then a career politician, stopped just short of describing the men and women of 1916 as criminals, even though he had soldiered alongside the same men and women in the (on-going) struggle for a 32-County Ireland...
That's one of the twenty-or-so pieces we'll be putting pen to paper about on this blog on Wednesday, 30th October 2024.
The man mentioned above left a particularly dirty and bloody thumbprint in Irish history and sullied his family surname to the extent that even so-called 'neutral observers' find it hard to defend his 'official' (ie State) actions.
These are two more 'teaser pieces' that we'll be putting skin on the bone of on the 30th -
..a second IRA attack on Free State paramilitary operatives in their own headquarters didn't go as planned : not only were Volunteers captured, but too much damage was done to the building...
..at one of the weekly meetings held by the IRA leadership to discuss 'the state of play', the fact that family members of enemy combatants were pressuring their loved ones to resign their positions for safety reasons was noted, and it was agreed that the 'sins-of-the-father' rule would still apply to those family members...
So...
..even if ya have other plans on that date, add us in - cancel/postpone whatever it is that ya havta, but get yer butt back here then.
Or else...!!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading - see ya on Wednesday, 30th October 2024!
Sharon and the team.
Ireland, 1900's - these pro-Irish organisations were 'allowed' by Westminster (through gritted teeth!) to exist in Ireland, but they were closely monitored by the British political and military classes until, one day, they weren't!
They were proscribed by the British, deemed to be 'illegal entities', membership of which would lead to arrest, or worse.
Within weeks of that 'Banned!' designation, hundreds of Irish men and women put it up to the British to "come get us..."
...and 'come get us', won't ya, on Wednesday, 16th October 2024, when we'll have a 12-part post ready for viewing (!), including the 'top and tail' of the above piece, when it was Irishmen and women that gathered in a group in the city centre in question, to challenge those who didn't belong here.
And we'll be putting the starting and finishing touches to these two pieces as well -
Ireland, 1920's - two 'cool hand lukes' in poorly-presented enemy uniforms decided to bluff their way out of prison, and it worked.
But...
From 2002 - they may not actually hear the State politicians, but they can see what it is they have done and, although somewhat muted by unfortunate circumstances, they can be loud and they know 'where the bodies are buried', so to speak...
...and we shall be so speaking - on Wednesday, 16th October 2024.
So do, please, give us a shout (pun intended!) then.
Thanks for the visit, and for reading ; see y'all again on the 16th!
Sharon and the team.
DUBLIN, EARLY 2000's - AN OFFICIAL REPORT AND A FRIGHTENING STATISTIC...
('16 FOR [4] 25'!)
'This funeral procession in Dublin, in the 1900's, which was organised by a republican-gamekeeper-turned-Free State-poacher, was witnessed by media from throughout the world and attended by tens of thousands of Irish men and women, some of whom were armed, some of whom were in the uniform of the rebels, and shots were fired in the graveyard.
Newspaper reports of the burial conveyed to the world the message that the Irish rebels were far from the 'spent force' that the British were insinuating...'
That's a few lines about one of the 16-part post pieces that we'll be writing about here on Wednesday, 25th September 2024 : and sure here's another two 'samplers' for ya -
'From the 1900's - this industrial storeroom in the South-East of Ireland was used by a business to warehouse the equipment it needed for day-to-day operations, including explosives. The British monitored it closely, as did the Irish rebels, but the local British Army regiment were uneasy that the munitions there could "fall into the wrong hands". So they sent some of their men in to remove any items which could be used against them, but that operation didn't go according to their plan...'
'Dublin, Ireland, early 2000's - an official report indicated that, within about a three-year time span, one-fifth of the population in the city would br foreign born, a statistic welcomed by at least one foreign journalist...'
So do please give us a shout on the 25th : we'll add a bit more text and a few pics to the above (...and a bit more detail, of course!), and throw in another thirteen bits and pieces to keep ya occupied!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading : see ya again on the 25th!
Sharon and the team.
Ireland, 1920's - this man was a top operator in Ireland for Westminster in their military campaign against the Irish rebels but, like his political and military bosses, he was fond of taking what wasn't his.
But someone had taken something from him that wasn't theirs and left him exposed for all to see...
That short promo piece about a British gunman in Ireland in the 1920's who paid a price - an arm and a leg, you could say - for attempting to cash-in on his notoriety is one of seventeen articles we'll be posting about here on Wednesday, 11th September 2024.
Still in the 1920's, we'll have a few paragraphs on a then nine-month international organisation which exposed its inherent bias when it was approached, favourably, by representatives from an entity other than what that particular organisation professed to champion...
And, from more than twenty years ago, a timely piece on Irish citizenship in America, criminality and deportations - "...he is Irish, even though he has spent all but two years of his life in the US. He will be deported..."
A lesson there for Leinster House politicians, who have made this State a safe haven for the detritus from 3rd World prisons and, in doing so, abandoned the health and safety concerns - morally, financially and physically - of the indigenous Irish.
...plus 14 more pieces : we'll be comin' atya on Wednesday, 11th September 2024 with all the above. Sure all's ya need is a bucket of popcorn...!
Thanks for the visit, and for reading ; see yis on the 11th!
Sharon and the team.
Kerry, 1920's - this IRA Volunteer changed sides and shouldered a weapon for the enemy he had been fighting against. He was sent to a different townland in his own county to do battle against his old comrades but they no longer had any friendship towards him...
...and we're back (...what do ya mean ya didn't notice our absence...??!) after our family fling in, incidentally, Kerry!
Dozens of us - we made a long weekend out of it, lock-ins, rebel songs, breakfast at Tiffanys (seriously!) between 3am and 4amish, caught-up with old comrades, colleagues, friends and had a good chat, I'm told (!) with col ceathracha cousins and chancer Kerry lads who swore blind they were related to us!
And I swear blind here, readers, if yis don't check back with us on Wednesday, 4th September 2024....yis will miss the closing chapters in the above, and these...
Waterford, 1920's - guerrilla warfare on the streets, so most civilians stayed indoors. This elderly lady was in her house, reading a newspaper, when shots were heard outside. Then her neighbours heard shouts for help...
Kildare, 1920's - this rather tame nationalist group were an easy target for the British, and so it was that they were victimised for 'the sins of the father...'
Westminster, 1920's - the Irish republican struggle was receiving world-wide attention and publicity, and the British PM didn't favour the coverage, so he wrote a fairly telling letter to his (unofficial) second-in-command...
We have a 15-part post almost ready to go, for the 4th - so give us a shout then, won't ya...?
Thanks for the visit, and for reading ; see ya Wednesday 4th!
Sharon and the team.
County Clare, 1920's - was the meeting in a pub between the IRA representative and the 'Special Branch' man an arranged rendezvous or was it by chance?
Was the 'Branchman' lured there by the promise of meeting an informer, or in the hope of recruiting one?
Was the IRA man a 'double agent' meeting his 'handler'?
So many questions, so many permutations...but not too long to wait until they are answered.
...or will they be answered..?
That's just one of the 13 pieces that we'll be posting about here on Wednesday, 21st August 2024 -
County Louth, 1920's - "Incidentally, one of the IRA/NFE Volunteers was apparently recognised by one of the wounded RIC members, but no such charge was brought against him ; the RIC member knew that there would be a price to pay for doing so..."
Ireland, Austria and Mexico, and an Irish political and military 'Godfather' - a story spanning from the 19th Century into the 20th Century, involving an Irish connection, of course (!), and money and guns...and one woman in particular...
...but we'll say no more for now : we'll be haulding our wheesht (!) on the above, and ten other stories, until Wednesday, 21st August 2024.
Thanks for the visit, and for reading : and don't forget us on the 21st!
Sharon and the team.
After the 21st (birthday party, that is....no, not mine, silly! But you WILL be forgiven for thinking so...!), we're back on the 7th with 13.
Ya wha', Shar...?
Did ya not get that?!
No, I'm not 21 (...yet..!), we'll be back 'on line' on the 7th (...of August. 2024, that is...jeez, try and keep up, will ya...!) with a 13-part blog post.
We'll be filling in the details of the following three pieces, along with about ten other happenings from our historical/political/military past and, although those instances are behind you (and all of us), they'll be in front of ya on Wednesday, 7th August 2024.
So give us a shout then, wontcha...!
Ireland, 20th Century - this rebel Priest was too much for the Catholic Hierarchy to handle but, when he was to be relocated and a new Priest sent in, his parshioners, friends and supporters physically prevented that from taking place. His political beliefs actually caused him to be barred from entry to at least two countries but, by God (!), he was welcome here...!
Early 20th Century - 'Wouldn't do that job for love nor money...' - in a pro-British 'police force' in Ireland, that is. But then a British 'baron' upped the wages and expenses, and the flotsam was drawn in, but casualty rates rose proportionally...
1955 - Sinn Féin and the issue of partition was somewhat confused in the public mind when a certain organisation co-operated with Leinster House politicians in relation to that particular obstacle...
Hoping to see y'all on the 7th,
Thanks for the visit, and for reading!
Sharon and the team.
