Tom Nealon (Part 1)

Tom Nealon was born in 1928 on a small farm in Tourlestrane. He is a basket weaver who works with willow and sally. He remembers his two grandfathers thatching long ago. He talks about his experience of getting turf from the bog and he says he made his first basket at eight years of age and explains that his father showed him how to make it. Tom also talks about his father’s time in the army. He remembers planting and maintaining sally gardens for the making of creels and he details making the creels and the techniques involved. The creel had many uses, including spreading dung from an ass and cart. Also recalled were some old cures for sicknesses used in former times. Tom talks at length about his time harvesting the land and working in England to make a living.