ANNE MARTIN, TULLAMORE

Anne Martin grew up with her aunt, Nan Boland at the Round Lock. She had fond memories of watching Nan make butter and brown bread. Nan had four cows, which she named Dick, Dotty, Betsy and Snowy. On many occasions the boatmen would come in for a chat and a cup of tea, and on cold winter evenings would be treated to a mulled porter, when a hot poker was put into a glass of Guinness. Anne recalled that one day she saved the life of a little boy who had fallen into the lock, when she quickly reacted by putting a ladder down the bank, throwing a rope and pulling him to safety. My recording with Anne was the final part of a trilogy about life on the canal at the Lock gates.