ANNIE McCONNELL (née Harley), BORN 1925, CHURCH HILL

Glendowan is the place where Annie McConnell was born and reared on a small farm with her nine siblings. She traces her maternal and paternal families, both of which were from the parish and native Irish speakers. Annie’s schooldays in challenging times are recorded. Most of her siblings emigrated for financial reasons as did many of the local people at that time. She discusses the surnames common in the parish during her childhood and the personalities there. She completed her training as a nurse in London and later married the late Packie McConnell who was a native of her home parish. In this recording, Annie discusses the old local customs, the carding of wool, basket making, cures, superstition and the belief in the supernatural. She worked as a collector of local folklore for the Folklore Commission’s schools scheme in the late 1930s. She explains that in the 1940s her sister-in-law passed away and Annie and her husband reared her nine nieces and nephews along with their own two children.