Maigréad Ó Murchadha (née Higgins) (b. 1919)

Maigreád Ó Murchadha lives in Wellesley Terrace in a house which was once home to the Fleischmann family. Maigreád and her husband, the sculptor Seamus Murphy, moved to Wellesley Terrace in 1945. This recording was compiled in the drawing room at the house, which contains many wonderful pieces of sculpture executed by Maigreád’s father Joseph Higgins, and by her late husband Seamus Murphy. Maigreád describes her background, her childhood in Youghal, the circumstances surrounding the initial meeting of her parents, which were reflected later in her own meeting with her husband Seamus. She taught Art at Scoil Mhuire until 1975, and during the early years of their marriage, times were hard and Seamus’s main work involved the crafting of headstones. His workshop was in Blackpool, and later, when commissions began to arrive, Maigreád would assist him with drawings. The Murphys were very friendly with the Fleischmanns who lived close by and would regularly attend the opera together. Maigreád places on record several amusing and affectionate anecdotes about the Fleischmann family.