I had stopped writing my memories some time ago finishing in 1977 when my son was born. I have however been asked by grandson Ben to write some more. Hopefully they will also be converted to videos too.
In 1978, the United Kingdom experienced several significant events across political, social, and cultural spheres.
We saw the birth of Louise Brown, the first test tube baby; Grange Hill became a firm favourite on BBC and Grease became a box office favourite. We were also heading to the winter of discontent due to high unemployment and inflation.
In Northern Ireland the Troubles continued, with ongoing violence between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, British security forces, and civilians. Notable incidents included IRA bombings and attacks, contributing to a tense atmosphere. Efforts toward peace or political solutions, like the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, remained stalled.
Meanwhile life in Belfast continued. Looking after my two children and my niece, life was mainly childminding, housework and the occasional night out when I could bribe my sister to babysit. There weren’t many venues for entertainment in the city as they had either been bombed or had shut down.
17 February – Twelve people are killed in the La Mon restaurant bombing in Belfast.
Louise and Orla were quite advanced for their age and they played well together but it was obvious that play school wasn’t stretching them enough and they were bored.
I approached the headmaster of our local school, Mr Rogan, about the possibility of them starting school early. Due to the troubles taking its toll on East Belfast, many families had left the area and the Catholic population had dwindled. So although they wouldn’t be four until after school started in September, he agreed to enrol them.
There had also been plans for a new Catholic grammar school being built on the Comber Road in Dundonald but that had to be scrapped due to the shifting population.
Gordon was working at Veterinary research and studying part time for a degree. This wasn’t easy with two children and a full time job but he worked hard and in 1979 he was awarded a BSc ( first class honours in Biological Sciences ) along with the Davison Hardy prize for the highest marks. His route to higher academic achievements had begun.
Towards the end of 1978 and after suffering from the inconvenience of storage heaters we were able to install central heating.
This caused a lot of disruption with floors being lifted and drilling through tiled floors.
Thankfully the children were able to go and stay with their grandparents in Rostrevor. Coming back to a lovely warm house was bliss.
In 1978 interest rates climbed to 17 percent going way up from 5% and we were finding it hard to manage financially with only one salary coming in. Gordon worked most weekends but it was looking more like I was going to have to find a job.
With no family nearby, child minding was a problem. I saw an advert for interviewers for the BBC ‘s audience research department.
I’ll tell you how that went next time.
CHATTER 