What stories can I tell of my first days?
Only what my mother told to me
How we lived in an attic room
In Aunty Katie’s house
Across the road from where the film star lived
Robert Donat many years before
And how the winter cold drove me to the bottom of my pram
And how she found me there
And how a Redemptorist missioner came and said hello
And gave a special blessing to the child
And how on this day February 2nd
A Sunday in 1947
They took me to the church to be baptised
And the priest who poured the water over me
Was called Hope, Father Hope
A cheerful sign
And not long after that we moved away
And came to Tyldesley where we made our home
And stayed at uncle Tommy’s for a year and more
Warm welcomed there by Aunty Lily
Whom mammy never forgot
Not a catholic but best of the lot
Tricia born there September 11th
And then the homes in Shakerley were built
And Mum and Dad had the pick of them
Walking round one weekend just to view
And choosing 16 Rutland Road for them
And there we lived our childhood days
‘Up Wimpeys’ as they used to say back then
It was bliss
Brian Fahy
2 February 2022
+ My first homes:
19 St Paul’s Road, Withington, Manchester
35 Cranworth Avenue, Astley, Tyldesley
16 Rutland Road, Tyldesley
Erris Poetry 