I passed my grandfather
Shuffling down the street
A man of eighty then
A lovely man to meet
He was on his way to Paddy’s Hump
A pint of mixed to sip
And I for playing snooker
A very special trip
The year I’d say was 61
And I fourteen years old
Granddad at the end of days
His journey nearly told
I remember an independent man
Though clearly getting frail
But not for sitting in the house
He’d go and get his ale
He worked so hard all through his life
In the mines till 65
Then years in Ward and Goldstone
Till 78 he spied
A fiddle player in his youth
A mighty Mayo man
I’m getting near your age granddad
I’ll shuffle as I can
Brian Fahy
16 January 2023
+ Michael Fahy, my grandfather, born 1881 in Westport, County Mayo, died 1968, aged 87, in Tyldesley, Lancashire.
‘Paddy’s Hump’ was the name given to the Catholic Club in Hindsford. It sat on a rise of ground and as the catholic community was made up chiefly of immigrant Irish labourers, it well deserved the name.
Erris Poetry 