Contributed by Carmel Gallagher
The families of Carmel Gallagher’s parents, the Gallaghers and the Roddens, both hailed from the same region of County Donegal, just outside Letterkenny. Her mother Bridget Rodden, born in 1926, was the fourth child and first daughter of 15 children born to Mollie Friel and John Rodden. Three of her siblings sadly died in early childhood and as Bridget was the eldest daughter, she shouldered most of the responsibility of caring for her nine brothers and two younger sisters.
The Roddens were not a wealthy family and like many others in the area, lived by subsistence farming, producing most of what they needed from their land and animals. After leaving school at the age of twelve, Bridget took on work as a domestic servant for a family 13 miles away in Kerrykeel, and this proved to be a good experience for the young Bridget. Three years later she was brought to a hiring fair at the square in Letterkenny with her younger brother, where she was hired by another family from Antrim. Bridget’s work in Antrim would prove more challenging, as she got lost in a snowstorm and was forced to shelter with strangers for two days while her host family went out to search for her. She also contracted ringworm while working with cattle and her mother travelled to Antrim to take her home to recover.
Bridget would later move to Glasgow, following in the footsteps of her brothers, where she worked as a bus conductor and began training as a nurse. Her training would soon be cut short, however, as she returned to Ireland at her mothers urging to help run her brother’s shop in Dublin after he was injured in an accident. It was in Dublin that she would meet Carmel’s father James again, having known each other’s families since childhood. Carmel’s father was one of ten children and at the age of 17 was sent to Dublin to work at McDaid’s pub, which was owned by his uncle John McDaid. It was here that Carmel’s parents would reconnect, as the bar was a favourite haunt of Bridget’s brother and it was through him that they would reunite and marry in 1957.
Carmel and her four siblings were brought up by her parents in Clontarf, Dublin. After working for five years in Trinity College Library, Carmel decided to spend a few years travelling and spent time au-pairing in Germany, farming in Shetland and helped create environmental awareness campaigns through street theatre activities in Sweden organised through VSI (Voluntary Service International). Following in the footsteps of her brother and a number of her friends, Carmel came to live in London after spending a year on a working holiday in Australia. Here she would meet her husband, and the pair would settle down to raise their own family. Carmel’s experience as an Irish immigrant in London was very different to those of her forebears, having received a greater education and further opportunities. Living in West London, Carmel and her family were embraced by a vibrant Irish immigrant community, filled with familiar faces from her time in Dublin.
She and her children are proud of their Irish heritage, collecting family photos and researching their family’s history. They have also made regular trips to Ireland over the years for holidays, weddings and funerals and hope this tradition will continue on to the next generation of Gallaghers.