Cricklewood Craic

[Music] Frank O'Reilly from County Cav in Ireland a well-known character songwriter and artist Tony dley Ireland carry if people saw this now on television they say yeah pull the other one you're too smart for that o' Donald I would say hang on there a minute I'm giving you as I see it an ordinary simple laborer just got smart that was all that's all it has to be I suppose I'm here close 40 years mie yeah and then I came to cradlewood where did I come because there was no work in Ireland that's the reason and there was no money there either there was nothing in Ireland no nothing they all left we all left because of sheer poverty so I was damn lad to come back here and there was plenty work here and I worked in sites always and ever as a laborer I could also Drive machines and that which I did on occasions in s bu I didn't go in for that work I went in for the laboring work you know relief Drive I driveing a crane i' have to climb up about uh 300 ft pull me 22 stone up just while somebody was going on a tea break so i' climb up one up to ground one give him a tea bre and when he'd come up then I'd have to go down and I'd have to run up two then I'd have to come down it and then run up three then it's time for me to have a bite eat myself then I start 1 two and three again this was going on all day so I stayed for about 3 days at it I think I lost three stone in the first three days days them days are gone it's just the way it was at the time that's the way it was to get up in the morning there shove themselves into a n van most them didn't know where they were going you know you could finish up in Birmingham centries Bon down the South End you had no choice Fierce heart men were working 12 14 15 hours you know loads of men would be on a bus some of them were on lures where there was no canopy so if you imagine a frosty morning the middle of February 7° below and you're you're you're and you're in a lurry going along a motw I mean at 40 mph you were frozen before you could say Bob was your uncle you were like frozen peas they had the hard times in the 50s there was no kind of redundancies there was no like bonuses and there was no overtime there was no holiday money these things never existed you know all that went into somebody's back pocket like you know higher up in the echelons of the construction you were on your own you know there was no unions or anything like that You're simply on your own you could be going to a job in the morning be fired that afternoon you're not leg to stand on I always knew if I was going to be sacked in the morning you w never sacked you just let you the job wrapped up you were wrapped up you were gone well you'd always have another job not like now you might be day out or something like that but that it be all you just go to the pub and you'll see somebody inside know what I mean the ND and the wink and the ND you things like that you know job the next morning no problem well it was easy to find work God alighted the Christ I can go I I can go down to you know I could I could go to China tomorrow morning in Beijing and if I met an Irishman I can guarantee you I get work in two minutes so that's just the answer for you whether it be in Alaska North America South America anywhere the Irish of that kind of I don't know we just whatever where you you yeah it's like going into a pub anywhere in the planet is it you know if you met an Irish man it wouldn't be nothing new most of the Irish finished up in in the weekends in cricklewood in pubs there's nothing but pubs at the weekend that's where they all met the crown the crown Hotel the crown across the road there was a very well-known place it was great for the Irish music at the [Applause] [Music] weekends the mantain years ago if he came from Ireland that you were never in cricklewood Broadway if you weren't in the crown now you see fight every fight minister no problem to the cash checks even cash checks in the crown one time years ago we get paid an envelop in cash a the time sometimes a check some of the pubs we cash the checks up a Friday evening you know they couldn't wait wait for it to clear in the bank they have to pay 10 or 20 30 qu and get a cash right away you see there were very strict spots at that time they really want to know the firm that you were working for before they cash your check and they us have NES up in their pubs to to the effect of the firms that the would cat for they look on the list there and uh some of the list may have a red pen put through or so they say sorry we're not cashing them checks at the moment you know then it's time to start looking for a different job isn't it keep the check as a souvenir your last job [Music] there was 19 Halls dance Irish dance halls in London alone when I came here in ' 87 and the last one closed there a couple of years ago the galtymore just straight across the road from us there from all over the Hall of Ireland from the north to the South to the east to the west to the provinces whatever you like they were all there going to a dance or something like that [Music] the pack with Irish Saturdays Sundays every night of the week to'd be opened packed out inside now it is closed that's all God I do when I was young was around chasing girls and dancing but right to off for that though but however there was the chi Cafe on the corner there L got rest would open at 6:00 in the morning and uh the people would all bust in and they would all make a queue up and have our tea and sandwich and um there'd be as many more human outside the door out onto the topad now there's no one of them people they're not about at all now they're not in the buildings anyway that's the story and you don't see an Irish person at all now there loot of Irish people here everybody working that was able to work and money was very good that time but it's completely and to totally God now it was 90% Irish here that time and 10% foreigners now it's uh it's 10% Irish and 90% foreigners it's chill road if you ever go there and watch it it's it's marvelous all polls bosnians Romanians every nationality are looking for work and the stay there until one 2:00 in the day looking for a shift and if you go there Saturday Sunday to C there and see and work really home and they're all under the ground in the last 15 20 years because CR was full of Irish there's no doubt about it my God Almighty were the good days though [Music]

Channel: fairplanetproduction

Views: 429,713

Keywords: Cricklewood, Craic, Kilburn, Irish, London, Construction, Folk Music, Conway 3, Christy Moore, McAlpine's Fusiliers

Id: 2IE7OYQwsHs

Length: 8min 23sec (503 seconds)

Published: Thu May 24 2012