Dedicated to my sister's best friend Eileen Donelly

[accobra]

The one thing that everyone seems to ignore is the fact that if you were the oldest girl in a family
living in the Gorbals in the 1950 's then chance's was that you were like a little mother to the 6
or 7 younger brother and sister's.
So when I was aged 5 and opened that ground floor sash window of our tenement in the 1950's
and sneaked away with my little sister aged 4 without the knowledge of our babysitter and headed
for the sweet shop old penny in hand.
At this point there was so much responsibility on her young shoulders and it seemed so unfair.
but that is how it was back then.
About 5 minutes later when I was crossing Cumberland Street I was hit by a car and knocked
unconscious and my little sister had the good sense to rush home and tell my older sister what
had happened who was very distraught and was not aware of our absence.
She told her that I was lying in the road "making funny noises".
Iwas taken to the Victoria Infirmary and stayed for 4 or 5 days and was always told by my parents
that I was very lucky because the driver of the car was a Doctor.!!
I was not let off the hook and instead of getting an ambulance or a taxi home my mother made
sure that I would limp home from the hospital.
I'll never forget her words when she said "ya wee bugger of hell I'll teach you to climb out of windies"
My point was that the oldest girl always seemed to have so much on her shoulders and when we moved to the west side of Glasgow a few weeks later my sister found out that her best friend
Eileen Donelly had died and she was absolutely devastated on receiving this news.
Eileen would be about 68/69 now had she been alive today and my sister always seemed to carry a heavy load from that day till now. Iam sure there were many Donellys in the area. Hope i have the spelling right.

Regards Reg.

[tweedlie5]

Aw Reg that was a bitter sweet story, so typical of the time, made me feel I was there........poor Eileen

[DannyGill]

The one thing that everyone seems to ignore is the fact that if you were the oldest girl in a family
living in the Gorbals in the 1950 's then chance's was that you were like a little mother to the 6
or 7 younger brother and sister's.
So when I was aged 5 and opened that ground floor sash window of our tenement in the 1950's
and sneaked away with my little sister aged 4 without the knowledge of our babysitter and headed
for the sweet shop old penny in hand.
At this point there was so much responsibility on her young shoulders and it seemed so unfair.
but that is how it was back then.
About 5 minutes later when I was crossing Cumberland Street I was hit by a car and knocked
unconscious and my little sister had the good sense to rush home and tell my older sister what
had happened who was very distraught and was not aware of our absence.
She told her that I was lying in the road "making funny noises".
Iwas taken to the Victoria Infirmary and stayed for 4 or 5 days and was always told by my parents
that I was very lucky because the driver of the car was a Doctor.!!
I was not let off the hook and instead of getting an ambulance or a taxi home my mother made
sure that I would limp home from the hospital.
I'll never forget her words when she said "ya wee bugger of hell I'll teach you to climb out of windies"
My point was that the oldest girl always seemed to have so much on her shoulders and when we moved to the west side of Glasgow a few weeks later my sister found out that her best friend
Eileen Donelly had died and she was absolutely devastated on receiving this news.
Eileen would be about 68/69 now had she been alive today and my sister always seemed to carry a heavy load from that day till now. Iam sure there were many Donellys in the area. Hope i have the spelling right.

Regards Reg.

Hi Reg,
That was a sad tale and poor Eileen [God look over her soul], yes big family's in those far off days and the eldest daughter was like a Mother to some of her siblings. Was a great community spirit in those days Reg and if you done something "wrong" your parents would soon let you know all about it, as you said your Ma made you limp all the way home from the hospital.
Regards
Danny