Bray, Co Wicklow 1954

The seaside resort of Bray is only a few miles south of Dublin and in the days before cars was easily accessible by train from Dublin on two different routes. The Dart train still goes there and thanks to improved roads is only about 15 minutes from our house in Dublin by car. In the past Dubliners often hired out a cottage for the summer and the family stayed there for a few weeks while the Father commuted to work. There were no fancy holidays to Europe in those days. In fact people used to come to Bray from Liverpool for a Summer holiday. The photo shown is from 1954 of Mum with her Mum and Auntie Nuala. Behind them you can see the wrought Iron seating which once went along the entire lenght of the sea front, sadly it is currently in a delapidated state but still intact along some of the front. Bray is nowadays a bit run down but still a day trip for many Dubliners and the coastal train ride from Dublin is still a highlight even on a cold Sunday in Winter, then on to the Promenade for a brisk walk and finally a bag of chips or an ice cream cone or both! Then as Frank says on to the "Hurdy Gurdeys'' in the Amusments. The Maguires are easily amused!

New technology, Old technology

As previously mentioned Dad worked in the Weights and Measures Department. One of his jobs involved making sure every new weighing Scales and measuring equipment worked correctly, and to this end there was several rooms in the department full of all kinds of scales, measures and all kinds of equipment. Occasionally some more exotic things came in and one was some type of camera that took colour photographs in the 1950's Dad took one picture with this camera but unfortunately the negative was some unusual format and it wasnt until recent years that Mum re found the negative and brought it to an ' Expert' shop in town. The expert could only print on to photographic paper and it still didnt look in colour. At the time 2000 I only had a scanner that didnt take slides or negatives. Scanning in negatives needs a light source on both sides of the neg. So I put the neg on the scanner and then put white paper on top and then took a table lamp to illuminate the neg and did a scan. Eventually after doing a bit of tweaking in 'Photoshop', Mums face began to appear in full colour. Mum or anyone else hadnt seen the photo before. I printed it off and Mum was delighted to see herself again from 1956. We have it in a nice frame in the Dining Room. Here is the long lost photograph thanks to a mixture of modenr technology, old technology and a little help from ''Heath Robinson School of improvisation"

Short Trips to the Northside

From a very early age I can remember being brought on a trip by Bus to our relations on the Northside of Dublin. We had 3 sets of Aunties, Uncles and Cousins, all living near the Navan Road and all lived within walking distance. More about the Navan Road gang later but our short journey was by Bus and we had to get two buses. We used to go in to town and get off in Westmorland Street. The next bus was on the Quay (River Liffey). Breaking the journey Mam always brought us to Bewleys Oriental Cafe in Westmorland Street. One of my oldest memories was being brought in beside one of the open fireplaces to warm up. Bewleys original Cafes finally closed down in 2004. The owners claiming big and mounting losses, despite the Cafes seemingly doing good business and a reputation for fairly high prices and well fairly average food. What Bewleys was really famous for was its decoration, ambience, and a nice place to meet friends over a cake and white coffee. The Cafe in Westmorland remains closed but still intact and looks relatively unchanged from the early 60's when I first visited. In the 60's the wallpaper was Chinese/Japanese in design, mainly black with red and gold birds, Pagodas etc. Dad liked the design so much that we had similar wallpaper in our dining room! Bewleys always did things slightly different. For example you could order toast with the butter melted on it. Later when they dropped this they claimed it was for hygiene reasons and also refused to serve toast after 12.00. Also they used to have their own dairy in Rathfarnham and you could have milk with extra cream as well as regular milk. Of course over the years all these quirks were dropped, waitress service was dropped, and of course prices were raised. Despite this Bewleys first went bust in the early 80's and changed hand. Dad often said how could it be possible to lose money when they must have sold at least 1,000 cups of coffee a day apart from meals and breakfasts. It must have been bad management! When the final day came I went in to town to meet one of my friends in Bewleys for one last Bewleys specials. Sausage, Egg, Beans and Chips and White Coffee and a Cream Cake. Not High Cuisine but still a treat, and I remembered all the meals I had over the years.
On the last evening RTE, the main Irish Television Station had a special programme from Bewleys in Westmorland Street. The Cafe in Grafton Street has re opened but it is run by a different company and its simply the same name but quite different inside. There still is a small coffee shop inside but the magic is gone for me. In truth the food was never the best quality, service was poor, tables and chairs always creaked and rocked. The 'complaints cards' were always useful to fix the legs of the tables.

Department of Weights and Measures

Dad worked in the Irish Civil Service. He entered the Service in 1944, and moved to Dublin. Eventually ending up in Dublin Castle. When he finally retired the Evening Herald devoted a large article to his tenure at the head of this small but busy Department. text is taken directly from the Herald article.
''The weight of time
beats Mr. Scales''
''AFTER a quarter of a century balancing the scales of the official technical officer of weights and measures, John Maguire is saying goodbye to gills, grams and gallons.
“Mr. Scales” as John is fondly called by his colleagues has been working in the weights and measures section of the Dept. of Trade, Commerce and industry since 1944.
And his colleagues showed their appreciation when Tommy McGrath, divisional head, presented John, a Kilkenny man with a finely sketched drawing of North King Street and a book on Irish Homes and Castles.
“I think I should even be in the Guinness Book of Records”, John said, “for having spent 30 years working in the same room in Dublin Castle”.
For all those years John has been quietly checking that the pint mark stamped on your glass really means a pint and that the scales in the local grocery shop are not tipped in the shopkeepers favour.
“Our job is to see fraud is not being committed against members of the public by someone using an irregular weighing machine or altering correct measures like the old case of the bar man putting his thumb in the glass when he is pouring a dash of whiskey’ said John.
While John set standard measure from his office in Dublin Castle, he also dispatched inspectors throughout the country to check shops, stores, and petrol pumps to see that the consumer always got his full pound’s worth.
“ In the case of the big thumbed barman the only thing to do is to catch him red handed or red thumbed as the case may be”, John says. And once caught he would soon find himself in court under the Scales of Justice.
John’s job has been to examine and test new weighing and measuring machines and in those years he has seen a wide variety of changes through from metrification in measurements to electronics in machinery.
“There used to be a wide diversity of measures but with the E.E.C. there has been a greater standardization of scales”. John says.

Maguire Family Portrait

My Grandad Francis Maguire, Grandma Mary Maguire, Daddy John Maguire Snr. and Auntie Maureen.

Holiday I can't remember

Can't remember this holiday, obviously if you look at the photo. I'm in Dads arms. Brother Frank is out front. Also May Murphy left and Nora Murphy. Auntie Nuala and Mrs. Appleby. Mum is missing so she must be behind camera.

Top of the World

Others may climb the Matterhorn by ropeline, the Maguires settle to go by Train! Well the Jungfraujoch anyhow. The Jungfrau Railway goes from Interlakken to almost the very top of the Eiger Mountain in Switzerland. We started of at Interlakken Ost which is a fairly small station but for Train buffs has the added attraction of having several gauges and you can see modern trains as well as vintage electric and the occasional steam. Trains leave here for Lucerne and on eventually to Italy. Also back to Bern, Geneva and the rest of Europe. It said in all the guides to pick a really sunny day and go early in the morning. Although we had Swisspasses its actually extra to go the whole journey up through the Eiger. The railway was built as a tourist railway from the beginning and possibly operates without subsidy as its a private railway, hence it costs about 80 Euro return. Sounds expensive but it depends on what you spend your money on. Some people would spend that on booze. Anyhow as it was to be the highlight of the trip and a 'once in a lifetime trip' we decided to go. Most of the trip is steeply inclined and the railway uses cogwheel or rack assistance almost the whole way to the top. The trains themselves are quite old and for viewing purposes the windows roll down, so your view is clear and you can feel the fresh air. At Kleine Scheidegg you change in to modern trains for the final climb of the journey, much of which is underground. The train climbs very slowly and as you rise in height you can see the snow appearing sparsly at first and quickly its like Winter even in June. Finally reaching the top of the railway you arrive at a station carved into the rock and you go out onto the top of the mountain via Lifts. The are signs everywhere telling you to take care to aclimatise to the high altitude and thin air. We decided to have a bit to eat first, luckily or surprisingly the Restaurant was very cheap (especially for Switzerland) despite the fact that restaurants at tops of mountains are few and far between and they usually decide to 'screw' the customer. Going out on the top of the mountain to walk on the snow is the final few steps of the journey. We posted cards at the highest Post Office in Europe and had a look at the ice sculptures carved out of the solid ice sheet. Describing the journey doesn't really go anyway to get across the experience. You just have to be there to experience it. Some of my photos go some way but really I suppose you have to be there and be a bit of a railway 'buff'. Finally some of the other Swiss Railway Journeys were as memorable, however this is Switzerland and as previously mentioned they have without doubt the best railway system in terms ofnumbers of lines, beautiful scenery, different types of railways. Another railway trip up a nearby mountain is 'nicknamed' the 'ooh and Ahh' railway due to the fantastic views which unfold around each corner and the passengers are continually amazed that each view is better than the last. That railway is the Schynige Platte railway and we left that trip for another year and a return to Switzerland.