Life on the Abbeydale Estate
NextBackAbbeydale estate was a melting pot of humanity containing Scots, Irish, Welsh, a sprinkling of Poles, even a few German prisoners of war employed at digging trenches and laying pipes, who would not be repatriated till 1947, they wore recycled brown dyed battledresses with a white roundel on the back and lived in a compound somewhere nearby. There was a strong community ethos on the estate, a centrally located community centre overlooked a sports field and each weekend dances and concerts were held in the centre. My mother did not dance but went each weekend for a glass of Advocaat and a chat with her neighbour Mrs Ganavan. Mary Canavan was a kindly woman with a large family but a strong' Irish Republican and at the drop of a hat would launch into a diatribe against the British Government and given enough time would recount the whole history of Ireland from the famine to the death of Micheal Collins. My mother liked her but had not the faintest idea what she was talking about.
