-
-
Author: Denise McNamara
~ 2 minutes read
Former standup comedian and sociology lecturer PJ McKeown has written the first volume of his autobiography about growing up In Manchester with a terrifying Galway mother in the most multicultural square mile in all of Europe.
‘My Generation: The Memoirs of a Second-Generation Irish Wimpy Kid’ is certainly not a memoir told through rose-tinted glasses.
“When it comes up in conversation about my roots, I nearly always hear the same irritating stuff. ‘Galway – oh, that is a beautiful place.’
“Well, Galway is Ireland’s second largest county, and the part of east Galway that my mum comes from is far from a scenic beauty spot. It is a run-of-the-mill agricultural location. It’s a nice enough place that I had great holidays in, visiting my relatives, but most of my relatives emigrated out of there.
“Why? Because it’s a quiet rural unemployment blackspot, not the desolate beauty of the hills rolling towards the windswept west coast,” he writes.
His mother Mary White emigrated like all six of her siblings from Windfield, near Moylough in East Galway. Her maternal grandfather was Patrick White and grandmother Bridgette Dempsey, who used to regularly send him £1 notes in Manchester.
“I thought that summers in Galway were great. We learned to make haystacks, collect eggs from the henhouse, milk cows, snag turnips. One day, I caused a stir by disappearing on the farm and Ellen found me fast asleep on top of a haystack.”
Those trips were a welcome respite from a turbulent home in Cheetham where the matriarch ruled the roost by a very violent hand.
“She had a fiery temper and would beat lumps out of us when we were kids for the smallest of things (and in my case, some pretty big things). She battered teenage daughters, teenage sons, and grown sons-in-laws and annoying neighbours. She was a powder keg. You learned at an early stage to curl up in a ball,” he writes.
Caption: PJ McKeown.
Read the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune:
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
More like this:
Social housing on a rental basis is not part of the plan as Údarás na Gaeltachta continue efforts to provide housing for Gaeltacht Irish Speakers.
This article first appeared on Galway Bay FMÚdarás na Gaeltachta is continuing efforts to find me...
Michael Fitzmaurice says Storm Eowyn turned "Eamon Ryan's dream into a nightmare"
This article first appeared on Galway Bay FMThe impact and devastation of Storm Eowyn turned "Eam...
Widow of rugby legend Anthony Foley to address Galway Novena on grief
This article first appeared on Galway Bay FMOlive Foley, widow of rugby legend Anthony Foley is t...
Heartwarming Grandparents’ Day celebration at Craughwell National School
There were proud grandparents aplenty back in primary school for just one day, as Craughwell Nati...
Roadshow rolls into Galway to show how to upgrade energy efficiency
Local communities and construction professionals across Galway are being offered free training an...
Culture vultures flock to events across the west
Culture vultures in the west are almost twice as likely to have attended a dedicated arts festiva...
Local TD questions Taoiseach on "silence" from ESB on storm compensation
This article first appeared on Galway Bay FMA local TD has questioned the Taoiseach on the "silen...
Novena crowds will flock again to Galway Cathedral
Final preparations are in place for Galway Cathedral’s 41st Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help,...
Marine Institute figures reveal impact of Storm Éowyn as it arrived off the west coast
The reality of the impact of Storm Éowyn on the west coast is graphically illustrated in statisti...