Book chronicles personal reflections on city life

SOME of Cork’s best- known figures have opened their hearts to speak of their sense of place and belonging for a new book.

Fr James Good, the late Charlie Hennessy, the former principal of St Angela’s College Rosalie Moloney, veteran politician Mairín Quill, Professor John A Murphy, and Maighréad O Murchadha, wife of the late sculptor Seamus Murphy, all contributed to the book, Chronicles of Cork: An Oral Record.

Edited by Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe, it is dedicated to the late Susie Crosbie, a former librarian with the Irish Examiner.

“Our own personal geographies, combined with our individual and unique histories, form the building blocks of the people we become.

“In these chronicles, Cork is the keystone,” Ms O’Hea O’Keeffe said.

She said the people featured in the book provided vivid memories of events in their lives which “stand out in high relief on a personal inner map of Cork city and beyond”.

“A sense of place and belonging, formed and shaped by memory, is fundamental to our well-being,” she said.

“Without it we are surely lost. For the men and women whose voices may be heard in the book, this sense of place is an unbreakable thread, red and white in colour, and robustly stitched into their unique and personal histories.”

Ms O’Hea O’Keeffe has spent the last three years researching the book and recording interviews with her subjects.

They each give fascinating insights into their childhood, their early careers, the challenges and triumphs each faced and overcame and their musings and reflections on life today.

Poignantly, Mr Hennessy, a former and legendary board member of Cork Opera House, was interviewed in the Bon Secours Hospital in 2008 just a month before his death.

He recalls his love for the Opera House and how it used to be packed every Monday night.

He also speaks about his efforts to transfer it to public ownership.

* www.irishlifeandlore.com