Kitty
Shields and Don Nolan were both from Dublin: Kitty,
Ardee St/Watkins Sq and Don, The Realto/James Walk. Don was Kitty’s brother’s friend and they
married on Dec 28 1963. Kitty had been 21 on Oct 5.
Don had been over to London before but Kitty
“came as bride” when they flew back the day after they were married. Kitty’s
brother George was already living in Leicester on Melbourne St.
Kitty and Don first lived at 444 East Park
Rd and paid £4 7/6 rent. Don was first working at Dunlop earning around £12 a week and continued at John Bull, Evington Valley Rd.
They had a flat on the bottom floor of a 3
storey house. Everyone shared a bathroom on the landing. She remembers her
neighbour Dorothy.
Kitty had two children here, Margaret and
Shaun, and moved to a flat at 37 Myrtle
Rd when Shaun was 6 months old.
George and his wife, Nelly, moved into no.35
when they told them there was a vacancy. They had an end terraced and shared a
back garden
Kitty remembers that many people paid rent
to a landlord whose office was on Peacock Lane. She also remembers a family of
local doctors on Regent Rd: old Dr. Lenten, born and trained in Ireland: his
nephew Dr. Peter (Lenten) and finally Peter’s son Jonathon who was known as “Jewish
Jonathon.” Peter was also the doctor for Leicester City Boxers.
In 1966 the family moved to a terraced
house on 5
St. Saviour’s Rd and stayed there for 10 yrs.
By 1974 there were eligible for a house
from the Council as Shaun was 11 and having to share with his sister. The
council moved them to a house on St. Saviours Estate which they later bought.
Kitty remembers taking the children to
Wesley Hall, Mere Rd, to have the babies weighed and to get supplies of orange
juice and rose hip syrup.
Kitty would shop at the Co-op on East Park
Rd and a supermarket on Eugene Rd but would mainly walk into town to the
market.
She remembers Mary Considine on St.
Saviours Rd and they would meet when talking the kids to school. Kitty’s
children went to Sacred Heart and then either The Convent/St. Paul’s and
English Martyrs.
She remembers getting a china cabinet from
a shop on Cork St, nr East Park Rd and somehow managing to get it home with Don.
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