Katrina Creighton’s Mum and Dad came here
in 1956. Her Dad, Harry, was from Abbeyleix in the midland part of Ireland, and
her Mum, Molly (Clarke) was from
Drogedha. Her brother Bobby came here first in 1955 when he was 18. He was on his
way to Liverpool with a friend and his friend wanted to meet somebody here in
Leicester, another friend. This friend said, “There’s loads of work in
Leicester. Why don’t you stay here?” So he did.
Bobby’s other sister, Marie, and
girlfriend, Deidre, soon followed and they lived in a flat on Mere Rd. At the
time there were notices up saying "No blacks, No dogs, No Irish". They all found
jobs and Bobby worked for Frears biscuits and his sister worked for Imperial
typewriters on East Park Rd.
In 1955 Katrina’s parents decided to move
here. She and her Mum arrived first while her dad stayed in Ireland to wind
things up.
“I don’t think my Dad really wanted to come
but my brother and sister were here so they were writing and coming back. They
came back for a visit and I remember my sister bought me a load of sweets,
English sweets which I thought was great, different. But I think he was kind of a bit reluctant to
come over.”
They stayed with her Mum’s friend’s cousin
who they’d not met before in a house near Frog Island. It was two up two down
and she remembers it didn't have a bathroom. It had an outside courtyard containing a
block of three toilets which was shared by all the other houses. She remembers
a very large wooden toilet seat that was squared and they smelt awful!
"I went to Slater St School. Coming
from a girls’ convent and being taught by the nuns I was so shocked when a boy
said he wanted to kiss me-the joys of being eight! I soon decided I didn’t like
Leicester. We left what was a Corporation house in those days in Crumlin in Dublin,
which was a semi with a large garden and an upstairs bathroom and a huge green
with loads of kids to play with so I missed all that –it was horrible. I hated
coming here. “
 |
| St. Peter's Rd |
When her Dad arrived about a month later the
family rented a bedsit on St Peter’s Rd. It was a large Victorian house. They
had one room with two single beds, a table, a chair and a sideboard. They had to
share the bathroom with three other sets of people.
 |
| Medway School, St. Stephen's Rd. |
“My Mum and Dad slept in one bed and my
sister and I slept in the other. Dad got us an electric ring for Mum to cook on
and we washed up in the bath. I changed schools and started Medway Junior School
and I remembered I hated it. My family all had work and saved every penny so
that they could buy their own house. I remember the estate agent, I think it
was Henley and Son, Mr. Henley, lending me Dad fifty pounds to put into his
account so he could get a mortgage to purchase the house, our first house. He
was ever so kind. Me Dad never forgot that.”
The
next house was on Cottesmore Rd. It was cheap and disgusting. Katrina remembers
it was damp, it had cockroaches and silverfish and the family had to go back to
all sleeping in one room. It took them six months and several fumigations to
make it habitable before it was fit to live in but resulted in her Mum
having a breakdown. She changed schools again, this time to Sacred Heart on
Mere Rd.
She liked living on Cottesmore Rd; made friend with
the local kids and the teachers at school were nice.
“There were two nuns who taught us; they
were nothing like the ones in Ireland. I was always getting the cane there. I
was hopeless. I couldn’t do the work, only later to discover I was dyslexic and
I was always talking. “
 |
| East Park Rd WMC |
She remembers
“ We shopped in Green Lane Rd, Paddy’s Swag
shop. They sold everything-a kid’s dream. My parents went to East Park Rd Working
Men’s Club on a Saturday night and I remember going there many times, watching
the acts and eating mushy peas and vinegar. Meanwhile my eldest brother Harry
and his new wife who had remained in Dublin decided to join us here in
Leicester a year later. They lived with us and Harry soon got a job at the BSUM
British Shoe Company, Belgrave Rd. They saved and rented a house on Prospect
Hill. A year later my sister-in law’s whole family moved over.
She was the eldest of nine-they all lived around the Charnwood St. area. That’s
the Houlihans.”
 |
| Prospect Hill |
 |
| Prospect Hill |
Harry returned to Ireland in fifty-nine.
He’d made enough money to set up a business and he lives in Ichicore and
celebrated his eightieth birthday last October.
Katrina’s father first worked at the Post
Office and then he was a cobbler so he probably went to work in a shoe factory.
He was the first one in the country to set up a “Heel Bar” in Lewis’. He was possibly working for Steadman’s. He worked for them and they asked him
to do it. He did key cutting as well which was a new thing. She remembers him
going down to London to set one up.
"The Wrafters are quite talented artists
and musicians. Grandad was a musician and he had an audition and was accepted at
the London School of Music but his wife wouldn’t let him go. He taught
music all around Ireland but that sort of talent has moved to the grand
daughters now and they’re all kind of like musicians. It’s amazing, and also one of his brothers
was an artist and my brother in Ireland he plays the trumpet and he is a
fantastic musician so that’s passed to him. Unfortunately he’s deaf now.”
One of her uncles went to New York; "well
he went to Canada and legally went to America, illegally went to America like
they did. They’d just crossed over the border but he could never leave America ‘cos
he couldn’t get back in. So that’s Paddy. “
Wrafter with a W is unusual name and
Katrina has started a group on Facebook called
“Name Wrafter” to see how many Wrafters were out there. She has around one hundred and forty in Canada, America, Australia.
“Name Wrafter” to see how many Wrafters were out there. She has around one hundred and forty in Canada, America, Australia.
“I had actually cousins who’d never met but
worked out their family trees. It’s been really interesting because most
Wrafters are an R.”
She feels there was nowhere to play in
Leicester… “There was nowhere, we just played in the street whereas in Dublin
we went from, it was a Corporation House. They were clearing the slums in the
middle of Dublin so built all these new housing estates after the war. It was a
really nice area. It’s still there now and I go visiting sometimes. But there
was a big, massive big green you know to a little kids it was massive and it
was just full of grass and they just mowed it and we used to...I remember going
round and round on me scooter with all my friends, loads of kids, typical
Dublin and I loved it there, it was lovely.”
Coming to Leicester was very different.
“Well you’d got no friends. I mean we had
that awful house we went to the first sort of month, I think it was or three
weeks, it was horrible. We lived with that woman and she, we didn’t know her, her
and her son. He was a bit older than me, and the four of us slept in one bed
when we first came over and you think well, they’re strangers! And she had a lodger, he slept in the other
room.”
 |
| Imperial Typewriters. |
In terms of anti-Irish feeling she
remembers..
“ The only time was when the IRA started
their bombing. And my Mum used to go the Conny club near where they lived, near
Cottesmore Rd, Uppingham Rd way, Worcester Rd. They used to go to the
Conservative Club even though my Dad always voted Labour. Anyway, when the
bombing started they had a go at her and she was absolutely devastated, they
were like her friends. People said horrible things to her, took her a long
while to go back. That’s the only prejudice we’ve ever come across. Quite a
close community aren’t we really.”
“Me Mum loved Leicester. She said Leicester
was good to her and her family and she wouldn’t hear anybody say anything bad
about Leicester. The streets were clean, you know, she, she fitted in very
well. “
Thanks to Colin Hyde for the modern day photos: East Midlands Oral History Archive
Thanks to Colin Hyde for the modern day photos: East Midlands Oral History Archive
If you'd like to be involved in The Irish in Leicester project contact us on 0116 276 9186
or pop in to: The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB or Duffy's, Pocklington's Walk, Leicester, LE1 6BU
We're now also on Twitter: follow me on @irishleicester or join The Irish in Leicester group on Facebook.
or pop in to: The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB or Duffy's, Pocklington's Walk, Leicester, LE1 6BU
We're now also on Twitter: follow me on @irishleicester or join The Irish in Leicester group on Facebook.
Click here to view a map of The Irish in Leicester.
