74 Dronfield St.

 Kathleen, Brian (a friend Brenda Cree ) and Judith Flynn on the step of 74 Dronfield St. 1952.

Judith Hubbard’s father, Timothy Flynn from Roscommon, first came over to Birmingham where he worked on the railway.

Mary Cunningham, from Port Laois, had come to Birmingham too: Mary’s dad had died and there were possibly too many mouths to feed with no money coming in to the house-so she came to England.

Timothy and Mary married in 1939 and moved over to Kettering where their daughter, Judith, was born in 1941. They moved to Leicester in 1942 and found a terraced house, 74 Dronfield St , through someone Timothy worked with. 

During the war Timothy signed up with the British Army and was based at Catterick but Mary and Judith stayed in Leicester. Three more children, Timothy, Kathleen and Brian were born in Dronfield St. after the war and Mr and Mrs Flynn lived there all their lives.

The children went to Sacred Heart and Judith remembers the Headmistress, Sister LLoyola, Miss Veal and Miss Burkett. She also remembers Father Murdoch, Father Henry and Sister Gemma.

Judith later went to Moat, Brian to City of Leicester and Kathleen, Corpus Christi.

Mary worked at John Bull, Evington Valley Rd.

Judith remembers many, many shops around where she lived:

Norton’s  a haberdashery shop on the corner of Eggington and Dronfield St. and an off licence on the opposite corner called Ward’s.

Mrs. Deacon’s was a general grocer’s store at the 3^rd corner of the crossroad where they would cut the butter to size and weigh out the sugar.

The Finnegan’s had The Dew Drop Inn, Laxton St.

Winterbottom’s Grocery Shop was at the top of Dronfield St. on a corner with Mere Rd.

Houghan’s Greengrocer’s, an electrical shop called Buttons and a newsagent were also part of the strip of shops at the top of Dronfield St.

There was a sweet shop in middle of the street, Frank’s. When sweets were rationed she remembered him slicing up a Mars bar to share between the family. This shop keeper donated ice lollies for the Coronation Day celebrations on the street.

Judith remembers:

Kathleen and Maureen Larkin,

Pauline Everett,

Brother and sister, Marie and Tommy Kebill,

Nora Lee, who lived opposite Sacred Heart and Nora O’Gorman, who lived next door to her.

Who and where do you remember?

If you'd like to be involved contact us on 0116 276 9186 or pop in to:
The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB

Click here to view a map of The Irish in Leicester.

Myrtle Rd

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.

If you'd like to be involved contact us on 0116 276 9186 or pop in to: 

The Emerald Centre, Gipsy Lane, Leicester. LE5 OTB

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.