Ann O'Neill & Billy O'Brien
On August 4th 2018 , the Togher Historical Association caught up with a former resident of The Cutting , now sadly consigned to memory in Togher. Billy O'Brien had the privilege of interviewing Ann O'Neill ( nee Sisk ) in Ballincollig and archiving her life story of which only a small portion is being committed to the blog.
Ann's house on left as seen from Mrs. O'Sullivan's yard
Ann Sisk was born in 1948 and lived in the last house of three to the rear of The Cuttings. Her siblings include Denis , Barry ( who passed away at 6 months old ) , Alan ( who passed on ) , Colum , Frank ( who passed on ) , Valerie, and Bernie/Theresa. She attended Togher National School from 1953 to 1961 in the old School which now serves as the Community Centre. Her two Principals during her time there were Mrs. McCarthy who was succeeded by Ms. McSwiney.
Ann Sisk - Communion 1955
Ann has many fond memories of growing up in Togher which ranged from
playing by the Liberty Stream and running along the Railway Track and
teasing the chickens to the rear of Birdie's house ( now front part of
Scout Hall ) and darting quickly under the Snotty Bridge on Lehenaghmore Hill in order to avoid the drips. Ann has always identified herself as a railway kid with
the line running parallel to the rear of her home. She was also present
during the lifting of the Macroom track in 1955 along with other children who
marveled at the spectacle. The event was captured for posterity by a reporter from the Railway Bridge at the time ( photo shown above ). The photo below shows the family in the early 1960s outside the family home in The Cuttings and was taken by Ann's Brother , Denis. All attended Togher National School , with the younger Girls studying at the newly opened Girls National School after 1961 ( now home to Foroige ).
Rear: Colum , Alan , Front : Ann ( Valerie on lap ) ,
Bernie/ Theresa ( on Mrs. Sisk's lap ) , Frank
Bernie/ Theresa ( on Mrs. Sisk's lap ) , Frank
Ann recounts the following event from her school days in the old National School :
" I lived around corner from the school , but was always last in ( not late ). One day in a hurry I ran off to school and realised I had forgotten to put on my knickers. I was about 6 years old. I was in the horrors and told the teacher. She was shocked , ( this was late 1950's ) and told me to stand out in the back ( this was a space between the two class rooms ). I was a small thing with all these eyes on me , so I ran home. My Mother was very protective of me being the only girl at the time. She put on my underwear and actually marched me down to the school. She called the teacher out so as not to upset the girls. I don't know what was said , but when Mum had gone , the teacher got my sack and turned it upside down. She took my beloved scrap book which was full from relations , told me to pick up my stuff and I wasn't going to see that book again! I didn't tell Mum as I felt I was a very bad girl. But I cried inside when the girls were playing with theirs. I know this sounds silly , but as I got older I looked in secondhand bookshops for it..... "
Ann Sisk outside home in 1960s
Colum Sisk ( Centre ) with Togher A.C.
1967 in Coffey's Field
Frank Sisk , another Brother of Ann's went on to join the Army and originally moved into the N.B.A. scheme before finally settling in Ballyphehane with his Wife , Mary. Sadly he passed away in 2000. Ann remembers him as a fun child who was easy to mind and full of love.
Ann started a romantic relationship in the late 1960s with Paul O'Neill who came from Maymount on Friar's Walk. Ann takes up the story :
Frank aged 6
Frank Sisk ( left holding darts ) in Ardmanning Pub 1980s
Frank Sisk in later years
" I was at a match in Turners Cross in 1969. On the way out I looked down to the pitch and just then this fellow looked right at me , as if no one else was there. That night I went to a dance on the number 14 bus to the Stardust and he was there. He asked me to dance , and we have been together since. "
She always remembers being walked home with Paul stopping on the Railway Bridge until she had safely arrived indoors and blowing kisses to each other and not leaving until he saw her attic light come on. Ann left Togher in 1970 eventually settling in Ballincollig where she lives to this day. She was married at the Parish Church in the Lough in 1971.
Ann at gate of House mid 1960s
Ann inside front room of home 1968
Ann Sisk 1969
Ann Sisk & future husband Paul O'Neill 1969
outside her home. Daly's Cottage in background
outside her home. Daly's Cottage in background
Valerie and Theresa Sisk outside Cuttings
Paul O'Neill with Theresa , Valerie & Mr. John Sisk
inside Sisk family home at The Cuttings 1970
Ann mentions that her parents were married in 1938 and like all couples were very much in love. John Sisk who was born in the Cuttings first began seeing Theresa Allen who lived with her sisters in the family home on Doughcloyne Hill. Sadly that house was only recently demolished. Their relationship was not looked on favourably and Theresa decided to leave home and eventually settled in the Sisk house on The Cuttings. After marrying , John's mother Honora continued to live in the house with many improvements and extensions being added on over the course of time. Fate would have it that as time wore on and the Bridge was demolished , plans by developers were in place to build a future motorway which meant the forced sale of the family home. Ann's parents moved out in 1981 and into Sandown Crest.
Sisk family home circa 1983 shortly before demolition
Mrs. Honora Sisk , Ann's Grandmother
who was the owner of the house in The Cuttings
who was the owner of the house in The Cuttings
in early 1960s
Ann further recounts the following memories from her days in the Cutting and her life in general and that of her Family:
" ....My Dad had cancer of the eye when young and had use of only one eye and so never owned a car. He used to take me to mass in Wilton up the train track and over a tree
trunk of Glasheen River.
....My Aunt Crissie Allen ( see photo above ) , loved her , she took me every where. I waited on the steps in the cutting for her every Wednesday when she visited mum.
....One time when I was very young , my two brothers were messing with a pellet gun and shot me across my eyebrow. I still have a piece of the pellet there. When my Dad found out , he smashed the gun off our front wall. It wasn't even ours!
....We would sneak in through the hedge from the Railway track to see the match in the Barrs instead of going up Dineen's Lane and paying.
....My Dad , he kept the steps in good condition in the Cuttings through weeding and cleaning. One day after working on it , he said to my sister and Mary Cronin , that he felt he had lost 5 pounds that day. When he had gone up home , Bernie/ Theresa and Mary Cronin spent the rest of the day looking for it! haha. That was about 50 years ago. The innocence back then.
....When I was very young, most of the Togher families got together in the Barrs playing field , and the women brought soft drinks and biscuits etc. for us children , and we'd sing and dance and play in front of a huge fire , the men talking sport and the women exchanging gossip, when it was time for the children to go home , the women would clean up, and we'd all head off leaving the men to doing their thing, and seeing to the fire , no fighting, just the one night we all met up.
....Next to my old school was Miss O's shop ( red door ). At lunch time she would bring out packets of biscuits to sell to us over the wall. She would open the pack slowly and sell a biscuit for half a penny. If anyone wanted change she would stroll back into the shop for it.
....I loved Mrs. O though through the years , I would wait in her little shop , for the bus or a date. I loved the smell of the heater she had. There was a very high wall between her shop and her farm house so I would stay if she wanted something from the house. The shop wouldn't always be open as she got older. So we would knock on a little high window and God love her , she would go down to the shop for us , never said no. It was from that window we got our milk every day. Would you believe , I never knew if they were married or brother and sister. Never saw him out and about , only in the farm yard. Our front gate was next to the farms gate, and the cows used to gather there at times , and the smell of manure! When my uncle Jim Allen went blind from shingles , his sense of smell was intensified! But I won't repeat what he would say! My Dad never used bad language!
....Jim lived at Mams own home. David Allen was their Dads name. It was the first house up in Spur Hill. It was beautiful then , beautiful gardens , large orchard , but when Jim died , it went to bits. David his son had no interest in gardening , and Frank had married and lived elsewhere.
....When my Mam fell in love with my Dad ( he was a handsome man and a gentleman ) her father disowned her because he was just working in Dunlop , so my poor Mam came from money to a cottage. She was a wonderful Mother , 7 of us, and she wouldn't let us lift a finger , fire lighting every morning before we got up , never saw our clothes line without a line of sheets , after she kneeling on the kitchen floor washing them over a tin bath , which she had to fill from dozens of hot water kettles of water , and so sad we all took it for granted , but we cared for her after we all got married , still not enough though...."
Mr. John Sisk outside
Lough Church 1920s
Mr. Sisk outside home in The
Cuttings circa mid 1970s
Ann , Valerie , Theresa ( Bernie ) & Colum 2019
The Blog would like to thank most sincerely the entire Sisk Family for their contributions to this article. A whole world which many had never even known existed in Togher has finally been brought back to life. So next time you walk over the Togher Overpass bridge , just think that many moons ago , a thriving community full of hopes and dreams and laughter once dwelt there!
Sisk Family gathering 1990s
