The last generation of Donegal women to travel to the industrialised city of Glasgow in search of work in the late 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s.

In ‘Saol Úr In Albain’, Bridget McGee, Nan Smullen, Nancy Gallagher, Mary McGinley, Maighréad Bn Úi Ghallchóir, Rose McGeady, Margaret Coyle, Maire Rua Gallagher, Annie Greene and Margaret O’Malley take us on the nostalgic journey of their lives. In the industrialised era of the 1940’s and 50’s, these teenage girls from Donegal travelled ‘over by’ to Glasgow to find work in domestic service, on Glasgow’s trams or buses and in factories. Each story is an individual experience, but collectively they retell of a bygone era in Donegal history and it’s second home of Glasgow.

The programme begins with the women setting off on their journey to Glasgow, travelling steerage passage with the cattle on the Derry boat to an unknown fate. They vividly recount their arrival in Glasgow, from finding work to making a home for themselves in Glasgow’s impoverished and notorious Gorbals’ tenements. As they carved out a new life for themselves, the women found that it was the strong Irish community and the socialable side of Glasgow life that got them through the hard times.

A documentary by Imagine Media Productions

With thanks to Éimhín Ó Dunaigh at Conradh na Gaeilge, Glaschu

This is a Govanhill Baths Irish History Group event. All are welcome!

Description supplied by the event organiser.