School: Aonach Beag (roll number 14528)
- Location:
- Enagh Beg, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Dónall Ó Murchadha
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0151, Page 417
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- XML “A Halfpenny Race”
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- When I was a small boy about fifty years ago I saw two young men between the ages of twenty five and thirty years running a race of six and a half miles for a halfpenny.
Money was very scarce and hard earned in those days and the greatest amount a young labourer had in his pocket at any time was sixpence.
Pitch and Toss was a great game at that time and it was not unusual to see a score of men at this game at a cross roads on a Sunday evening in summer. Young boys also assembled and as they had no coppers they usually pitched buttons of every kind.
I will always remember an incident which occured on a particular Sunday evening which furnishes the information for my story.
It was the eve of St. John and we boys were very buy gathering fuel for the Bonfire and pitching buttons.
There was a lot of men pitching(continues on next page)
- Informant
- Anthony Barrett
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Ballinlabaun, Co. Mayo
