Even at almost 100 years old, Mairead Liddy remembers well the impact of partition on her family. But in the new state of Northern Ireland, which came into being in May 1921, there was no Sunday opening. “I always say my mother never forgave the new government, because she used to look out the window and see all the people passing by. “As a Catholic family, we were lucky... when the children came, it was the 11-plus. “There were dancehalls and all the girls went, but my mother wouldn’t have allowed us,” she says.

Source: The Irish Times May 03, 2021 00:00 UTC