Family Fortunes: I took a fall for Pope John Paul in 1979
The pope was going to fly over our house, my granny had told me
Family Fortunes: When Goatie and the kids went to the bog
Goatie lived at the back of our house, came on holiday with us and is now buried in the bogland
Family Fortunes: A christening robe that has been on the go since 1918
As many as 50 children have been christened in the family heirloom
Family Fortunes: Christmas memories awakened by the Odlums owl
I loved the little owl because he looked as excited as I was at the prospect of fuss, a big bowl to lick and rich smells
Family Fortunes: All the fun of the coffin factory
The mention of a coffin factory may conjure up ghoulish images, but I had a great time working there
Family Fortunes: My unusual grandaunt’s pink bloomers
I’ll never forget the day Katie, a non-driver, took off in my mother’s Cortina
Family Fortunes: ‘Up to my 20s I saw myself as a bad person’
I was thinking of passing an old prayer book on to my granddaughter, but then I read it
Family Fortunes: An outhouse in the pre-flush days
Our outside toilet was a ‘tippler’ – when it did tipple, it was with a roar of rushing water that scared the living daylights out of any poor wretch who happened to be sitting on it
Family Fortunes: my father, the Walt worshipper
He was word-perfect on every song, and particularly loved Gaston from Beauty and the Beast
Family Fortunes: Granny Nancy has kept us all young
My grandmother’s sharp tongue and quick wit are forces to be reckoned with
Family Fortunes: My father’s little brown envelope
In the first of a new series on family nostalgia, a reader remembers the little brown envelope her father brought home every Friday and what it meant to their dinner table
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