The Friday View 11/02

Frogs are spawning; memories of the 'hut; hedgerows need planting; "Where's Me Jumper" turns 30 and today marks a milestone for Tripe + Drisheen.

🎂Tripe + Drisheen is one year old today.

One today. Image by David Crowley for T + D

JJ writes:

So, that went quickly and slowly. Tripe + Drisheen turns one today. Our first piece, a long read on dereliction, was published on this day one year ago. And we’re still here, still writing about dereliction (and much else too). In the year since, we’ve interviewed hundreds of people, published a print magazine, had multiple guest writers, covered a fair bit of ground, and likely trampled on a few toes. That we’re still here is because of a sheer determination to do journalism and because of the support from our subscribers, so thank you!

I remember interviewing someone for Tripe + Drisheen a few months after we had launched and they said in passing, something along the lines of “I wasn’t quite sure what you’re about.”

We’re a local journalism newsletter, published by two journalists, without any marketing budget or bill boards, fanfare or sponsored content. But, I think, or I hope at least, that a long the way more readers now have a better idea of what Tripe + Drisheen stands for: independent, in-depth local journalism from and about Cork.

So here’s to another year of Tripe…and Drisheen.

Feel free at any stage to drop Ellie or me a line with news, tips or to tell us what you think of T+D. And please, tell your friends to sign up. See details at the bottom of the newsletter on our special subscription promotion.

Onwards!

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Memories of the ‘Hut’ (and the underground)

A confederacy of bus men outside the ‘hut’ on St. Patrick’s Street in the 1960s/70s. Via Anthony Barry archive

There was a great reaction to last week’s long read on the bus driver’s ‘hut’ at the top of St. Patrick’s Street. This year it will be 20 years since it was removed from its position below the Statue, but many, many people in Cork (and not Cork) still recall the humble building.

A few readers subsequently contacted Tripe + Drisheen with their memories of the ‘hut’. One man told us about getting lost on Pana and ending up in the ‘hut’:

“I remember being a very young toddler with my parents walking on Patrick's St and we stopped to look in a shop window. My parents must have moved on but I stayed and when I noticed they were gone obviously I started crying. A man who must have been a bus driver took me into the Hut and the men there gave me the biggest piece of chocolate I ever saw at that time and let me on this "big black thing where someone was talking to me".

Obviously it was a phone but I was astonished by all this. What happened then was a woman saw my Mother upset and told her she had "spotted a man take a boy into The Hut". My parents arrived at the door of The Hut and collected me. We still talk about that incident.”

And one more:

“My brother used to work for CIÉ, and said that one freezing cold day so many drivers and conductors entered the hut and didn’t emerge that an American tourist thought it was an entrance to Cork’s underground railway.”

The ‘hut’, which, while it’s not much to look at is for its size it contains a significant part of Cork city’s history and heritage. It remains in the works yard at Fitzgerald’s Park and in the charge of the Parks and Recreation department of Cork City Council. Following our story two councillors said that they would be raising the status of the ‘hut’ with the council. We’ll keep you updated on what, if anything, happens to the historic little ‘hut’.

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News round up: This week on T+D

Earlier this week Ellie broke the news that any unpaid levies on the derelict buildings on North Main Street owned by the O’Connor brothers will be deducted from the eventual sale of the building.

Last week, An Bord Pleanála granted permission to Cork City Council to acquire 62-65 North Main Street by Compulsory Purchase Order. The council confirmed to Tripe +Drisheen that they will use legislation allowing local authorities to deduct dereliction levies and other costs from the Compulsory Purchase Order value. As of 2019, the outstanding levies amounted to €84,000.

Any unpaid levies on 62-65 North Main St to be deducted from cost of council acquisition

Also this week work will begin on a third access route to Tramore Valley Park, the 160-acre park on the south side of the city that was formerly a landfill site. Site clearance has begun, with construction of a bridge over the South Ring road linking Grange and Frankfield to the park. Construction is expected to be completed in early 2023.

Campaigners welcome construction of new bridge that will leave Tramore Valley Park less isolated

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History notes:

“Where’s me Jumper?” from the Sultan’s of Ping is 30 years old this year. It was released in January 1992 and reached #67 in the U.K. charts on February 8. Closer to home though the single stormed to No. 1 on Comet Records Top Ten singles chart, beating out Three (Wedding Present), Come As You Are (Nirvana), and Happy Busman (The Frank & Walters). Long live the Jumper!

Cork Zine Archive @corkzinearchive

Sultans of Ping FC Where's me Jumper? tops the Comet Records singles chart CHOC A BLOC 1992 #SultansOfPingFC #WheresMeJumper

The ‘dry’ hotel

While reading Pat Poland’s book on the history of Cork’s firefighters I came across this trivia: when The Metropole Hotel opened back in 1897 it was a temperance or ‘dry’ hotel, in keeping with the beliefs of its owners, the Musgraves, who had an aversion to alcohol. Imagine trying to turn The Metropole ‘dry’ on the Jazz weekend? Also, is that why Fr. Matthew below at the Statue looks on (in approval) towards The Metropole from his plinth?

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Image of the week

Frogs by Ellie O’Byrne

This is taken from Ellie’s long read on T+D this week. Ellie went to Ballymartle Woods in Riverstick to see why locals are campaigning against Coilte’s decision to sell some of the woodland into private ownership. You can read the piece in full below:

Seeing the woods for the trees in Ballymartle

Help plant a hedgerow in Togher

Togher Community Gardens are looking for volunteers who’d like to get stuck in and help plant a new hedgerow to promote biodiversity.

Beaumount Quarry cleanup

Cork Nature Network are organising a cleanup of Beaumount Quarry in Blackrock on Sunday, February 13. It’s the first community cleanup of the quarry since the pandemic and there is much work to be done. They’re looking for volunteers to come along on Sunday for an hour or two. Gloves, bin and litter pickers will be provided. Meeting point is by the green area in Beaumont Drive at 11 a.m. More information here.

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Out + About

🎭 I saw Sarah Goode with the Devil…..

Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible casts a spell for a quick two-night run at the Everyman next week: the BOLT productions play has a stunning trailer you can view above.

Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 February at 7.30pm. Tickets here.

🚶‍♂️The Abolitionist Trail

The inaugural walking tour of the “Cork Abolitionists Trail” will take place this Sunday (Feb 13) and will be led by. Dr. Laurence Fenton, author of Frederick Douglass in Ireland. Douglass was an enslaved Black man who escaped from bondage in 1838 and settled with his family in Massachusetts. He left America in the summer of 1845 fearing that we would be persecuted on the publication of his autobiography. He travelled through Ireland and Britain and spent about a month in the summer of 1845 in Cork.

The walking tour will explore the locations where Douglass, an abolitionist leader, suffragist, writer and human rights activist spoke and lived in Cork City. Free to attend, but sign up required. More information here.

There’s also an exhibition about the life of Douglass in the City Library on Grand Parade as well as a series of talks about his legacy and travels taking place all this week. Full programme of events here.

🖼Can you hear me Damo?

It’s the last weekend to see Anne-May Tabb’s first solo exhibition at the Vision Centre on North Main Street. It’s a whimsical exploration of the quotidian and makes charming use of found items. More information here.

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📚What we’re reading

From the public library: The Old Brigade by Pat Poland. A history of Cork’s firefighters from 1900 to 1950. It’s the second book by Pat on the history of Cork firefighters and the scope is narrower, but Pat is an entertaining and illuminating writer.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. It’s Lockwood’ second novel, and I (JJ) have just started. So nothing to report yet, but her pieces in The London Review of Books are nearly always great and slightly bonkers.

What Spies Do in The Dublin Review of Books about author and Limerick man Sean Bourke who was twice sent to borstal and later imprisoned for seven years in Wormwood Scrubs in London. Bourke, a cousin of Richard Harris, helped spring Soviet agent George Blake from the same prison. Film maker David Blake Knox takes up the tale in a great long read.

That’s it for this week’s round-up. Any tips, news or events you’d like to share with Tripe+Drisheen, you can contact either of us at jj.odonoghue@gmail.com or emailellieobyrne@gmail.com. We are always happy to speak to people off the record in the first instance, and we will treat your information with confidence and sensitivity. Get in touch.