Mayo memories: The vast outdoors was our playground in the 1950s

By Tom Gillespie

PLAYING Cowboys and Indians, as these two young lads in the photograph are enjoying, is completely alien to youngsters today. Instead many modern day youngsters prefer to be incarcerated indoors with their heads down at their tablet or mobile phone screens.

The whole question on the amount of time children are allowed screen time is rather controversial.

But it is universally accepted that they would be better off outdoors enjoying the fresh air and participating in some fun and games.

When I was growing up in the 1950s the vast outdoors was our playground, particularly during school holidays. From early morning to late evening we played Cowboys and Indians. We climbed trees, discovered birds nests, explored the woods, robbed orchards and learned to swim in Lough Lannagh in Castlebar and also how to cycle.

While still at St. Patrick’s National School I got a job as a messenger boy at Kelly’s Ladies Wear on Main Street - today the premises is an outlet for vapes.

I had a three-evening week after school - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. My tasks were to bring buckets of turf to the kitchen for the Kelly sisters. Once a week I had the task of burning the waste cardboard packaging from the shop. This took place at the end of their garden, which stretched back as far as the Convent of Mercy.

On a Wednesday and Friday I had to cycle to Gavin’s Bakery at the top of Knockthomas to get a small batch white loaf for the sisters. This was no ordinary loaf as they required a black crust on the top of it. This was achieved by putting the loaf back into the large oven for a few minutes.

Originally when I started as messenger boy I did not have a bicycle. But by saving the 10 shillings I got paid every week it was not long until I was able to go to Bourke’s Bicycle Shop on Ellison Street and purchase a brand new bike.

The arrival of this new transport opened up an exciting era and enable those of us with bikes in Marian Row, where we lived, to venture outside Castlebar and explore the surrounding countryside.

We cycled to Turlough, Ross, Pontoon, Errew, Westport, Ballyvary, Breaffy, Manulla and Balla. While the roads were narrow and winding they was very little motorised traffic to contend with.

However, the condition of the roads then were not great and we encountered severe punctures. But we had planned for that and as we couldn’t afford a puncture repair kit we always carried a ball of string with us. The trick was to remove the punctured tube and tie a piece of string on each side of the puncture, put it back in the tyre and inflate it, and off we went.

But getting back to playing Cowboys and Indians, the Sunday matinee in the County Cinema on Spencer Street usually dictated what roles we played while enacting the Western scenes we had encountered at the matinees.

Baynes’ Hill opposite Marian Row and St. Bridget’s Crescent - now the Glenfort housing estate - was our prairie. A sand pit in the field often doubled as a cavalry fort and the whin bushes and tall trees were our hideouts, while the stream running through the bottom of the field was our Rio Grande.

Santa Claus was the bearer of our Cowboy and Indian outfits, complete with cowboy hats and feathered headwear, as well as our cap guns, rifles, bows and arrows, imitation daggers, tomahawks and spears.

The influence of Hollywood portrayed the Whitman as the dominant player in Westerns, so we all wanted to play the cowboy role, while those last joining the game had to be Indians, who were invariably the ‘bad guys’.

Roles of caps came with the cap gun. These were inserted in the revolver, as in photo, and when the trigger was pulled we got a tiny flash with a puff of smoke, which gave off a very distinct smell.

The downside with the caps was they easily got wet when we were out crawling in the fields and so became useless.

At the climax of most Westerns the Cavalry always came to the rescue of the ‘good guys’. While we all wanted to be part of the 7th Cavalry, it was difficult to play it out as we lacked the uniforms, despite requesting them in our letters to Santa. Apparently back then such outfits had not made their way to the North Pole.

During the summer months we fashioned our own bows and arrows. We cut hazel rods from the Rocks - now the Rockvale housing estate - and made the bows with taught string. The arrows were usually sally rods and we made several attempts to add feathered flights, but without much success.

In addition to my chores at Kelly’s I had to call in on a Sunday morning to sweep the footpath in front of the shop and to polish with Brasso the brass works on the front door.

For this I was paid an additional 1s. 6 p., which covered the price of the matinee that afternoon as well as some gobstoppers from Mai Leonard’s in Castle Street.

After the matinee it was back to Cowboys and Indians again.