Description:Pat met his wife Bridget when they got talking on the bus as she was going to mass.
She had come to England from Galway, Ireland around the same time as Pat. She worked in a typing pool for the Automobile Association, Hagley Road.
They married in 1965 @ The Oratory, Edgbaston. They began to build their family( 3 boys and 1 girl) and moved to Holyhead Rd, Handsworth were there was a large Irish migrant community.
They would visit Ireland regularly which was always expensive as your family and friends thought you wealthy-although the truth was you were often living hand to mouth.
In 1974 the IRA pub bombings in Birmingham totally affected the Irish and their perception in the City and nationally. We were ostracised.
Pat remembers his wife going to the shop to buy bread and being refused service and told to get out.
You had to be careful how you spoke- people tried to cover up their accents. You were treated roughly. Yet Irish people were very ashamed of the atrocity. I remember seeing it on TV and wishing it wasn’t true.
Even St Patrick’s Parade ceased for over ten years
People learnt to forgive but not forget- we were all labeled terroists and sympathizers. We had to regain the confidences of the people of Birmingham.