On Friday the 18th of Feb, a member of the local history society came into our class and told us about his father.
His name is Martin Kinsella. His father used to work at the railway station delivering items to the shopkeepers. He delivered items such as flour to Grahams Bakery, Guinness to the pubs and biscuits to the shops. He delivered Gateaux cakes once every 3 weeks. He also delivered eggs in a tin can and he said if you looked in the middle of the eggs it would put you of your lunch .He delivered cigarettes to the shops 1 day a month. But they would have to hurry he said because if it started to rain it would wet the cigarettes and cakes.
The cart was pulled by a horse named Oak. Mr. Kinsella worked five and a half days a week and a half day on Saturdays. He got 25 shillings. On Sunday if it was his turn to look after the horse and feed it he would have got 8 shillings. We asked Martin a few questions and he started telling us about the railway. He told us that there are three main tracks .The station house was built with all red brick. The brick came from a local hill called Boston hill and from Athy .The brick didn’t wear very well so over the years the front of the building was rendered – means plastered and painted. That’s why the front is different from the rear today.
He also said the station nearly closed down at one time. Fortunately for us it did not. Today Kildare is a very important and busy commuter station.
We learned a lot from Martin Kinsella and thank him for coming to our class.
Below is a photograph of Mr. Kinsella’s father Charlie with his horse Oak delivering goods outside what was the Tower Cinema which is now Chapter 16 restaurant in Kildare town square.
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