1968 - what was it like at the Grove?

hi to all out there this is my first outing here.... first off i'd like to say a big hello to Brendan Carroll and all the carroll brothers . All very talented guys and all with a great sense of humour . Brendan  a brillant artist, Paddy talented but a little  lazy ( hope he's not reading this ) Sean  magnificent and Tony superb   a knockout and a great imagination . 

                Brendan if you would like a copy of the Grove doc. i'll drop it into your mother's house or else your sister in edenmore   i'll need the address ... soon the Grove paintings full story   

Another thing you mentioned Bren was the "students" arriving in the summer. The place would be infested with them and they could "Jive "

They seemed to take up the whole centre of the hall

The uniform seemed to be jeans with a navy jumper which they all seamed to wear.

The girls were gorgeous and tanned ( Spanish Holidays were usual in those days ) so the foreigners stood out

Jazus Roundabout, Tell Derek to drop a copy off at my sister's in Edenmore 'n she can pay to mail it to me....LOL

Do they still deliver milk over there? I remember as a kid gettin' up at 4am to deliver milk on a horse n cart 'n then going to school....yaaaawn!

Later there was bloody murder w the milkmen when they switched to trucks. The bleedin horses knew the route and knew exactly which houses to stop at. Didn't even have to get back on....horses would know...bloody great. Ask Derek if he was pissed then?

Just to clarify a few things....

I was reading the news clippings here about The Grove burning down. Any reference I made to St. Paul's was when The Grove was still in St. Annes and had no connection w St. Paul's.....St. Paul's was a seperate thing. We had a hard enough time getting in there and then to be picked on by The Rugby players or whatever was reason enough for a fight. (I think most of it was cause the fellas didn't like us talkin' to "their" women")....lol

Back at The Grove everything was peaceful, fun, and all about the music n the girls. 1967-1971...great years....I was reading about The Music too so all you that loved Led Zep, so did we..it just wasn't our first music there....more like Dave Clark Five, The Kinks etc. But we did go on to love the same music as it was introduced to us.

A special Thanks to Cecil and Derek  for the new unheard of stuff to Ireland which later became part of the norm....(Derek belonged to some American record club and got sh*t nobody ever heard)

Jazus, I almost forgot PURPLE HAZE by Jimi Hendrix, When that song comes on the radio it brings back the whole ERA.

If Derek Farrell is the Derek who used to stand in for our regular Premier milkman Paddy Brophy then I used to help him out at weekends collecting milk money and delivering milk in Marino when I was 12 years old.

It is a very small world indeed in some of these posts, ancient memories resurrected - I hope Derek is well - he was a really nice and generous guy and a cool one at that! When everyone else had shortish hair he had a stunning head of 'Marc Bolan' hair - like Tommy later on in Pat Egan's Sound Cellar.

Rolo wrote: Oh yeah Sean,you are spot on, the grub was massive. In fairness to Leo,he knew how to drag the punters in with good value food. Not a fan of the place as a boozer though. Not a patch on HBs.

Rolo,Leo Fitzgerald was a shrewd businessman,and he made a fortune when he sold up,so you cant blame him for taking the cash,and the smoking ban seemed to affect their trade,even though they had a good smoking area

l do drink in HB's myself,normally on Sundays,or after the Dubs games,will have to keep an eye out for you,

maybe see you on the 5th in Slaughtered Lamb ?

BrendanFella wrote: Jazus, I was in The Dollier on my last trip home. I thought it was pretty genious of 'em how they solved the "No smoking issue"..BRILLIANT...previously I had sat outside on their "Patio" but me younger bro said I'd be sitting there by meself as he was going "inside"... The Ocean Front ain't a great place for outdoor drinking late in the year....LOL I was drinking in there before I left and right up to about 3yrs ago on my visits....I'll miss it.

Bren welcome to "GroveWorld",yeah the  smoking area in Dollier was great,spent many a weekend down there as a teen,was the meeting place at xmas for all the mates who were home on hols,it holds good memories,sad to see it gone,and the grub wasnt bad either...