Patrick Collins

We came all the way from Crossmalina in County Mayo, from the west coast of Ireland.

Through the whole countryside, yeah.

Well, Anne was our dad's aunt.

So I suppose for anyone who's listening to the podcast, Sandra and Bridie and James, their dad was Francie and then he died in 1978.

And our mum remarried my dad, Joe.

And in that family, there was Francie and Joe, Bridie and Anne.

And Anne was the baby of the family and she had rheumatoid arthritis.

And in the 1980s, Bridie was living in England with her husband, Ivan.

And mum and dad were at home with James and Sandra and Bridie.

And I hadn't come along at that time or Davey or Mary.

There was only three at that stage and was married in Westport.

And then sadly for her, her life took a bit of a turn unexpectedly when she got sick herself and got rheumatoid arthritis and

had loads of miscarriages and her marriage just broke down, unfortunately.

So then she came back to live with us in Fortis just for a little while to get back on her feet.

And then, obviously the house was too crowded with everybody in it.

So she got a flat in Ballina and, um,

And when she went into Ballinad, then she just asked would one of them go in just for a little while to help her get established, I suppose, and just spend a bit of time with her over the summer because the kids would have been getting their holidays for summer from school.

So that's how it transpired.

Well, you went in first, of course.

Well, she probably would have done anyway.