| Description | Interview with an unidentified man from the Creggan estate in Derry. He discusses the building of the estate in 1947, leaving the armed forces and facing a period of unemployment in Derry, despite having worked on the railways, his experience in the army. He talks about having to live with his relatives in what is now a slum clearance area for five years before being allocated housing on the Creggan estate, working in Liverpool and other locations in England and having to attend the Labour Exchange when he returned to Derry. He gives details about the unemployment benefit he receives to support his family, his feeling that the Unionist government is responsible for the high levels of unemployment and discusses his regrets at leaving the army. He explains that his low income prevents him and his wife from having any form of social life and thinks that he will have to return to England to find work and if possible, leave Derry with his family.
His wife joins the conversation to discuss how she feels about this prospect and the difficulties in living on unemployment benefits. The man compares his situation with that of his brother's family who receive supplementary benefits and talks about his wife's part time job as a cleaner in one of the schools on the Creggan estate. She is unable to work full time because her husband would lose his benefits. Her husband goes on to talk about serving in Korea with Australian, New Zealand and American troops, and the jobs he did in the army, and compares his situation in Derry with the discrimination he witnessed against the African American servicemen he knew. The couple talk about the hardships involved in keeping a family on their income, their feeling that there is no future in Derry for their children, and the man discusses his experiences of the demonstration on 5th October 1968, being hosed by water cannon and beaten by police batons, which have made him determined to take an active part in the civil rights movement. His wife expresses her frustration at not being able to give her children treats, and the man describes the how he feels about trade unions. He thinks that the civil rights struggle is only just beginning and that everything depends on whether the government pushes through electoral and other reforms. He thinks that if this does not happen, there is likely to be a civil war in the province (tracks 1-17).
Total: 32.53 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA Kf565D0074880 |