Irish Men Who Built Nuclear Power Stations, 1965
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- An extract from a ‘Radharc’ film reporting on the many Irish men working on the construction of a nuclear power plant at Oldbury, Bristol in England.
A special ‘camp’ was built to house construction workers as the site was some distance from the nearest towns. The clip shown here features interviews with Irish workers who talk about their conditions, pay and working away from home.
At a meal breaks a man climbs down from crane tower and workers head to the canteen. In the canteen workers eat a meal while staff prepare food in the kitchens.
Reporter Father Peter Lemass talks about the canteen and the importance of workers’ well-being as
...it is not easy to find men to work on projects of this kind in Britain today. Not only is the work hard it is lonely as well.
The men live in wooden huts constructed on site.
Reporter Father Peter Lemass describes how the employers must provide not just food for the workers but living and recreation accommodation as well. The ‘small town’ of huts is called Oldbury camp.
Peter Lemass talks to a number of Irish workers who are working on the site. They talk about the living and working conditions. Social life can revolve around drink and the need for a car to get to the nearest city of Bristol. Some of the workers have left their families in Ireland and are sending money home. They talk about the difficulties of living in England where there are no local Catholic schools. One man feels that England is a very materialistic country.
Peter Lemass says There are many Irish men who have made England their home. They have become integrated. The Irish men of Oldbury show no signs of settling down here they are, nomadic workers who follow the big construction work. Feeling that this work is only temporary. One day they will be back in Ireland when things are better. Many grow old waiting for the day they will return.
The workers talk about returning to live in Ireland. One worker says after ten years in England he has kind of settled but the longing is for home. No matter where you go you always feel like a stranger among people here. Another worker says he has no desire to settle and hopes to go back home. He sees many men with intention of returning to Ireland but they never do.
Another Irish worker laughing say the money is good and work is hard. He has no intention of staying he has his own place in Ireland.
Another Irish worker says he would not settle here even if he was offered a thousand pounds a week. He hopes to work for another eighteen months and wants to return before his children are grown up. He saves hard living a kind of hermit’s life and misses shooting, fishing and the freedom to move around the countryside he has at home.
One worker says he is happy here and is better looked after than if at home.
Just about every post war civil engineering project in the UK was built by Irish construction workers. My neighbour in Glasgow in the 70s was a tunneller from Donegal who worked all over the UK on hydro projects. Brought up 10 kids and retired back to Ireland to a big house and a big bank account.
And a broken back?
@@Sarahmurray514 and Tunnel vision lol
@@anthonydowling3356it’s not funny
@@anthonydowling3356wise up
I am so proud to have worked with the Irish plenty of " characters " long gone 😢
Fascinating. We might need chaps like this in the future
The Irish have left that kind of work .The Poles took their place .
My Grandad and my great uncle are in that clip in the Cafeteria smiling at the Camera there from Donegal
👍🏻 “the forgotten irish” is another good documentary..
these guys forever live in this RUclips video .
I was the only English man in a gang of Irish ground workers in the late 1970s and a better bunch of work mates I never had.They were well read,knew poetry,could all sing, knew their forefathers and were honest to the bone.You would never come to harm whilst in there company. God bless Joe Caldwell, Martin Thorn and Barney Carney.
No safety boots and helmets in those days, not a holiday camp yet far better than most Irish workers, a lot of those men sent their money home to their families in Ireland.All good solid hard-working men with rock solid opinions, note the man talking about family life at 5.45
Great grafters. 💪🏻🇮🇪
Great hardworking men, hard lives
Fascinating footage!
Thanks for that CR,it brought a tear to my eye
Incredible people working so hard to help rebuild post war Britain, working and living in 2 homes. I salute the hard work of these invisible immigrants.
Love histories. Thank you❤️🌹Where are we now globally in 2022?
Great video! It's a pity that the interviews with the men don't go on a bit longer. There's a great book called 'An Irish Navvy' by Donall MacAmhlaigh about this kinda thing that's worth checking out.
Go raibh maith agat 🙏
They are all so well spoken . Fantastic men
Good Presentation,
The Irish built England..
Correct
Built the colonies too.
@@dvrn86 another nation forced to give servitude to the empire 🙏
I wonder what they would think of today's Ireland its far more materialistic and faster paced than back then.
The Irish built the world!
Paddy Power🇮🇪
Recently watched BBC-three part documentary development of Hinkley Point C, plenty of Irish still building them, but designing and planning them now. Still don't get why we refuse to build same.
Ireland is too progressive and the UK is following in their tracks.
McAlpine's fusiliers
Would be great to have the opportunity to work something like this and take your money home, rare
🎶If only we had DearOld Ireland over here🎶☘️v
Tim Maher Worked .I had a bad accident hear and still live with pain from it.
And not a single statue to remember them by
Our boys ❤
Paddy in London
Far from London ,these guys were .
Britain was short of manpower after the war over 100,000 German prisoners of war ,who worked in the UK had just been sent back to Germany, Irish Labour was at a premium 🤔🤔
Ps No fat people in those days, six packs were the norm not fashion.
I don’t think they even had six packs. Just your regular lean belly.
It's the same in Asia today, 73 year old man fit as a fiddle, lean muscle everywhere
Our rejection of Nuclear power was a massive mistake, and the environment has payed dearly for it as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for our electricity
Dogging the steel,40mm bars,
😮
Top o the morning to ya
Did that guy say his kids were 3 2 and 1? Jesus give Ur wife a rest pal
The problem is that artificial forms of family planning were forbidden by law because of the overbearing influence of the RC Church. Indeed many Christian churches were also against family planning or artificial forms of family planning and women were not in a position to say no. Large families were common in the 1960's in Ireland and providing for all the children was a huge social problem at that time.
A tragic combination of no sex education and early marriages and bans on married women working in public jobs also exacerbated the problem.
@@jgdooley2003 I don't see the problem John. Ireland needed to greatly increase its population and it worked as we now have a very strong economy due to those large families. For once a government policy that worked.
@@jgdooley2003 my father was born in 1950 (an only child) .. my mother was born in 1951 ( came from a family of 9 children) - both Catholic families. Some knew how to go about it ;) 😉
@@jgdooley2003 None of what you said was a problem. Large Irish families was the norm two generations ago. I was one of seven kids, my mother one of twelve. If you had no more than four kids then people though something was wrong.
Large families are not a problem. Women’s (so called) equality in the workplace has made having a large family harder because you now need two wages to survive and the progressive look down on a women raising children.
It's unfortunate that the Irishman has now got the same traits as the English man, private property, gun clubs, fishing rights, no trespassing ...
Anything wrong with gun clubs
:-)