The writer and journalist Catherine Foley came into the possession of her father’s writings when he died in 2014, at the age of 88. She had known her father had always written, jotting down memories, anecdotes, curious sayings and funny stories, and that a lot of these writings were in various copybooks, ledgers and notebooks, but she hadn’t realised how committed he had been to writing. Sadly his work was never published but here is one of his stories recalling his childhood in Ferrybank in the 1930s. He was one of 12 children born to Dan Foley and his wife Katie (née: Power). Dan was headmaster of the local national school and an active member of the local Labour Party, when he died from cancer at the age of 51. Joseph was 11 that year, 1937, and the father’s death was a terrible blow to the family. In this short story, Joseph recalls the innocent times he spent at the corner trying to be one of the gang. Note his list of 108 nicknames at the end! His story describes a time when he was still carefree and unaware, or even possibly trying to escape the confines of home and the tragedy that was about to unfold.