- TITLE
- Inverness Memories - the General Strike
- EXTERNAL ID
- GB1796_SINCLAIR_MRSROLLO_15
- PLACENAME
- Inverness
- OLD COUNTY/PARISH
- INVERNESS: Inverness and Bona
- PERIOD
- 1970s
- CREATOR
- Mrs Rollo
- SOURCE
- Inverness Museum and Art Gallery
- ASSET ID
- 2132
- KEYWORDS
- strikes
audio
In the late 1970s, Mrs Rollo, an elderly resident of Friars Street, Inverness, shared her memories of old Inverness with a Mrs. Sneddon. Mrs. Rollo had lived as a child in Shore Street and moved to Friars Street in the early 1920s. She had five of a family; three boys and two girls. Her husband worked for the Highland Railway. In this audio extract, Mrs. Rollo remembers how the family struggled during the General Strike.
The photograph is of Friars Street with the steeple of the Old High Church in the background.
Interviewer: D'ye remember the General Strike in 1926? Did it affect yer husband at all?
That was at the hunger strike - Ah think it was only aboot five shillings we had that time. We never got much o a pay. No pay, no strike pay.
Interviewer: How did ye manage?
Well, Ah managed. We scraped away, some or others, an get a bite here an a bite there. Cause the two children were born in both strikes an the nurse then was saying, was saying to me the bairn was starved - she was only - she was barely five pound when she was born. An I said, 'What do ye expect wi no food tae eat?' Oh, many a hungry day we had. That's why Ah never grudge anyone a cup a tea. [Laughter]