Cornelius “Con” O’ Sullivan was born in 1933 in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. He lived in the countryside with three brothers and one sister. They grew up on a dairy farm, and the cows were hand milked every day. Living on a farm, his family never ran out of food.
At the time, selling rabbits provided a useful source of pocket money. Con and his siblings hunted rabbits and sold them to a local trader, who dealt in various wildlife and resold them in Dublin. They also picked blackberries, which they sold to a local lady who paid by weight. Although the land was fertile, it lacked items like sugar and tea, which were rationed during World War II when Con was growing up. The locals made a tea from hawthorn leaves, but according to Con, it didn’t taste very nice!
After completing Primary School, Con attended the Christian Brothers Secondary School in Tralee until he was sixteen. He went to go on to learn woodwork and metal work in the Technical College in Tralee. After this, Con joined the Irish Navy which was founded in 1946.
During his time in the Navy, he was posted to Spike Island for seven weeks. A medical exam revealed a shadow in his lung, and he was discharged as a result. Some years later, Con was X-rayed again in London and was told that this was an old shadow due to some sort of flu in his early years, which left a scar on his lung. Con says that this never interfered with his health.
Con came to England in 1952, when he was 18 years old. He remembers he lived in poor housing conditions, and there was also very bad smog then. Con said there was sometimes so much smog you couldn’t see your own hand! Con initially worked at a power station in Wantage. He stayed in a worker’s camp located in in Swindon and moved in with a cousin. Whilst in Swindon, he engaged in different jobs at various building sites.
Con met his wife in London in the iconic Galtymore Dance Hall in Cricklewood. They got married in 1956. In those days telegrams were often used to send important messages, and they received many telegrams at the time from well-wishers after their wedding. Con and his wife went on to have six children together, and their family has since grown to include twelve grandchildren and six great-grandchildren!
After being in London for several years, Con and his wife eventually decided to move out of the area to live in Northampton, as Con’s brother had big house there in Abington. Con said many people came to Northampton for work during the construction of Pitsford Reservoir, and the motorway after that. The couple stayed with Con’s brother for a while, until they got a Council House on Broadmede Avenue, and then finally bought a house of their own just down the road.
Con worked seven days a week for many years, even working until 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays! When he was a young man, he said the working conditions were often grim and employers didn’t care, so workers got involved in unions to achieve better conditions on building sites. Con has always been passionate about improving the working conditions of people and was grateful for the unions. During one of his later jobs (working on the early development of Milton Keynes City), he said conditions were thankfully very modern by then, and they were the best conditions he had ever worked in. This was all due to strong union representation at the time.
Con also loved dancing in his younger days, attending most free weekends at the Northampton Dance Hall at the back of Northampton Cathedral!
Now, Con lives a peaceful life in Northamptonshire, with a loving family spanning generations. He is a very content and happy man. Con’s advice, drawn from his own life, is to save a percentage of your wages to eventually secure a home, though he admits this is much harder in today’s world!
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