Comminity of Knocklong

Sounds of Walsh’s Knocklong

The bustling sounds of the business was amazing as I look back

The sounds of people on their horse and carts rolling up to the shop to come for their weeks shopping. People filling petrol into the cars which were getting more common.

The whizzing of the money conveyer across the ceiling to the office with bill and money only to be returned with the change and receipt.

People chatting and catching up on the week’s events, doors to the store opening and closing with reeling of the wheels of the rope being measured out, nuts, bolts, nails, washers, meal for animals like oats, barley, and maize being weighed from their various storage positions.

Then the arrival of the fresh bread down from the bakery the smell and the chatter over what loaf each person would want.

When the days were wet and parents busy we were often told to watch the shunting trains from the upstairs windows which would rattle when a train would whiz by.

As progress happened, life changed it became more motorised and the old sounds changed to more electrical methods of counting.

Other sounds that people didn’t realise was the horror of the rain dripping through the roof and us getting up and emptying buckets so the stock would not be damaged in the shop.

Now going back into the sound of silence is strange. energy has changed from the beginning of the of this section from dark to hopeful though i thought it was silent when hearing the recordings back it was eerie. Some not happy we were there.

Pauline Walsh 2016