Jimmy 'Macker' Carty
Dock Workers
'We relied on each other a lot, you know, we sort of... the camaraderie was very, very good because we all knew that it was hard work and the handier we made it for each other the better it was for us, you know?'
Family
'My father was a docker and...my grandfather was.. also worked on the docks and... grandfather ended up...having his own horse and lorry and as a young lad, for myself, I was introduced to the docks as a little boy... going down to collect the coal with my grandfather on his horse and lorry. They used to call me the mascot. And him going to deliver, deliver the coal to the areas of North Wall, East Wall, North Strand.Stones of coal or a half a stone of coal at the time.And I would have to carry them across to the-the people that wanted it.That was all on your back. A sack on your back, you know. You’d bring in over and put it into a sack and run over to the house empty it out and come back to the horse and lorry.'
Livestock
'One day it might be horses and that would be going on maybe...and sometimes cattle, you know.You didn’t have a preference, but you could put it this way some men was very- very strong and they loved working the cattle. They loved it, they had a feeling for it - livestock...One man in particular was Paddy Cunningham, Wacko we’d call him, you know. And you know if there was a bull you’d give it to Wacko, you wouldn’t... I’d be standing in the wings <laughs> and let him handle that because he was a big, lump of a man. He knew how to handle them...as I said, he’d know what pen they had to go in and keep them away from the-the cows and stuff So that type of thing. And that’s the way it was, we looked after one another, like you know. We knew if he was there “Wacko, there’s a bull!” and he would...“Okay!” and he’d grab it and he’d muscle it into the pen, you know, and tie it up and that...So that type of thing. As I said some of us had the knack of doing other things and he had the knack of getting bulls in, you know, and the horses, you know, we’d just lead the horses in they were the soft end of it, you know, instead of a bull.'