The beginning.....

I was born in Belfast may10 1949..to Wily and Lily Shaw (William and Elizabeth really)...everyone in Ireland had shortened versions of their names i.e. Margaret..referred to as Maggie, Peggy, Marge and quite a few other variations ..
We lived in Mersey Street East Belfast.....one of the many streets full of terrace houses ..which backed on to The Harland and Wolffe Ship building yard...most of the neighbours and my father worked there...a lot of the older men (including my fathers father who lived in Dee St just around the corner) had worked as young men on the Titanic......