Quote 'An Irish-speaking old woman in the Scarva area was known to the mother of Jackie Quinn, who worked at Scarva railway station as a young man during the Second World War. This instance is unlikely to pre-date 1890, but nothing is known of the speaker's origins.' End quote

I thought you might be interested to know that Jackie Quinn was my sister's husband. Sadly Jackie died many years ago aged 50 of a brain tumor. My sister still lives in Scarva although she is approaching 80 years old now. She was delighted when I sent her the article about her beloved Jackie. She has got a photograph of him in his Railway uniform. He worked on the railway when they first met and fell in love. They got married in 1951."

I remember Jackie's mother very well. Although I was only 13 years old when my sister Sadie & Jackie got married.  I remember Jackie's mother (Mary Jane Quinn, formerly Mitchell and nee Magill.) talking about the "munchies". They were people who lived away up in the mountains and rarely came down except for vital supplies. Few of them spoke English."

Jackie was only 14 years old when he started working on the railway. My sister did remember Jackie talking about various  men who worked on the railway and named two of them. They were Barney Morgan and Jimmy McParland.

Jackie's mother Mary Jane's first husband Alexander Mitchell was killed in the first world war.  I found him on the War Graves Commission.  This is the link to his record:

Mary Jane was born in Banbridge and died in Banbridge hospital in 1974. My sister could not recall anything about the old woman who spoke Irish. Although I can remember Mrs. Quinn talking about the Munchies who I think were mountain people some of whom could not speak English. I think that I am remembering this correctly as I was only 13 years old when my sister and Jackie got married in 1951.