From rural Ireland to Leeds: The forgotten journeys now being rescued from history

A great many men from rural Ireland were to make their way to Leeds in the 1950s and 60s, building a new life and a legacy that is richly evident today.

Now, as part of a new Lottery funded project, their stories are to be captured forever to share a taste of their experience.

What was it like to arrive in Leeds, standing on the steps of City Hall, and to build a new world and a family so far from home?

The Memories of Migrant Men project, from Leeds Irish Health and Homes (LIHH), is to capture these stories and more to be held in the West Yorkshire Archives.

Anne Pearce from the charity, whose own father is among those to take part, said the hope is also to create digital and physical books filled with memories.

"I feel so proud of what my dad and his peers have achieved," she said. "They left with what was probably a low level of education.

"They are so amazing, they don't realise how special their stories are.

"If these stories are not captured now, the next generation will be unaware of what their forefathers did," she added.

"The journey, the welcome, the discrimination they faced - it's all part of history."

High unemployment and economic depression in parts of rural Ireland was to partly fuel an exodus of young working-age men from Ireland from the 1950s.

Many were to head for Leeds, which was seeing something of a boom in the post-war years.

Now the LIHH is a voluntary organisation, set up 30 years ago to help Irish families in the city with housing or connectiveness, building bonds and fostering connections.

And a men's group meets once a fortnight, sharing their memories. Wedding photographs, pictures of houses being built, and the homes they left behind.

A previous project had served as a pilot of sorts, with funding from Sporting Heritage to collate memories of Gaelic football.

Now £62,322 has been awarded from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to capture this, building an oral history from their testimony and to create digital photobooks.

There are so many fragments to people's lives, said Ms Pearce, with pictures and letters hidden in old suitcases or forgotten in attics. Without action now, it might all be lost.

"Younger generations do enjoy listening," she said. "It's like a real history lesson.

"And it generates a huge amount, reminiscing and sharing memories. We want to make sure that this history of the Irish community is heard and celebrated."

Dr Brigid Power is a heritage consultant, specialising in oral histories, who has been working with the group to capture these memories.

The men share details of what life was like at that time; what jobs there were, where people lived, and what their childhoods in often very rural communities had once been like.

Since she started gathering their memories, she said, it has become clear that many of the men don't believe they have an interesting story to tell.

"They have, and it's important they get the opportunity to tell it," she said. "This is about capturing that history and the heritage and making sure it's not lost.

"There's very little in any of the archives about the Irish community in Leeds," she added.

"It's a community that's been here for so long, and established so much in the building of this city in many ways."