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Christy Curley has made his home at The Croft. This year, he and other residents from The Croft and Hollybrook Lodge shared some of their personal histories and thoughts on living through the Covid-19 pandemic with author and illustrator Alan Dunne.
Dunne transformed them into a graphic short story named Home Truths - a four-minute storied animation of reminiscences from residents of their childhoods, their life experiences, the challenges they face with COVID-19, and their messages of hope. This digital animation is being projected onto City Hall for the month of December as part of Winter Lights.
We spoke to Christy to hear more about his participation in Winter Lights.
Dublin Days
Christy Curley greets me heartily through the phone on a recent November afternoon, before informing me that he has his solicitor sitting beside him to vet any questions I might ask him.
I’ve called to hear about his experience of the Winter Lights project. Christy is a resident of The Croft Nursing Home and has worked with artist Alan Dunne for the last few weeks. Along with several other residents, they’ve been sharing stories which Dunne then transformed into a digital animation.
Born in 1946 in Lower Gardiner Street, Christy was one of eight brothers. He lived there until he was married at the age of 21 and moved to Rutland Street.
Along with his evident sense of humour, Christy is a good storyteller. Christy paints a vivid picture of the Dublin of old through the stories he recounts. He tells of Dublin characters like Bang Bang and Johnny FortyCoats. He remembers times of horse and carriage taxis and playing 7-aside football against Eamon Dunphy on the tarmac pitches in Gardiner Street.
Among his stories, there are challenging ones too, but now Christy says “I'm happy go lucky today and if I can help anybody I will.”
Since moving to The Croft, Christy has also become an artist and a singer “by accident”.
“I never sang a note until I came here.” Today, he sings for the residents of The Croft and enjoys seeing people’s reactions.
“That's what I love singing for - just to put a smile on their faces, that's priceless.”
Christy likes the ballads, like Luke Kelly. His father was a good singer too and he remembers him singing to his mother.
“He had a beautiful voice and he sang with such heart and love.”
During the process of Winter Lights and reminiscing about his past, Christy made some sketches of Dublin, which were partly inspired by memories of his father.
“I done some sketches of Christmas lights as I remember them, from the 1950s. My father parked cars in O'Connell Street and I used to bring him down a flask of tea and the Christmas lights - you'd have hundreds of starlings on them …”
For anyone who is thinking of picking up a paint brush or starting to sing, Christy has some advice:
"Go for it. Just take those doubts out of your mind and replace it with T R Y - try. That's all you can do is try you know…”
Throughout his life, Christy has worked all over the city. From working on the docks at the age of 17 on coal boats, to working in the timber yards in the 60s or cleaning windows on Liberty Hall in the 70s, he has witnessed Dublin through the decades, from many different view points.
This December, a part of his own story will be shared in the city streets, this time projected in lights on City Hall.
Discover more
You can view Christy and The Croft residents stories, illustrated by artist Alan Dunne, projected onto City Hall during Winter Lights for the month of December. Winter Lights is a Dublin City Council initiative.
The Croft Nursing Home is situated along the banks of The Grand Canal, on Goldenbridge Walk, Inchicore. It is a 37 bed, long-stay home that provides care and support to its residents.
