Pat Moffat talks about her family

Resource Type: Audio | Posted on 12th September 2011 by Liam Physick

Pat Moffat talks about where her siblings now live, and of how she and her sisters used to torment their only brother! She also discusses the family’s musical tastes (though she mispronounces David Bowie’s name), her husband Steven, her son, also Steven. and how her husband’s family, on both sides, worked on the railway

Interviewee: Pat Moffat

Interviewee Gender: Female

Interview Transcript

Jenny: And what about your brothers and sisters, did they stay around the Earle Road area or . . . ?

Pat: I’ve got a sister in Galloway Street, then I’ve got another sister in Childwall, I’ve got one in Huyton-with-Roby, I’ve got one in Naylorsfield, Anne’s in Kensington, I’m, I’m here in Edge Hill . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Pat: . . . I ain’t going nowhere! (Jenny laughs) Yeah, that’s it, Mary, Jackie, Angie, Anne, Donna . . . who am I missing . . . Mary, Jackie, Angie, Anne, Donna, Albee, I’ve got one brother we forget all about him! (Jenny laughs) It’s a . . .

Jenny: Black sheep!

Pat: No, no, he was, kind of . . . there’s, there’s three girls . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Pat: . . . and then a boy, and then three girls, and we . . . he was petrified of us! (Jenny laughs) He . . .

Jenny: He was the only boy?

Pat: Yeah, he, he was petrified of us, because we used to beat up on him and we’d, we’d make him wear mascara (Jenny laughs) and we dyed his hair orange at one time! Oh, no, only because . . . it sounds awful, but, Dave (sic) Bowie, as Ziggy Stardust . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Pat: . . . had just kind of hit the scene, and we, we, kind of, lay him on the floor and we cut a sheet out, so it looked lime one of the suits (Jenny laughs) that Dave Bowie was wearing him, we put all black ziggy-zag lines and make him wear mascara and . . .

Jenny: And he didn’t enjoy it? Didn’t he want to look like David Bowie?

Pat: I, I don’t know, he’d got no option! (she and Jenny laugh) We just, kind of, done it to him, you know . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Pat: Yeah, I mean . . .

Jenny: I’m sure he’s better for it!

Pat: And then, Mary, the sister down from me, she, she was into Roy Wood, because she had this tight curly hair, and everywhere she went she used to have the zig-zag lines . . .

Jenny: The zig-zags . . .

Pat: . . . on, yeah.

Jenny: . . . wow! Yeah.

Pat: I was more Status Quo, me.

Jenny: (laughs) Oh, yeah!

Pat: Yeah. I, I was considered the oddball, where, where we lived, because I followed the Quo from the 60s, everyone was into the Bay City Rollers and . . .

Jenny: Oh, yeah.

Pat: Yeah, oh, no.

Jenny: That wasn’t for you?

Pat: No, no, no. No, I’m sorry (Jenny laughs), I like guys with long hair . . .

Jenny: Yeah!

Pat: . . . and jeans on! So much so that when Steve and I got married his hair was longer than mine on the wedding posters! (both laugh)

Jenny: Oh!

Pat: Honestly! Yeah, the first time he’s ever wore a suit, and he, he vowed it would be his last until our Steven got married . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Pat: . . . and then, I went to him, “I think you’d best buy a suit”, there’s only so many times you can get away with wearing a pair of jeans! (Jenny laughs) He won’t wear trousers, he, he prefers jeans, you know.

Jenny: Yeah, yeah. Was his hair a bit shorter then when he, when your Steven got married, or . . . ?

Pat: Oh, yeah.

Jenny: (laughs) Yeah.

Pat: He’s near baldy now!

Jenny: It always gets shorter, doesn’t it?

Pat: Yeah, yeah, it, kind of, started going white at the sides and I thought it looked nice, but . . . no, and then, the moustache, cos he used to have these . . .

Jenny: Handlebar?

Pat: Yeah, moustaches, more, more, more like a Mexican one, if you know what I mean . . .

Jenny: Yeah, yeah.

Pat: . . . oh, he used to think he was the bee’s knees round here, he really did, but all, all his family . . .

Jenny: Yeah

Pat: . . . come from Wilfer Street, they all worked on the railway, his grandad and his dad . . .

Jenny: Oh, your, yeah, your Steve’s?

Pat: . . . yeah, and his six uncles . . .

Jenny: Yeah.

Pat: . . . and then the Shones all worked on the railway . . .

Jenny: The Shones?

Pat: Yeah, that’s Steven’s mum’s maiden name . . .

Jenny: Ah, right, so it’s the Moffats . . . ?

Pat: Yeah . . .

Jenny: . . . and the Shones . . . ?

Pat: . . . and the Shones, yeah.

Jenny: . . . and they were all railway workers?

Pat: Yeah, yeah.

Tagged under: railway workers, edge hill area, earle road, childwall, kensington, huyton-with-roby, naylorsfield, wilfer street, galloway street, status quo

Categorised under: Social Life

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