Hi there and welcome to my website and thank you for your patience and for affording me the time to prepare and built my site. Though I now outline my interests and introduce you to my latest publication "A History of Speedway. The Dublin Experience" there is more to come and every ten days or so, I will add to the information in the pages of my site.
Details of my new book on Dublin Speedway can be found on ‘My Books’ page and information on my other interests are available on the ‘Info Page’. Quite shortly "My Books" page will also detail my two publications on Old Dublin Cinemas which cinemas, in the early part of the 20th century were known as Picture Palaces. Those Picture Palaces soon became a feature in most Dublin districts and as such created the trend of "Going to the Pictures" which habit very quickly became one of the most popular social habits of the that time.
Speedway was also a like habit in the mid 20th century and in the 1950s rivalled Soccer as a spectator sport.
I am also interested in the happenings of Rathmines in the mid 20th Century as I spent four of my teenage years working there in the Princess Cinemas, which was one of two local cinemas there during the fifties.
I am also interested in the history of Irishtown, Dublin, my place of birth and its neighbouring communities Sandymount and Ringsend.
My other interests lie in my ancestry.
My maternal ancestors, the Bashfords of Ireland were I believe, 16th or 17th century British Planters and I managed to trace my great, great grandfather William and his wife Margaret {Ferguson} Bashford back to their wedding day in the Church of St. Finbarr’s, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on October 2nd 1798. William was an Attorney with offices in Dublin. They had nine children, five boys and four girls.
I traced my paternal ancestors as far back as 1858 when my great grandfather Patrick Kearns married a Catherine Kiernan in Kells Co Meath on February 9th 1858.
Old Dublin photos and pictures are a passion and one of my hobbies is taking pictures of Dublin.
In all I have written and self published three books, all of which recorded the history of some of Dublin’s social activities in the 20th century and there titles are as follows.
"The Prinner" June 2005 [The Prinner was the nickname used by the patrons of "Princess Cinema" Rathmines, Dublin.}"A to Z of All Old Dublin Cinemas" February 2007 and the aforementioned speedway book
"A History of Speedway. The Dublin Experience" April 2009 GEORGE P KEARNS
