Parle, James Joseph (Jim)

Date of Birth: 22nd October 1932

Place of Birth: Drinagh, Wexford

Date Interviewed: 28th October & 2nd December 2008

Summary: Jim’s father was from Ballycogley and worked as a ganger for the Council, travelling everywhere on his bicycle. He was also a talented musician playing fiddle tin-whistle and pipes. A champion stepdancer, he was crowned King of the Mummers in 1971. Jim’s mother, Mary Alice (nee Bail) was a dressmaker. Sadly, she died when he was 10. Jim recalls going barefoot to school in Piercestown and hiding his shoes in the ditch for collection on his way back home. He won a County Council scholarship and went to St. Peter’s College as a day student. He joined the staff of the laboratory at Johnstown Castle in 1951 and served for forty six years. Jim claims that he became so proficient at his speciality that he could identify mineral and trace element deficiencies in farm crops from the symptoms exhibited by the affected plants. Jim’s great passion was athletics. He remembers the formation of the DMP (Drinagh, Murrintown, Piercestown) athletic club in 1942. He was club secretary for 10 years and has about 20 county championship medals, mainly for javelin and pole vault. He has amassed a huge collection of memorabilia and statistics over the years and hopes to publish a history of athletics, cycling and tug-o’-war in the county (1877-1967). He was also an active member of Rosslare Golf Club for fifty years. Jim’s first book “The mummers of Wexford” published in 2001, sold nearly 2,000 copies and earned favourable reviews worldwide.