Date of Birth: 18th May 1928

Place of Birth: Ballyhack, Co. Wexford

Date Interviewed: 9th September 2010

Summary: Pierce Power recalls Ballyhack as a thriving fishing village with a lucrative salmon-fishing industry – it was possible to earn £100 a day in the 1950s. Pierce came from a poor background and started work aged fourteen on a local farm earning five shillings a week. He worked on Josephine Murphy’s farm for thirteen years. He then took up a position on the Dunbrody estate looking after Lord Templemore’s horses. Part of his duties involved removing the large oil-paintings form the ballroom to keep them safe from the boisterous activities of the revellers at the annual Hunt Ball. It was at Dunbrody that he met his wife Bridget, who was the household’s cook. As a boy Pierce was standing on the street in Campile and witnessed the moment when a German plane dropped bombs on the Campile Creamery. His memories of that fateful day are clear and vivid.