The Irish love affair with tea

Tea is a very Irish thing, and an author from Kilcullen has recently produced a book about the Irish love affair with the beverage, 'Put the Kettle on'.

It's by Juanita Browne, zoologist grand-daughter of the late Mary Conroy, a community activist who lived in Nicholastown and whom Conroy Park is named.

In 'Put the Kettle on', some 60 Irish people from all walks of life have contributed to the publication, with essays on many aspects of how tea impacts on their daily lives. Some of them are forgotten to many today, such as tea brought in bottles to the fields to have with lunch (this writer remembers it being a staple drink for schoolchildren too, with empty Chef Sauce bottles being the common vehicle).

The book includes a chapter from Mary Conroy's daughter Mary, who remembers tea and bread and jam at a particular every day in the Merrion School for the Blind, and later the tea breaks that marked her days in the factory in Inchicore where she worked for 30 years.

'Put the Kettle on' is available in good bookshops locally, and also online from collinspress.ie.