COLUMN: 'This is my grandmother, she died three years after this photo was taken'

Pictured above on the left is Matty Connolly, Ardmayle West and Nell Tynan, Boherlahan.

Matty, who Nell worked with in Hunt's, started in Ardmayle School in 1944 and Nell (née O'Dwyer) started in Ardmayle School in 1940.

The photo taken in Dundrum House Hotel at the Ardmayle School Reunion in 1993. 

Nell was my grandmother, she was sacristan in Boherlahan Church for many years.

She used to do the Angelus peal at 8am, 12pm and 6pm every day before the bell was automated in Bianconi Church.

It's said that when she would pull the rope to ring the bell, she'd be lifted off the ground and then back down, and that would happen for every ring.

Something about that just makes me smile.

The idea of granny being lifted three foot in the air, eighteen or so times, in her dress, three times a day. Nell was always looked spectacular, a real lady. 

She always managed to cycle her High Nellie bike, no matter the rig-out. 

She was so slight, she never gained weight. Alas, a gene that did not get passed on to me.

The image above appeared on social media during the week and it's funny, when I saw her again, for the first time in years in a photo other than the one I have in the house, I thought of my niece Jorja Fogarty, and how similar they are in stature.

Nell smoked Woodbines and gave me Oxo in a mug. She loved to dance and loved the craic; that much is apparent from the photo above. 

With the passing of time, my memories of her have faded but a small few came flooding back when I saw this image on Facebook. 

I wish we could have her over for dinner and a drink in our new home. It's 28 years since her death. I'm 34-years-old now.

She died three years after the above photo was taken. Cancer. 

I miss her.