Five citizens in their late 90s recall life in the newly-formed NI – but two did not survive to see tonight’s broadcast

‘True North: The First Generation’ airs tonight at 10.45pm on BBC One, consisting of interviews with five people born in 1921 – the year partition took effect.

It is also available to watch again on the BBC’s iPlayer.

Sadly, two of the five died before the show could be broadcast.

Stephen Walker, BBC political correspondent, announces at the start of the show: “As we approach the centenary, I’m curious about the people who are as old as the state itself – people who were born in 1921. What are the memories they treasure to this day?”

For Martin Charters of the tiny village of Shrigley, Co Down, growing up during the Great Depression meant make-do-and-mend.

He did not even have shoes, and was forced to improvise a pair by cutting up some old wellies he found in a dump.

The dole office also packed him off to work on a farm from 6am to 6pm each day.

He went on to serve in a Lancaster bomber squadron during World War Two, manning the tailgun.

“You did nothing but sit and pray: Oh Lord save me! And shaking,” he said.

Meanwhile Aileen Pollock, from Belfast, recalled emigrating to Hong Kong in the 1950s – a journey that took six weeks by boat.

Bizarrely, she encountered Fred Astaire in the flesh during a trip to a nightclub there – “but he had brown shoes on [with an evening suit] – and I didn’t think they looked nice”.

Mairead Liddy, of Warrenpoint, had moved to London, and helped man an ambulance at the time of the Blitz.

“The bombings were very bad. You don’t have any fear when you’re young.”

What partition meant for their family was reduced business, because one of the first acts of the new government was to end Sunday trading in their pub.

“My father thought in his young days, if he had his own wee pub, he’d be flying,” she said.

“He bought the pub. In those days you could have opened on a Sunday.

“But when partition came, the first thing they did when the put in the new government was to stop all trading on Sunday.

“My mother never forgave them. She’d look out and see the people coming down from Belfast for the day, and went across in wee boats to Omeath in the other part of Ireland!”

Eileen Sweeney, from Fermanagh, recalled being given her first car, and driving around the countryside trying to catch people working who were also claiming sickness benefits.

“I was very far from popular at that stage!” she said.

The show moved through the trials and tribulations of the war years, through the Troubles, and up to the present day.

Two of the interviewees have died before the broadcast: Aileen Pollock, and Isobel Lavery, originally from the loyalist Shankill part of Belfast.

The latter revealed what could be the secret to her longevity: she had never once tried alcohol, and never once tried a cigarette. With a chuckle, she declared: “I don’t think I’ll start now!”

Aileen Pollock died on July 2, 2020.

Isobel Lavery died on July 3, 2019.