Harold Leece & Roy Looney

Harold Leece was born at Northrop Cottage, Greeba in 1923, Roy at Pulrose in 1935, later moving to Ballacottier at the Cooill where he spent his childhood. Roy and Harold got to know each other when Harold had moved to Knockbreck in Greeba and Roy was a farm worker at the adjoining farm, Kerrowgarrow.

In this interview they chat about their shared experiences of life in Greeba but also their own stories of life growing up; of characters they grew up and worked with, ploughing matches with a description of Manx style ploughing (Harold won his last ploughing match in 2018 before passing his plough on to the next generation who will hopefully preserve the Manx style of ploughing for the future), the Greeba and Cooill Sports and other events such as the Christmas Whist, the TT races- stories of riders and visitors to Knockbreck over almost seventy years of providing refreshments and a viewing point for the annual racing calendar, chapel life and school life, hardships of life in the past especially for women, Christmas and the Harvest, mill days and other events in the calendar, the local smithy and other places in their respective communities.

Harold and Roy meet up weekly to chat and reminisce and it is a treat to listen in to their stories from a combined 178 years of Manx life.

Interviews

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• Interview with Harold Leece & Roy Looney