John Maguire, an expat from Australia shared this wonderful picture with Blantyre Project. John said,

1915 Charlie and Sarah Boyle

“Hey up Paul, my name is John Maguire and I left Morris Crescent for Sydney Australia 50 years ago. I have been returning to Blantyre every two years since 1970, like a salmon returning to where it was spawned.
I was in Blantyre in June this year and my sister, Margaret McCrory gave me a signed copy of ‘The Blantyre Project.’ It is a great piece of work and a testament to your love of Blantyre. It’s a great read and a lot of it is very relevant to my memory of growing up there.

This photo shows two children in a cart pulled by a goat, a real ‘billy cart’, taken in 1915. The youngest is a girl called Sarah Boyle (my mother). She went away to Gravesend at 16 to be a nurse, but returned to Blantyre in 1941 to marry Michael Maguire. As Nurse Maguire, she took up nursing again in 1955 and was the District Nurse in Blantyre until she retired. She helped the birth of many Blantyre babies and always gave credit to the strong women of Blantyre. The boy in the picture is her brother Charlie Boyle. He grew up to start his own painting and decorating business, C. Boyle, Painter and Decorator, employing many Blantyre men and apprentices over the years.”