“My Dad, William Guidera (1920-2010), a farmer and avid reader, made frequent trips to the bookshops of Dublin from his home place in a village called Knock, five and a half miles from Roscrea in Co Tipperary. He would cycle to the train station in Ballybrophy and return home on the same day. Once famously, he cycled the whole way there and back, a round trip of over 150 miles. Before heading for Heuston Station, he would have a bite to eat in the Monument Bakery on Grafton Street. It was there he met my mother, Mary O’Dwyer, also from Tipperary, and a courtship began, culminating in their wedding in 1960. We found the photograph in his belongings after his death. It is without a date so we are unsure as to the exact year it was taken. Because he was such a modest and shy man it’s surprising that he agreed to it at all. Although the suitcase is a little mysterious, the package under his arm almost certainly contains books. He is smoking a woodbine. 5th of August 1952.”
(1952)
Submitted by Anita Guidera