We Just Got On With It

'But we will do what we have always done - just get on with it.' The contributions of Northern Ireland to allied efforts in the Second World War are widely celebrated, acknowledged by both Sir Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt as vital to their eventual victory.Lesser known are the personal and individual lives of the people who made those contributions - the human cost and the everyday lives that would be changed forever. In We Just Got On With It, Doreen McBride gathers stories and interviews conducted and written by local historians and historical societies. From essential agricultural work to the sunken German submarine fleet that surrendered on the banks of Lough Foyle, and from childhood smuggling adventures to the devasting destruction of bombing raids, these are tales of humour and tragedy from those who have stories to tell.

DOREEN McBRIDE is a retired biology teacher with an interest in the environment, folklore, local history and storytelling. She spent a year seconded to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum to develop materials for schools using the grounds from a scientific point of view. The museum published those materials and asked her to write a guide for children, which was published by Longmans in 1988. She had a career change in 1991 and became an international, award-winning professional storyteller. She served for 12 years on the then Southern Education and Library Board and was President of Association of Northern Ireland Education and Library Boards (2004-2005). She is a prolific author of local history books, including seven for The History Press and contributes to local periodicals. She has had three plays broadcast on Radio Ulster and she lives in Banbridge, Co. Down.