A proud day going back to my roots

A WEEK ago I was in Liverpool, having the best of times.

I’d been invited to be the guest speaker at the Liverpool Press Club’s Christmas lunch and jumped at the chance to go to my birthplace and have a good time with about 80 fellow journalists.

Honestly, I’ve written so many books and made countless programmes for radio and TV over a career now spanning 53 years, but as I told my lovely audience: ‘Journalism was my first love — and it will be my last.’

My job writing for you, our readers, is both a privilege and a delight, so why shouldn’t I celebrate it in the land of The Beatles?

I’m also proud of the fact that my distant family origins are in the overcrowded and impoverished Irish communities on which Liverpool docks depended.

Men like my great-grandfather came over from Ireland to try their luck. He couldn’t even write his name in the marriage register, so had to put a cross.

There were plenty of Mooneys in the city. Other family surnames were Critchley, Lewis, McAllister, McLoughlin — solidly working class, going back four generations.

I’ve done some research and jotted down a list of my ancestors’ occupations: cotton porter, hay and straw carter, screw-maker, railway labourer, warehouseman, mason’s labourer, cigar-maker, tobacco spinner, bricklayer’s labourer, machinist.

On my mother’s side were shop assistants, biscuit packers, a cold storage heavy worker, and so on. That’s my pedigree.

Luckily, I have somebody left to share memories with — my beloved cousin Gina who grew up with me, though I only see her now about once a year. It’s hard to explain how much all this means to me.

My husband and I walked by the sparkling Mersey in bright sunlight and I became emotional, thinking of my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles...all gone. But we had a lorra laffs back then. Now there’s something in my eye . . .

Belanswersreaders’questionsonemotionalandrelationshipproblemseachweek.WritetoBelMooney,ScottishDailyMail,20WaterlooStreet,GlasgowG26DB,oremailbel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk.Namesarechangedtoprotectidentities.Belreadsallletters

butregretsshecannotenterintopersonalcorrespondence.