Brown Owl

When I was between the ages of about six and eleven, I was in the Brownies.

It is a wholesome organisation where little girls go to dress in yellow jumpers, wear small neckerchiefs with toggles and earn badges for learning to skip, helping your mam, etc.

Every Saturday morning we would meet in a Church hall and do various activities. Before the fun and games started, we would have to gather around in a circle, say a prayer and sing the songs of our Brownie sub-groups (I believe I was a Sprite).

The woman in charge of a Brownie pack is called Brown Owl. Our Brown Owl was a straight-talking woman with grey hair which was always in a very neat up-do done with what I can only imagine had dozens of clips holding it together, and she drove a red, sporty car.

One Saturday, before we sang our songs, our Brown Owl told us her thoughts on Dublin safety.

"Things just aren't the same these days, I never feel that safe when I'm by myself any more," she told our little group of uniformly dressed youngsters.

"You never know who you're going to run into. When I'm out driving in town I always carry a crow bar in the passenger seat next to me. You can never be too safe."

And then we proceeded to say the Our Father and my group sang, "Sprightly Sprites we're on our way, Play and laugh and help today."