Bridie (100) recalls the night she met Bing Crosby in Hollywood
Bridie McGuinness turns 100 today, and even though she admits her memory is fading, she can still recall with great clarity the day she met Bing Crosby in Hollywood in 1956.
“He was a lovely fella,” Bridie told the ‘Journal,’ “a real gentleman, very patient and very nice.”
The Derry woman met Bing on the Ed Sullivan show while she was on tour in America with James MacCafferty’s legendary Little Gaelic Singers. Bridie was the group’s supervisor and chaperone.
And more than 50 years later she still clings to one of her most precious possessions, a programme of the Little Gaelic Singer’s Chicago concert.
Bridie can’t remember everything about the last 100 years, but ask her to sing you a tune and she’ll serenade you with an Irish ballad word perfect.
Born in Eden Place in 1909, Bridie was the youngest daughter of Martha and James McGuinness.
After attending St Eugene’s School, she worked in O’Shea’s fruit shop in Strabane.
However it was the untimely death of her sister Nora’s husband that Bridie found a new direction in life. She moved in with her sister to help rear her children, and lived with her niece Eilish Sproule all her life until her move to her new home in Greenhaw Lodge.
Eilish explained how once Bridie was the best known singer in Derry.
“Bridie loved opera and sang the lead roles regularly in St.Columb’s Hall. She can still all the songs, she especially loves the Irish ones. Bridie has the most beautiful voice on God’s earth.”
And Bridie’s secret to a long life - minding your own business! “That’s what I always did,” she said. “And I never had a husband to worry about.”
With a glint in her eye, she says she’s had her share of loves - but when pressed about them she says “I can’t disclose information like that. I’m an unclaimed treasure.”
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Weather for Derry
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 29 mph
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