Mrs. Creaven 'Ma Creaven' and the college coffee shop

Format

JPEG

Title

Identifier

VHJ0006

Depiction

Woman, wearing glasses, standing crossed armed and dressed in a smart skirt and blouse standing outside, in front of a pavilion-style building. There are notices pinned up in the window of the building to the rear.

Description

Mrs. Anne Creaven, known to all as 'Ma Creaven', ran the college coffee shop from the early 1950s until her retirement in 1982. The coffee shop was the only place on campus where tea, coffee and food could be purchased, and it became the social hub of the college. The title 'Ma' was conferred on a few distinguished ladies in the college 'who had by their qualities of fairness, or learning, or strength of character or sheer personality, earned the respect of even the irreverent. One graduate described Mrs. Creaven as she 'stood at the cash register at the end of the counter, tweed suited in winter time, twinsetted by summer. She presided over her domain like a Sergeant Major over his barracks, and even the highest ranks acknowledged her dominion. Her eagle eye missed nothing, and her memory was elephantine.' Students were not permitted to linger too long in the coffee shop, and were encouraged by Mrs. Creaven to 'get up out of that and go to your lectures!' Nonetheless, her numerous acts of kindness to those in distress were fondly remembered by a great many students. Mrs. Creaven retired in October 1975. She died in June 1982.

People

Mrs. Anne Creaven, known to all as 'Ma Creaven' outside the college coffee shop

References

Edition of the college magazine Cois Coiribe, April/May 1983.

Contributor

Image shared with Jackie Uí Chionna by Mrs. Creaven's daughter, Mrs. Susan Courtney, during research for the University in Living Memory Oral History Project.

Bibliographic Citation

Uí Chionna, J., An Oral History of University College Galway, 1930-1980: A University in Living Memory (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2019)

Spatial Coverage

Coffee shop on college campus

Temporal Coverage

1950s

Period

1950s

Subject

University - Facilities
Facilities - Catering
Catering - Staff

Keywords

Ma
Creaven
Coffee shop

Creator

Unknown

Publisher

University of Galway Library

Rights

This image may be used for non-commercial purposes under CC BY-NC-SA see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Item