It’s back in 1965-66-67, and I was a teenager living in the Belfast suburbs
(By the way, ‘Life on Mars’ is on Netflix now and earlier today I was listening to an audio book, called ‘Small Pleasures’ on BBC Sounds when I heard “Sister Maria Goretti” mentioned in the book – another Proustion moment).
I had just become friends with some Catholics and the girls with intriguing names, such as Grainne, Naimh, Siobhan and Aoife. No Joans, Annes or Carols. It made them somehow more exotic. One very sweet girl was called Goretti, such a harsh-sounding name, and i had never heard it before or since, until today. We took them to our youth club and went to the teenage dances in Belfast with them. Integration was in its infancy and doing well, but soon the dark days of The Troubles almost ended it.
I have never forgotten that time, the teenage years, but I had forgotten Goretti.
