Page 116 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

A QUIET WOMAN?

hunched, frail old lady, the only sign of her rich history evident in
one or two lovely rings on her fingers. She is buried in Redford
(The Grove) Cemetery in a grave with her twin brother, her
parents’ grave nearby, and surrounded by all those friends and
relatives who had shared her life for so many decades. Going up
there is akin to attending a ghostly party with a long guest list of
familiar names.

Thanks to Ossie and Betty Spurling, and aided and abetted
by the Flynns and other Greystones residents, Averil’s story is
finally emerging into the light. The possessions that tell so rich a
life story are now part of a permanent repository in the Kings Inns
Library, the James Gandon building on Constitution Hill Place
where she did her training and ate her regulation dinners. The
Spurlings’ choice of the place she loved and where she started
her milestone career was absolutely the right one for such an
important national archive where the more fragile items can be
carefully preserved for future generations. But it is also right that
the town she loved should now possess her story and own her
as one of their pioneers.

Acknowledgements and notes

In my research for my forthcoming biography of Averil, I am
indebted to two members of Greystones Historical Society,
Rosemary Raughter and Colin Love: without Colin’s help this
journey would never have started or progressed, and without
Rosemary’s guidance I would have stumbled along the way.
They made possible the initial contact with the Flynn family and
thus my relationship with Ossie and Betty Spurling. I am forever
in the debt of John and Rosa Flynn and the Spurlings (including
their redoubtable daughter Ruth who facilitated communication
between Greystones and England), whose endless kindness,
hospitality and patience has enriched every visit to Ireland and
all the links in between. Greystones is fortunate indeed to have
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