Sitting in his flat in Fishwick, Jimmy Gilmore is a man with a few tales to tell from his 72 years of life.
The tattoo on his arm is a mark of his days in the Merchant Navy and, around the home, there are statues and tributes to his Roman Catholicism.
Jimmy grew up in the Ardoyne, the Catholic area of Belfast, where times were tough and life was a struggle.
Raised by his single mother - his parents separated when Jimmy was 12 - Jimmy was soon to become the man of the family, leaving school to support them.
He says: "We were the original key-behind-the-door family. Mum was working and I was at school. I always tried to get in first to light the fire because if there was no fire on there was no hot water."
But, although Jimmy was committed to supporting his mother, finding work was difficult as a Catholic.
"In the late 40s and 50s if you were a Catholic, even with an education, and a Protestant applied, they always got the job," he says.
Jimmy married his wife Ann, a Protestant, when he was 27, and the couple went on to have three children and 11 grandchildren.
Family values were strong and Jimmy carried his Irish Catholic traditions through his family life.
The children were educated as Catholics and, although Jimmy rarely attends church these days, he says his identity will always be as an Irish Catholic.
For the full feature see Thursday's Lancashire Evening Post.
>> Vote in our latest web poll
