25th July, 2002
Last week was a very busy one for yours truly. On
Thursday night it was down to Crosshaven for a Ford week night.
It was really the place to be. I never realised that so many
people read the Douglas Weekly. I left the marque at about 10.30pm
to go to the loo, and I must have taken about 15 photographs on
my way, shouts of, “Michael, have you got your camera with
you?” greeted me every couple of minutes. I finally made it
back to the marque after about an hour. So, if your photo isn’t
in this weeks issue, don’t worry, there’s a backlog -
watch this space!
The next day, Friday, we had a wedding, when my nephew Rory O’Hanlon
from Ballincollig, married Valerie Scanlon from Turners Cross.
Another late night on Friday.
On Saturday evening it was down to the Rochestown Inn, where Gary
O’Donovan and staff laid on a huge birthday party to
celebrate their first year running the ‘Inn. Gary, those
spicy sausages were hot, but a cold beer from the bucket of ice
was magic! The weather was beautiful and a great family day was
had by all. Don’t miss Jim McCann in the Rochestown Inn this
Friday night.
After leaving the ‘Inn, I called to Douglas GAA Club where
the man from Galway, Brendan Byrne, was celebrating his wedding
anniversary with his wife Geraldine. Again more photos. Donie
Caulfield was playing the music, and I would love to have stayed,
but the two previous hectic nights had taken their toll, so one
pint of shandy later I was only fit for bed. It’s a tough
job, but somebody has to do it!
Last week, when I was getting a cup of coffee in O’Brien’s
Irish Sandwich Bar, a woman with two children called me over. She
introduced herself and asked me if I could do anything to
highlight the lack of amenities in Douglas for teenagers,
specially 13 to 15 year olds. I have been writing about this
situation for the past few years. We have a huge young population
in the Douglas area, and it will continue to grow. I know some
people have been seeking skate-boarding facilities for the past
year, but nothing has happened. If anybody has any suggestions I
would be happy to print them. Somebody told me that the County
Council take about €4,000,000 in rates, service charges, etc...
from Douglas every year. What goes back? About 10%, the rest
probably goes down to make West Cork more beautiful for the
Americans, who never came! The local sports clubs and association
do great work with the children and teenagers, and the generosity
of the clubs in providing their halls for residents meetings is
greatly appreciated. I called to a businessman friend of mine the
other day and he asked me to print this question, “Has
Douglas lost it’s sense of community spirit?” That’s
a tough question. I remember when we first moved to Shamrock
Lawn, over twenty years ago, we had a very active and vibrant
residents association - and once a year, at Christmas time, we
had a party for the residents. A great idea, where people made
friends and enjoyed a night out with most of their neighbours.
But alas, the same few people were doing all the work, collecting
the grass cutting money, the estate clean-up, some people never
paid (’that’s the Council’s job’, they said),
some people never turned up at the clean-up (again, ‘it’s
the Council’s job’, they said). To be fair to the
Council, they can’t do everything! The local lads do as much
as they can do. We should practice a little self help. Anyway,
eventually the association died. Twenty one years later we now
have another three estates within Shamrock Lawn, Elm Drive,
Oakview and Alden. Perhaps it is time we all came together under
one umbrella group with representatives from Elm Drive, Oakview
and Alden joining representatives from Inchvale to form a
Shamrock Lawn Residents Association. After all, two voices are
louder than one. Think about it and if you care about our estate
be in the Douglas GAA on Thursday night, July 25th at 7.30pm. Let’s
have a voice for our estate. Even if you don’t live in
Shamrock Lawn, whether it be Broadale, Frankfield, Donnybrook,
Grange, Rochestown, you may make new friends and that’s what
life is all about.
Speaking of community, the last two weeks in Douglas have been
sad ones. We lost some of our friends, neighbours, people we knew
well on casually. Our sympathy to the families of Joe Miller,
George Lynch, Brendan Cremin, R.I.P. On Sunday my wife told me
that Denis Murphy was prayed for at mass. i did some checking up,
and I learnt that my landlord at Douglas Mills had died on
Saturday evening. I first met Denis Murphy a few years ago when I
began doing interviews with people I felt had a story to tell. I
called to the office to ask Denis if he would talk to me and tell
the readers about the history of the Mills and the Murphy family.
He agreed and i called down with a dictaphone a few days later.
Denis told me about his father, who played a prominent part in
the fight for our freedom many years ago. He told me stories of
his life, his experiences in the mill down through the years,
people he had met, some he had liked, some he didn’t. It was
a great interview. I took it back to the office to have it typed.
I called back down to Denis a few days later to have him check it
out. Denis read it and at the end he said “Jesus, did I say
all that; if that’s printed, I’ll have to go and live
in the Australian outback.” “Tear it up and I’ll
give you a sanitised version later on.” I never did another
version with Denis. Denis was very eloquent. He spoke at Frank
Downey’s 70th birthday party, where he paid tribute to the
mill workers. At the launch of Billy O’Callaghan’s book
“Tales of Old Douglas” Denis was a natural speaker.
That great voice flowed like a mountain stream, always
entertaining, never boring.
Last year, I called down to ask Denis if he had any property I
could rent. The Weekly was growing and it was time to move. A
week later I had the offices next to Denis’s office. I’d
like to think we became friends. He had a great sense of humour.
One day I was in the office and he called in and asked me to come
into his office. ‘I’m going to make you a millionaire”
he said. “A lonely hearts section in the Douglas Weekly!!”
“The London Times has a huge section filled with lonely
people, and you could do the same.” We spoke for about an
hour over a cup of tea (Denis always has a china cup for a cup of
tea). I knew Denis was ill and receiving treatment and when we’d
pass in the hall I’d ask him how he was “I’m going
to beat this, you know.” Well, Denis you fought the good
fight, you never gave up. I admired your gallant courage. At the
church on Monday night I saw Ministers, millionaires and mill
workers. I met Tom Doran at the gate of the church and I asked
him if he had worked in the mills. Tom’s reply was “ 15
years and Denis was a great, great boss”. Then he swallowed,
and turned away to walk behind the church. With the passing of
Denis Murphy, Douglas has lost a gentleman and a friend, and
Douglas Mills will never be the same again.
Bye for now, Michael O’Hanlon
PS: To the youngsters, Jordan, Daire, Aimee and Melanie who I
photographed on the green on Sunday. The picture is blurred so if
you call to my house with your posters I’ll snap you again.
PSS: Good to read that the Pfizer workers are to get a rise, due
to the fact that most of their customers also do. Think about it!!
