Picking up the pieces.

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As today was the monthly date for paying my council tax I decided to go into town by bus and visit the Council House.  Now that I am eligible for a bus pass it's a good reason for leaving the car in the garage.  As  I went to catch the bus going to the railway station and which  passed the Council House I spotted Denis Catling waiting at the same bus stop. He worked in the same office with me at Massey Ferguson and I had not seen him since I had been made redundant in 1992.  He did not recognise me at first,  which I mused might be because he was at MF for another 6 years after I left there, but soon got himself into focus and we conversed for the short journey to where I got off the bus.

When I asked if he had a computer or was on the internet he remarked that he was a "dinosaur".  Two years previous to being made redundant I was told that I was being put onto a computer course,  it didn't happen.

There's a pattern emerging here, could MF have been saved if instead of spending money on American business so called gurus, they had enabled their employees to protect the future of the company by updating their skills.

Sadly lack of vision from top management played a major part in the demise of tractor manufacturing in Banner Lane. Going back to where I started its clear that if you get on the bus at the right time you will make the connections that help you to put the jigsaw together and you will still also get to where you want to go.

It's vital to get on the bus at the right time.

Frank Toner

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Frank Toner was what you would call a 'raconteur'. He lived in a council cottage on the outskirts of Castledawson just off the Magherafelt road. This cottage backed onto the railway track which was hidden by an embankment. There was little traffic on this line during the fifties while we were growing up in aughagaskin and there was a short cut to Frank's house along the railway. Frank had been a friend of my father's for many years and they often went together to follow the Derry Gaa team all over the north.

After these matches he would often call to our house, and he, my father and Barney McKenna would relive and replay the whole game late into the night. Although McKenna's had a large house I dont remember these discussions ever taking place there. Frank spent a lot of time working on local farms in particular O'Kanes. When we were potato picking we would meet up with him at McKennas, Bradleys or Johnsons.

I think Frank was responsible for me taking a keen interest in horse racing. Bookies were illegal during the fifties but there was one in Castledawson where Frank used to put bets on and I was familiar with all the top trainers and jockeys long before I left school.

Out of America

When my mother's aunt Minnie came home from America things changed around cregnadovesky. She returned during the summer while I was on my annual vacation to my grandparents home. It was the late fifties. At this time my grandfather had already died and my grandmother was living in her home with my uncle Patrick and his wife and my mothers uncle James. His lot was vastly improved when Minnie arrived. She had money in the bank and everyone knew it. I was despatched frequently into Carrickmore to Campbells pub to fetch his Guiness come rain or shine and it was more often rain.

I would arrive back sometimes on my uncles bike soaking wet with the required tipple.

On Sundays Minnie,James and my grandmother would set of to church in Carrickmore in John Donaghey's taxi. I walked there usually to a later mass taking the short cut around by Begley's.

In earlier years when my grandfather was alive I would sometimes walk to church with my grandmother and when passing an impressive 2 storey house near to the the church my grandmother would say "someday I'll have a house like that". Some coincidence that a few years later her nephew Lee Mallaghan sold his business share and bought an even bigger house in Maynooth Co. Kildare called Carton House (now with 2 top class golf courses)

She nearly got it right. Minnie wanted a 2 storey house built so it was done,but she moved in there with James. My grandmother never really settled in cregnadovesky after this return from America and sometime after I left for England she moved down to live in my mothers house in the Broagh, Castledawson. I'm sure she would not have chosen this course of action but she was probably happier in the end without the 2 storey.

YouTube - joe echo where we wanna be

YouTube - joe echo where we wanna be

Bill's

Every year when I stayed at my grandparents home in Cregnadovesky we spent some time at 'Bill's'. This was a small farm somewhat similar to my grandparents but lower down the mountain. The farm had been owned by a William McKernan, who left the farm in his will to be shared between my grandfather and James Harvey a local farmer and close neighbour. Whenever one died the other would own the farm. Unfortunately my grandfather died first.

Up to the time of my grandfathers death we would spend days saving the hay as this was the main preoccupation for farmers in this area in the summer. The farm was about a mile away so took some time to walk, past the farms of McCartan's, Kelly's, Conway's and Slaines along a winding country lane. From a small hill adjacent to my grandfathers house you could see all the way to Carrickmore 2 miles away and to the farm at Bill's. When the dinner was ready my granduncle James would stand on this hill and blow a whistle(like a referee). This was the signal for us to return.

Today the farm is owned by the Martin family who were related to the Harvey's and were left it in James Harvey's will. The Martin's lived on the other side of the mountain and was one of the places I used to go at night with my granduncle James, wandering through the heather and climbing over the stone walls in the dark. It could have been frightening but I got used to it over the years.

Rainey Endowed Alumni - Home

Rainey Endowed Alumni - Home