Andy Redican’s memories of being a local correspondent for over 50 years

How time does fly? It is hard to believe that more than half a century has passed since I first put notes together for the Drumkeerin Notes.

I believe it was 1969 when I started to gather notes and handwrite them, ready for dispatching to the Leitrim Observer.

I gave them to the correspondent, who signed them and posted them. They would arrive on Tuesday morning in the Observer office.

Most local notes were handwritten then. So one can only imagine how busy the typists were to get them ready for print.

I continued to compile the notes each week for the correspondent until late 1971.

I had a neck/spine disc injury and I wore a collar around then. For a few months towards the end of 1971, Frank Kielty, a fellow teacher, compiled the Drumkeerin notes to be signed by the correspondent and sent in.

From then on I sent them in myself. If memory serves me right I believe the Leitrim Observer was published, at that time, on Thursdays.

Eventually, Monday was late for posting. So I sent the notes with a work colleague, who was travelling home through Carrick-on-Shannon, each evening from work.

When the publishing day for the Observer changed to Wednesdays, there was an earlier time for the notes to arrive. It was Monday morning.

Fortunately, the late Anne McHugh R.I.P. was working in the Leitrim County Council office. She became the most willing and reliable carrier of my notes, as she went to work on Monday mornings.

Anne was a real lady. So too was her mother, Mary B. Each Sunday night I arrived with the notes. There was no getting away without the tea.

Shortly, I made no effort to get away. I was looking forward to the chat for Mary B was a wealth of knowledge about years gone by around Drumkeerin.

She had a marvellous cure for burns; for which one of my family is grateful. After applying Mary B's cure a number of times, there was soon full healing with no trace of where the burn was. God rest Mary B. She was a lovely person, full of fun, knowledge, witty and generous.

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Drumkeerin was buzzing with activity. There was much local employment. Arigna Mines, the Power Station, afforestation and the County Council provided work. The Vocational School, following 1967, the numbers of pupils and teachers doubled. At that time few were travelling far to shop, so local shops were doing well.

Drumkeerin Development Association was formed in 1969/70. Drumkeerin G.A.A. club was reformed in 1974. The local I.C.A. and Drama group were active. Then came the Friendship Club in 1999.

It was a time when there was much fundraising. So we had plays, variety concerts, festivals, sports and local dances. Creevelea Hall was the centre of activity.

It was a great time for the local correspondent. There was much to write about and every household got the Leitrim Observer every week.

A couple of weeks ago I was reminded that I used to have a piece each week under the heading ‘Tit Bits’. My reminder suggested that I should bring it back.

I asked him if he wanted me to be ending up in court. “Why court?” said he. “It's a different Ireland now,” I replied, before adding, “Compensation my boy.”
Johnny shook his head. “That's the world now. Pity. Fair play to you, it was good craic. Something different every week. We were looking out for it.” “Yea,” I answered, “I must have had a sense of humour then.”

People abroad bought the Leitrim Observer every week. Immediately they searched for their own local notes. Social media has changed much of that. However, there are people who still search for the local notes.

Last year when I was in hospital I had a phone call; the caller wondering if I was unwell, because there were no notes in for a number of weeks.

Since I started compiling the notes way back in 1969, I have written about many happy events. I have recorded many sad ones too.

I endeavoured to write something positive about those who passed on. For those far away it gave them a picture of the person who died. Sometimes relatives have come to me and told me it helped their grieving.

I have enjoyed my years, writing up the notes. I realised I was giving an important service to the community.

For more than a decade I have been emailing the notes to the Observer. I am not too good on the computer but I manage to put the notes together by one-finger typing.

In those later years getting the notes away was a focus for me. However, I realise that the time has come for a new Drumkeerin Correspondent. So I can sleep in that bit of time extra on a Monday morning.

I have found all the staff in the Leitrim Observer always most helpful and obliging, squeezing in a note that came to me late.

So I thank them most sincerely. And I pray that in this time of great change the Leitrim Observer will remain as a ‘must read’ in every household.

I thank especially Claire McGovern, Editor. She was always so courteous and helpful. Donal O'Grady, Deputy Editor, was so helpful, considerate and understanding. It was through him the local notes arrived at the Leitrim Observer. Now Frankie Smith is taking up that role, most obliging and patient.

Somehow I missed the opportunity to offer my gratitude to Gerard Taylor when he retired. He was a pillar on which the Leitrim Observer rested for many decades.

The Covid-19 virus was a tough time for all associated with the Leitrim Observer. For us correspondents there was little to write about. For Claire, Donal and staff it was particularly tough to keep the Observer going.

We must thank them for ensuring that we had an Observer each week. Which reminds me how much we looked forward to the Observer when I was a little fellow.

When the older people had devoured all that was in every page, my brothers and I loved to search the paper for the advertisements which usually had a picture going with the advert. Then we would try to copy them. If it was a picture of an animal, like a horse, dog, bull or cow, we would cut them out and they became our farm animals.

We looked forward to the Observer coming each Thursday. My sister, who was working in Ballinamore, brought the paper home with her.

Then we had some neighbours come to a céilídhe that night. And inevitably, at some time, one would enquire: '”Any news in the Observer Maura?” as she was then, looking through the paper. She would read out articles that she knew that would be of interest to them.

At that time, among the older people, there were ones who could not read or write.

Today, many of us older people are in a similar position. We are IT illiterate. We are encouraged to do everything online. There is much talk about “age friendly.” There is a great concern that each village or town is age friendly.

Fair play to the County Councils for their concerns. But supposing an older person arrives at a desk at 2.10pm to tax the motor car, to be informed, we finish at 1.00pm: The tax office is closed 2:00 to 4:00pm. “You see you can tax online, you know.”

The Gaelic Athletic Association's success has been built on loyalty; loyalty cultivated by the older members of the society, parents, teachers, club officials, people who marked pitches, stood at gates and doors for the G.A.A.

Recently, many of those could not go to the Sunday match. Entrance to the match had to be sought ‘online’. No bother! If you knew someone who could get you a ticket online. Supposing one knew no one to get the ticket online.

And he sets off. ‘Sure I've been going to matches all my life nearly 80 years. They'll know me.’ That person arrives to find stewards in their high-vis jackets outside demanding “Have you a ticket?” “Sure I'm coming here for almost eighty years.” “No good. You have to have a ticket.”

The old man, humiliated, walks slowly away. The heart and soul of the G.A.A, for almost 80 years, walks away ashamed, confused, broken.

Why do I wander away from the local newspaper? It is because I fear that modern society, so preoccupied with social media, will soon forget all about the printed media. Then we may lose our local papers like the banks, the post offices, etc.
People will read everything online.

I praise Claire and her staff at the Leitrim Observer for producing a most attractive Observer each week, covering all sport, farming and topics of interest as they occur and entertainment - wonderful coverage.

Keep up the good work!