Retired Killeigh postman looks back
“I was born in 1942. My parents were Joe Plunkett from Quarrymount and Brigid Lynam from Killurin. I have two sisters, Carmel, married to Brendan Ward in Durrow, and Dolores, married to Joe Lee in Tullamore. My late wife Brigid's family, the Phelans, came to live in the village when she was six years old so we grew up together, went to school together and sometimes went to work together.
Pat Mitchell who worked in Cloonan's Hardware, Tullamore, was great for a lift as he had a new Ford Anglia car at the time. For us, it was like going on a private jet. Back then I was working in North Offaly Co Op and Brigid was working across the road in Toohey's chemist. The only other option was to cycle to work, so we preferred the luxury option of Pat's car.
My job in the Co Op finished in 1967 on a Sunday morning. I was over playing a handball tournament in the handball alley when I was called home to find that my mother, aged 62, had died suddenly. From being a shop assistant on that Saturday, I became a postmaster on the Monday.
Myself and Brigid got married in 1969 and had four children. Tony is married to Harriet in Tullamore, Derek is married to Imelda in New York, Linda is married to Adnan in Dublin and Alan is married to Elizabeth, who also lives in Tullamore. I'm blessed to have nine grandchildren.
Brigid and I ran the post office together until it closed in 2014. In the early days of running the post office I also worked part-time with Brigid's father, Frank, doing a fruit and fish round, delivering to shops. I worked as a meter reader for some years as well.
In the beginning there were two postmen, Mick Kearns and Jimmy Moran, at the post office, and when Jimmy retired I got the job. Delivering the post started on a bicycle and then later a Honda 50 and then moved on to a van when I worked in the sorting office in Tullamore Post Office, until I retired in 2007.
I also spent some lovely Friday mornings covering Walsh Island Post Office. Over the years it was a most enjoyable and satisfying job that I could wish for.
One of the perks as a youngster, when my mother had the post office, was that I got great enjoyment from listening to the phone calls that came through on the switchboard. I'd be listening as my mother would make the connections, trying not to make a sound.
My mother started in the post office in 1940 taking over from her two aunts, the Lynams, so the Killeigh post office was in the Lynam and Plunkett families for almost 100 years until its closure.
I have great memories of when Offaly GAA came to fame in the 80s and 90s. I ran a bus to Croke Park for all the matches. The fare was £2.50 return back then - the bus company and bus driver did well out of it, and I didn't do too bad myself either!
What great days they were. I recall on the journeys home there would always be a pit stop under a tree on the Naas Road, where the men would stop for a pee with no worries but the women had to hold out until they got back to Killeigh.
Other memories of Killeigh include the dances and the carnivals; seven nights a week of dancing to top bands, Donie Collins, Joe Dolan, and Gallowglass Ceile Band to name but a few. Dancing went on from 9pm to 2am.
In hindsight, which you wouldn't get away with today, five strings of barbed wire ran around the marquee to stop people getting in without paying. Luckily it never had to be evacuated, or God knows what could have happened.
I remember one local fella, one night in particular, had a bit of a swanky look about him and a new pair of trousers that were bought for the occasion. Anyway, he climbed the fence to avoid paying, tore the 'arse' out of the trousers, and had to go home. Needless to say, he didn't try that again.
The annual sports day was also a massive occasion. People came back to Killeigh to meet up with a great gathering of friends and school pals and many stories were told, and possibly a few lies thrown in too of how they were getting on, but they were great times.
Then when we got the Macra hall it was hive of activity, for dances, quiz nights and badminton and the youth club for the younger ones in the village was all held there.
Hurling was of course the number one sport back then and, after several years of trying to win a final, the team I was on finally won the Junior county final in 1967 and celebrations went on for many a day after.
My first drink was at the age of 20. After drinking orange for many years in McEnroe's bar, one evening I went outside and came back in and my drink tasted a bit different from what I was used to. My good friend Billy was after putting something stronger into it.
They were different times back then. I went home to my Mother to confess and then on to the parish priest to tell him I broke my pledge. He replied 'don't worry Joseph, I'll sign you up again'. That was November and I replied 'Fr Donohue you couldn't leave it until after Christmas?' But little did he know I didn't say which Christmas!
The great loves of my life have been my family and my grandchildren but finally I would like to add the two most important ladies throughout my life were my mother and my wife, both called the same name, Brigid Plunkett.
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