Per-Ake Jansson’s wife, Berit, joined him on a number of his early trips to Birr and the Swedish couple are pictured here with Mrs. Kelly from Kelly’s Bar on the Green in Birr in 1974, which was a popular haunt for members of Birr Stage Guild.

A Swedish love affair with the town of Birr

When Per-Ake Jansson arrived in Birr from his native Sweden in 1973 for the annual Vintage Festival it was the start of a lifelong love affair with the heritage town which would last for half a century!

In fact, so impressed was the soft-spoken Swede with Birr and its people that he returned over 70 times in 50 years and was eventually bestowed with the honour of becoming a Freeman of Birr on one of his many trips.

The remarkable tale of how Per-Ake Jansson came to fall in love with Birr was recalled this week by Sean Hanniffy who, along with his wife, Deirdre, and family formed a lifelong friendship with the Swedish native and his wife, Berit.

Per-Ake passed away in a nursing home in Stockholm on November 12 last, in his 88th year, and his wife, Berit, passed away two days later, but the Hanniffys only learned of the deaths when Deirdre and her niece, Sonya Lucey, travelled to Stockholm last month to visit the couple.

“Because of Covid we hadn’t seen them for the past four or five years, but we were in touch regularly,” says Sean Hanniffy, “and when we didn’t hear from them for a while, Deirdre decided to ring Per-Ake’s wife, Berit, who had suffered a stroke, and she said he had gone into a nursing home and that he wasn’t in good health.”

When Deirdre Hanniffy arrived in Stockholm on November 15 last with her niece and managed to find the nursing home, they were devastated to be told that Per-Ake had passed away three days earlier. “Then they decided to ring Berit, but they couldn’t get any answer from her phone and what we didn’t know at the time was that, sadly she had also passed away,” says Sean.

The late Per-Ake Jansson is pictured with Deirdre Hanniffy during one of his visits to Birr.

Per-Ake Jansson arrived in Birr in 1973 “purely by accident” according to Sean Hanniffy who explains that he was holidaying in Ireland and saw an ad for a Vintage Festival in Birr “so he decided to come to Birr for the festival and the rest is history.”

Not only did the young Swedish man become a great friend and supporter of the annual Vintage Festival, but he also completely immersed himself in Birr Stage Guild and was a great patron of Birr Theatre and Arts Centre.

A keen amateur photographer, Per-Ake was seldom seen in Birr without his beloved camera and he took “hundreds of photographs” at the Vintage Festival and other events in Birr, according to Sean Hanniffy. On his return to Stockholm, he would meticulously send the photographs back to everyone he knew in Birr.

“In his early years here, he used to stay with Mrs. Vaughan who had a B B on the Square, and eventually he stayed with us in Oxmantown Mall and we became such great friends over the years that he attended family weddings and many other gatherings that we had,” recalls Sean.

A popular haunt for the members of Birr Stage Guild in the 1970s was Mrs. Kelly’s pub on The Green and Per-Ake Jansson spent “many great nights” among the talented members of the Guild at their post rehearsal get-togethers. “He loved the craic and the Irish sense of humour and he really fell in love with Birr and its people,” says Sean Hanniffy.

One of his greatest honours was when he was made a Freeman of Birr on one of his frequent visits to the town, with the plaque being presented to him by Frank Egan from Dooly’s Hotel.