‘Gilla’ Skerritt remembered on new cycleway

FROM building improvised wind turbines using plane parts to making Super 8 films of his family, from providing the amplification for the Corpus Christi procession to shying away from mundane tasks on cars in favour of trickier jobs with radios or even toys, Gilla Skerritt was a unique man. This month North Clare pays tribute to one of the area’s great characters.

 

The name Gilla Skerritt is synonymous with the Lahinch Road in Ennistymon. Coinciding with the official opening of the newly complete Ennistymon to Lahinch cycle path, Clare County Council is installing a seat and plaque in his memory. The move was given the ok after a joint motion by Councillors Richard Nagle and Bill Slattery, who recollected the kind, fun-loving and multi-talented mechanic at a recent Ennistymon area meeting.

“Gilla was a man who operated a business on the Lahinch Road for 40 years. He was an extremely popular, talented and generous individual, who repaired cars, bikes and just about all electrical appliances at a time when money was extremely scarce. He was noted for his kindness, his generosity and much of his work was about giving a social service, rather than concentrating on personal profit,” Councillor Nagle said.

“When Gilla was running the business, very often his son, Tom, was with him and Paddy also worked there on weekends as well,” he added.

On Gilla’s retirement, his son, Tom, took over the running of the business. He recalls working alongside his father and believes he would be delighted to be honoured in this way.

“It is nice to hear that the seat will be dedicated to him. The first we heard of it was when the two boys told us they were going doing it. It is nice to be remembered. Everyone likes to be remembered,” Tom said.

The location of the seat in his father’s honour is particularly apt, he believes. “It is appropriate because bicycles were his big thing. He once got a special lamp in from England especially for bikes. It was like the light of a car nowadays,” he said.

Tom recalls his father’s fastidious approach to storage and care of such items. “He was great for getting tools. He used to send off to England for them but tools were treated like gold. If I put a tool in the wrong place, I would be hung for it. The tools had to be put back in the right place so you could find it when you needed it. In hindsight, he was right. I would drop it down on the floor and then be looking for it but it was a good example to have,” he admitted.

Gilla’s talents are remembered by many in the locality, not least Tom. “He was a gifted repair man. He was very lucky that way. For a man who didn’t spend too much time in school, he could repair anything. He started off doing bikes, then progressed to motorbikes then to cars and anything that needed to be repaired he did it: lawnmowers; clocks; televisions; even wiring houses. He didn’t specialise in anything though,” he recalled.

Gilla, whose real name was Patrick, opened his first garage in 1947. That building burned to the ground and he rebuilt a garage on the same site in about 1950.

“The cause of the fire was never discovered. He had no petrol pumps that time so they don’t know what happened but he got a lot of help from the community rebuilding and reopening the garage that time and he never forgot it,” Tom stated.

In many ways Gilla was ahead of his time. He embraced renewable energy and loved films, even making his own ones.

“He had a propeller of a plane rigged up on a pole at the back of the garage and he used it for recharging batteries for radios. It was like a wind turbine. There was a brake on it too, to stop it going too fast on a windy day. That time there were wet batteries in radios and he would have them lined up outside in order to charge using the propeller. I never saw it myself but he told me about it. I don’t know where he got the propeller either and I never asked him that,” Tom recalled.

“He loved Westerns, either watching them on television or reading them. He loved music. He didn’t have a note in his head; he couldn’t sing at all. My mother was a great singer. He used to travel to Liscannor to Paddy O’Donnell’s or the well, St Brigid’s Well, and would record all the lads singing.

“Photography was another of his passions. We have hundreds of his photos, nearly as many as Michael John Glynne, I’d say. He had a Super 8 cine-camera in the 1960s and he would film us. He kept the reels in the garage but a lot of them got damaged unfortunately,” he added.

As well as having a wide variety of interests and hobbies, Gilla had an unusual approach to his work.

“He didn’t fancy the mundane jobs, like servicing a car, that kind of job. He might be in the middle of a job and if a young lad came in with a toy car that needed fixing, he would leave the car he was working on and go at the toy and stick at it until he finished it. He used to have this saying ‘Try and try again boys and you will succeed at last’. He had fierce perseverance,” Tom remembered.

This was not the only phrase Gilla was known for, ‘Janey Man’ and ‘tomorrow for sure’ also featured.

“Fr Kelly used to put on short plays and he [Gilla] was in a play. He would have a saying ‘tomorrow for sure’. The play was about a rocket ship and there was a bit in it where there was a button which was broken and it needed to be fixed so one of the characters asked him when it would be done and his line was ‘tomorrow for sure’,” Tom explained.

Gilla died in 2000, aged 90 and worked in the garage “hopping in and out of the pit until he was in his 70s and 80s”.

Councillor Bill Slattery knew Gilla too and believes it is fitting to have a bench and plaque installed in his memory.

“Gilla was extremely popular and was well known all over North Clare. He was noted for his good humour, his kindness and his generosity. At a time when money was scarce, nobody was ever turned away from Gilla’s door, regardless of their ability to pay. We got approval from North Clare councillors and the local engineer to erect a bench and a plaque in his memory and I think it is only fitting he is remembered especially now. He was a marvellous man with his hands but also a great character.”