Retirement after 42 years of service

JOHN Skehan has witnessed several dramatic changes and developments in farming over the last four decades, yet he appreciates better than most how the value of a co-op has remained a constant presence.
In fact, business in agricultural co-operatives still remains brisk, despite the cold winds of the recent economic recession.
Sixty-three-year-old Mr Skehan has seen three generations of farmers conducting various business transactions at the Bridgetown Branch of Arrabawn Co-op, two currency changes and the advent of new technology, such as computers in agricultural stores.
His contribution to the farming community in South-East Clare was marked with a presentation in Tony Horan’s recently following his retirement, after 42 years of service, from the Bridgetown branch of Arrabawn Co-op.
The Kilbane father-of-one was one of the longest-serving employees at the busy Bridgetown branch following in the footsteps of the late Jack Duggan, who retired in 1971 after 47 years of unbroken service.
When Mr Skehan started in Bridgetown Co-op on April 15, 1969, he was fortunate to receive assistance from Mr Duggan, who quickly showed him the ropes.
Mr Duggan was an early riser, starting work at 6am getting the old coal boiler to generate enough steam to separate the milk from the cream. It was hard work and he would continue diligently completing all his tasks until about 1pm.
Back in 1969, Mr Skehan was both a customer and a milk supplier of the co-op when he heard that one of his neighbours, Benny Wilson, who worked there was retiring.
He put his name forward, met the committee and was duly proposed and accepted for the post. His first job was to empty milk tankers into a cooled collection tank. It was hard work as the milk stand was built to suit a horse and cart where the tankers could be easily rolled on and off this platform.
However, Mr Skehan quickly found it was much harder to take a milk tanker off a trailer towed by a car or a van, as this practice involved a double lift off the trailer on to the stand and then another lift into the collection tank.
The introduction of a milk pump system proved to be a godsend for employees and Mr Skekan was duly moved to work in stores in 1973. A new store was built in the mid-’80s facilitating the use of a forklift, which reduced the amount of heavy physical work even further.
This also helped provide more storage for a wide range of agricultural and hardware products attracting farmers and businessmen from Killaloe, Ballina, Birdhill, Kilbane, Bridgetown, O’Briensbridge, Clonlara, Truagh, Sixmilebridge and O’Callaghan’s Mills.
About 20 to 25 years ago, Bridgetown Co-op developed its business even further and started to sell farm machinery – transport boxes, yard scrapers, manure spreaders, creep feeders, meal troughs and water troughs. Equine matters became very popular over 10 years ago, prompting a large increase in the demand for horse feed and equipment.
When Government grants were made available for slatted units, Mr Skehan remembers that Bridgetown Co-op benefited from an increase in the demand for associated farm fixtures such as general barriers, feeders, dividing barriers, gates, cattle crush gates and steel piping for a few years.
He said non-farmers also came to the co-op on a daily basis for hardware goods, outdoor clothing and other items such as fuel, coal, briquettes and gas.
The daily banter and interaction with customers was something he looked forward to with a degree of relish, particularly on a Monday morning during the summer when GAA inter-county and club matches were in full swing.
The creamery section was also open on Sundays, which often involved a four-hour stint until the processing of milk stopped around 1990. While employees would be anxious to go to a big GAA match on a Sunday, most farmers tended to come a little bit earlier as they also wanted to head off to enjoy the action.
“I enjoyed practically every minute of my time in the co-op. There were very few days I didn’t enjoy working there. I met three generations of farmers and business people coming and going down through the years.
“I saw the ups and downs experienced by the farming community during previous recessions. “I appreciated the courtesy shown by customers during my time and the help of my colleagues, PJ Kennedy and Shane Fitzgerald,” he said.
The late Maurice Barry arrived to take up the position of manager in 1957 replacing Tom Sexton. Mr Barry continued in this role during the ’70s when Bridgetown Co-op was taken over by Nenagh Co-op and became Arrabawn until his retirement in 1992 when he was replaced by PJ Kennedy.
Mr Skehan hopes to spend more time growing a wide range of organic vegetables in his new greenhouse tunnel at the back of the house.
Back in the ’50s, every farmer grew their own potatoes and vegetables for their own family but also foodstuffs for their cows and calves to keep costs down. Nearly every farmer had a bit of tillage at this stage and Mr Skehan feels it is a pity that so much fruit and vegetables have to be imported into Ireland.
Married to Margaret, they have one son, Mark, who is now running a suckler herd and drystock replacements on the farm.