Ballymahon notes correspondent calls time after 36 years

That’s certainly the case with Dermot Sheehy who, after 36 years at the helm, has stepped down from his role as Ballymahon notes correspondent.

Dermot submitted his final batch of notes for the town for publication two weeks ago, printing a very heartfelt thanks to the local community and all those who assisted him over almost four decades.

“My father, Paddy, was the local correspondent for 30 years. He got sick and I stepped in for a while and that while turned into 36 years. I just carried it on. It just went on every week for a long time,” Dermot told the Longford Leader.

In the late 80s, the role was a very different one to what it is now. Internet, email and social media weren’t a thing and everything had to be done manually.

“When we started first, we’d write out the notes by hand,” Dermot explained, noting the help of his wife Valerie over the years.

“We used to do the marts at that time and the price of cattle and stuff. That’d be taken off the radio, so we’d have to record it and go back over it. It was a lot of work - especially if you’re not a farmer, which I’m not.

“Then everything moved to the computer and we’ve been emailing the notes for the last ten years. We used to fax them before that and prior to that we used to have to drive in to Longford with them or get someone to bring them in.

“I was caught up every weekend with doing notes. But everything is nearly all phones and internet now.”

Over the decades, there have been countless stories that have ingrained themselves in Dermot’s mind, with deaths of young people standing out as particularly difficult.

“Even over the last couple of years, there have been a lot of sad deaths,” he explained.

“And even last year some of my own friends passed away and we wrote about them. You have to keep your ear to the ground but when you’re out and about people would give you stories. But you’re also like a PRO for nearly every local club. Writing about weddings, deaths, people going away, births.

“It was nice doing wedding announcements and celebrations and it was always nice to have people coming and thanking you for covering events. It keeps you involved in the community.”

Naturally, there are challenges that come with holding such an important position in the community for such a long time. Changes to the newspaper industry - and therefore the method of collecting and submitting notes - took some adapting but Dermot and his wife, Valerie, took it in their stride.

“The change from handwritten notes to typed notes was a bit of a challenge,” Dermot reflected.

“Only for Valerie and her typing skills, I’d have struggled. I’d write them out and she’d type them.

“Another challenge was getting information or notes in. We had to ring up a few people for that. During Covid, there was a big lull in the notes because there was nothing happening.”

Changes to the industry as a whole are one thing but Dermot has also seen a number of changes to the Longford Leader itself, with a change from broadsheet to tabloid, and the rise of the digital era bringing news directly to phones and computuers via the website.

“There have been a lot of different editors and a lot of different staff members in that time too,” he said.

“Lucius Farrell was the editor when I started and then Eugene McGee took over. After him was Joe Flaherty and then Sheila Reilly and now there’s Alan Walsh. I knew all the previous staff members too. A lot of them have passed away, sadly.”

And, of course, Ballymahon itself has grown and flourised over the last 36 years with monumental changes to the development over the town, even in recent years with the opening of Center Parcs and the announcement of €6.6m for the ‘Pobal le Chéile’ regeneration project.

“Ballymahon has changed a lot in those 36 years,” said Dermot.

“Back then there used to be 17 pubs. There are only six now. Ballymahon is a completely changed town. You see big changes to Main Street.

“I was born on Main Street and we had a pub there. It used to be where the chipper is beside Diffley’s,” he added.

A Ballymahon native to the core, Dermot went to school in the local National School before moving on to the Vocational School for secondary education. That’s not to say he’s never left the town, though. In fact, he has been all over the world.

“After school I went to work with PV Doyle Hotel Group. I worked in the Montrose Hotel, the Burlington Hotel and the Green Isle Hotel,” he explained.

“Then I joined the Merchant Navy and worked with the cruise ships and travelled the world with my brother, PJ.

“We’d leave from Southampton and we’d go out to France and onto Port Everglades, then Canada, Mexico, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Honolulu, Auckland, Sydney, coming home by Melbourne, Durban, Capetown and back to Lisbon. We used to do tours out of Sydney to Nagasaki and Hong Kong. We’d do tours from Southampton as well to Naples, Istanbul, Athens.

“I came back to Dublin and worked with the Kevin Molloy Group before coming to work with Longford County Council as a rates collector. I worked there for nearly 40 years,” he added.

Dermot and Valerie have four children - Yvonne, Enda, Claire and Niall - and six grandchildren, the youngest of whom was born over the Christmas period. He’s also close to his siblings, Rosette Owens, Eamon and PJ.

While he will have more time to himself without the responsibility of the notes, Dermot has plans to continue his usual weekly routine and activities.

“I play golf twice a week and we go walking every morning. There are some lovely walks around Ballymahon - the canal, the woods, Corlea bog,” he said.

“There’s five or six of us who go golfing every week - Andrew Nally, Jimmy Lennon, Joe Burke, Tom Allen, Charlie McGrath, my sons Enda and Niall and my brother PJ.

“In the early days, we used to enjoy playing squash in Carrickedmond for a number of years. I enjoy playing badminton too. And I enjoy getting out to socialise.”

In his final submission to the Longford Leader, Dermot expressed his gratitude to all who sent in notes over the last 36 years.

“Whether it was something small like a missing set of keys or perhaps a major charity fundraiser I always appreciated your input,” he said, “without it my submissions would have been very small and I apologise for anything I may have omitted.

“Many thanks to the lovely, friendly staff at The Leader, past and present, for the help and patience they afforded me over the years. Many thanks also to all the people who called to the house with information, sent me texts or emailed me from all parts of the country and sometimes from abroad and of course many inputs for the notes would be from people when I was out socialising.

“I also wish to thank the many people whom I would have often rang over the years looking for more information on particular items; their help was very much appreciated.

“The most difficult and heart breaking part on many occasions was writing about sad occasions such as people’s deaths, be it a young person, someone who died following an accident, sudden deaths or people whom I would have known personally.

“ Finally thank you to my other half, Valerie and my family for their help with the Notes over the years. I wish the best of luck to whoever might be taking over my position now and assure them of any help they may need.”

The Longford Leader would like to thank Dermot for his immense contribution and we wish him all the best for the future.