Athy's Credit Union

I’m returning to a subject I first wrote about 740 Eye’s on the Past ago, or to be perhaps more accurate in terms of time, 15 years ago.  Then Athy Credit Union was celebrating it’s Silver Jubilee and this week the celebrations are for the 40^th anniversary of this most unique of local institutions.  Over the years Athy has seen several financial institutions open and close and in our time we can recall the closure of the Provincial Bank in Duke Street and the Hibernian Bank in Leinster Street.  Further back the Local Loans Fund operated out of premises at Emily Square.  When it closed I cannot say, but I can recall it’s name painted on the facade of the house, visible, even if badly faded, as I made the daily trek to and from the Christian Brothers School in St. John’s Lane. 

Another long forgotten part of Athy’s story was the Athy Literary Magazine published in 1838 in which a local correspondent raised for what I believe was the first time the need for a Mont de Piete in the town.  Not quite a Credit Union, the Mont de Piete lent small sums of money to the poor on the security of pledges.  Very similar you might say to a pawn shop, of which there were a few in Athy at that time, but in fact the Mont de Piete was intended to be a more cost effective source of borrowing for those who needed it.  The Local Loans Fund was something in a similar vein.  How or when it was established in Athy I have yet to discover, but it does appear to have made a significant impact on the local population during it’s period of operation.

The Credit Union in Athy was established following a meeting in the Old Folks committee rooms at 82 Leinster Street on Friday, 17^th March 1968.  The meeting had been arranged, by whom I do not know, but in any event notice was given of a talk to be delivered by Michael O’Doherty of the Irish League of Credit Unions.  No doubt the talk was intended to raise the profile of the Credit Union Movement amongst the locals and perhaps lead to the setting up of a Credit Union Branch in the South Kildare town.

The need for Credit Unions in provincial Ireland 40 years ago may not now be so apparent when banking facilities are readily available.  Back in the 1960s however banking was the preserve of the select few and between the rarefied atmosphere of the local bank and the dismal interior of the pawn shop there was little or no alternative.  The Credit Union Movement offered to many for the first time an opportunity to borrow monies to meet emergencies or to plan for a better future.  No wonder then that Michael O’Doherty’s talk on St. Patrick’s night 40 years ago elicited a response which would result in the founding of a Credit Union office in Athy.

Every Credit Union branch operates under the guidance and control of it’s directors, all of whom are elected annually.  The first directors of Athy Credit Union were Jim O’Flaherty, Pat Fay, Richard Mulhall, Patsy O’Neill, Christy McMahon, Paddy Keane, Donal Murphy, Dermot Griffin, Jim McEvoy and John Quirke.  Some weeks later Paddy Casey and Frank English were co-opted to the Board of Directors.  Jim O’Flaherty, an official in the local Post Office, was elected the first Chairman, with the Vice-Chairmanship going to Donal Murphy.  Paddy Keane was the Branch Secretary, with Jim McEvoy as the first Treasurer and Patsy O’Neill as Assistant Treasurer.  Reading through the names of the first directors you will have noticed that the gender imbalance prevalent in Irish society of 40 years ago and for long afterwards was reflected in the Credit Union all male Board of Directors.  I am happy to record that in this, the 40^th year of it’s operation, Athy Credit Union is now headed and for the very first time by a female Chairperson.  Marian Foley of Bert, Athy is the current holder of the position and has the honour of leading the local Credit Union in celebrating it’s 40^th anniversary which commences on Thursday, 11^th September with Mass in St. Michael’s Parish Church at 8.30 p.m. followed by a buffet supper in Athy Golf Club.  I understand that a bus will bring guests from the Church to the Golf Club and an open invitation is extended to all members of the Credit Union to join in the celebrations that night.

The first directors appointed in 1968 spent almost 12 months studying and understanding how a Credit Union operated and visited other established Credit Unions to gain experience of practice and procedures in what was essentially a banking operation.  On Friday, 31^st May 1969 at 8.00 p.m. Athy Credit Union opened it’s doors for business for the first time using a room in the Courthouse in Emily Square.  The use of the one time Corn Exchange was made possible by Tadgh Brennan, the then County Registrar in Naas, who had started his professional career as a Solicitor in Emily Square.  At the end of it’s first year of operation Athy Credit Union could claim members savings of almost IR£5,000.

As the Credit Union business grew, more extensive premises than the one room then available in the Courthouse was required.  Towards the end of June 1971 No. 3 Emily Row, which in my very early years in Offaly Street was occupied by the Dempsey brothers and previously used by them as a delph shop, was bought by the Credit Union.  In the latter years No. 3 had been a sweet shop, operated by Mr. and Mrs. Brophy and as such competed with Kitty and Patty Websters’ shop two doors away, and Mona Sylvesters which was almost directly across the narrow street in Emily Row.   The premises was bought by the Credit Union from the Brophy family and for some years it’s business was carried out from the refurbished 3 Emily Row.  Further expansion of the premises was needed to cope with the increasing needs of the 1980s and this resulted in the purchase of the former Tierney family home at No. 4 Emily Row.  The two houses were then the subject of a major rebuilding programme to provide the up to date facilities available in the Credit Union building today.

The story of the Credit Union down the years has been one of continuing success and today it deals with savings of approximately €29 million and borrowings exceeding €16.5 million.  It has contributed enormously to the social and economic development of the town of Athy and nowhere is its influence better felt than amongst the many hundreds who for one reason or another find themselves unable or unwilling to partake of the services of the Irish banking conglomerates.  Congratulations and thanks are due to the many local men and women who over the last 40 years have made huge voluntary commitments to the Credit Union movement in Athy. 

We are now in the middle of the Athy Photographic Survey which commenced on Sunday last and great strides have been made by many people, particularly the members of the local Photographic Group in photographing events and happenings in Athy during the week.  It is hoped that as many local families as possible will get involved in the project by photographing at least their own family gathering or perhaps the house in which they live.  The Heritage Centre looks forward to getting as many photographs as possible of life in Athy during this one week in September so as to have for future years a photographic archive which will undoubtedly be of great interest to future generations of historians and townspeople.

Photographs / Athy Credit Union / Blessing of Geraldine Park

A further set of photographs from Athy's past is this weeks offering for the Eye on the Past.  Athy Credit Union was established in 1968 and the first photograph shows the directors of the Credit Union at one of the earliest Director's meetings.  The two young men at either end of the table were members of the local Urban District Council where Frank English still remembers a member.  Jim McEvoy has long retired from local politics and carries on a successful bar business at the top of Leinster Street.  The five other men should be well known, but see if you can identify them.

The second photograph is of the blessing of Geraldine Park sometime in the early 1950's.  I haven't been able to check out the date but I believe the occasion was the re-opening of Geraldine Park after the refurbishment of the pitch and the construction of the spectator embankments.  However, I would welcome hearing from anyone who can positively identify the occasion and confirm the date the photograph was taken. 

The priest blessing the pitch was the local Parish Priest, Canon McDonnell, after whom McDonnell Drive was named.  Standing with his right hand extended is John W. Kehoe who was a publican in Offaly Street and who for many years served as Chairman of the Geraldine Grounds Committee.  He was the principal organiser of the annual draw which the local G.A.A. Club ran for several years in the 1950's to raise funds for the refurbishment of Geraldine Park.  The first prize of a Hillman car and a caravan aroused great interest around the country as the Athy ticket sellers went from town to town during the summer months. 

The man on the right of the photograph is Fintan Brennan, District Court Clerk for Athy and a former member of the I.R.A. who was imprisoned during the War of Independence.  A former president of the Leinster Council G.A.A. Fintan was an important figure in the G.A.A. at club and county level.  The altar boys are not known, but if you can identify them I would be delighted to hear from you.

Eye on the Past 731

On Saturday, 11th November the local Golf Club will hold the 2006 Captains Dinner in it's relatively new Club House at Geraldine . The Captain this year is Ger Ennis. A low handicap golfer, he was honoured to be elected as the Club Captain during the Club's centenary celebration which commenced earlier this year with the holding of a Club Committee meeting in the offices of Athy Town Council. That meeting was a symbolic re-enactment of the first public meeting held in the Urban District Council offices in the Town Hall, Athy on the 30th January 1906 when the plans for the setting up of a Golf Club in Athy were first given a public airing. The meeting one hundred years ago was called by John Corcoran acting in consort with a number of local men. Because the records of Athy Golf Club have been lost, we cannot positively identify the other men involved but it would seem that they probably included M. J. Minch of Rockfield House, Rev. William Duggan a curate in St. Michael's Parish Church and Patrick Lynch who lived in the Abbey in Emily Square.

The formative years of the Golf Club were marked by the early retirement of it's first captain and the enforced resignation of it's second captain all within the space of approximately eighteen months. The Club quickly regrouped and continued to develop even if somewhat slowly for the first few decades of its existence.

Golf in the early part of the 20th Century was the preserve of the well heeled members of society and even the onset of the First World War which saw the enlistment of hundreds of local working class men had no appreciable effect on the local Golf Club. However, the enlistment of club member such as Dr. John L. Kilbride and Dr. Eugene Minch must have had some impact given the small membership of the club at that time. The remaining club members according to the report of the Irish White Cross played their part in the war effort by putting on amateur shows for hospitalised soldiers.

The course at Geraldine was constantly undergoing improvements but even as these improvements were put into place, the club suffered a decline in membership to the extent that it's continuing existence was in doubt. At a time when financial rectitude did not condone the borrowing of money, whether small or large, the club found itself with an overdraft. The monies owed to one of the local banks was quite small but those in charge of the clubs affairs were sufficiently alarmed to question whether Athy Golf Club could continue to operate. That crisis was referred to by Dr. John Kilbride in April 1938 on the occasion of a presentation to Dan Rice, retiring Headmaster of the Model School, a founder member of Athy Golf Club and for many years the Honorary Treasurer of the club. “Some years ago when it looked as if the Golf Club would have to close down, Dan Rice was the person responsible for securing for it a new lease of life” claimed Dr. Kilbride.

The financial storm was weathered and the subsequent history of Athy Golf Club was one of continuing success. That success was ultimately marked with the extension of the original nine hole course to become an 18 hole course and the erection of a modern clubhouse with restaurant facilities. It is a matter of record that the eighteen hole course came about as a result of a conversation between the clubs landlord Brian Tobin and the club's President, Denis O'Donovan in September 1990. This followed an earlier unsuccessful attempt to provide a nine hole extension to the course for which the Club purchased land which was later resold. Denis relates in an article he wrote for the centenary history of the club how they met on the 4th September 1990 as Denis was playing the old 8th hole and Brian was working in the adjoining field. The conversation came around to the “possibility of extending the course to eighteen holes” which could only be done with the agreement of the landowner who himself was a member of the Athy club. Ten days later Brian advised his willingness to provide additional land for the course extension subject to agreement on appropriate terms. The rest is history and is retold in the centenary history book which I understand will be launched at the Captain's Dinner on November 11th.

Denis O'Donovan's role in the development of the eighteen hole course and the building of the new clubhouse cannot be overstated. Denis has played a key role in the centenary celebrations of the club and in particular worked tirelessly for three or more years extracting newspaper reports of the clubs activities dating back to 1906, which in the absence of Club records were used when compiling the centenary history of the club. Denis came to Athy from Limerick in 1960 to work in the local asbestos factory believing that his time in Athy was to be of a short duration before he continued on to Dundalk. He finished his working life in Athy, retiring in 1995. A member of the Golf Club since 1960 he has served on the Golf Club committee and is a former Club President and Club Captain.

The membership of Athy Golf Club has increased enormously over the years. From the initial 15 or so men who made up the Club Membership in 1906, it has grown to approximately nine hundred and ninety members today. Perhaps one of the more significant changes over the years was the recent admission of females as full members of the Club. Another significant change, albeit one which came about gradually as Irish society prospered, was the welcome shift in the publics perception of golf and golf club membership as the preserve of the well off members of the local community. Athy Golf Club has a membership from all walks of life and is all the better for that.
Tonight (Wednesday) a talk will be given in the Town Hall, Athy starting at 8.00 p.m.by Zoltan Zinn Collis, a survivor of the Holocaust whose book,“Final Witness – My journey from the Holocaust to Ireland” has recently been published. Zoltan has an amazing story to tell and one which deserves to be heard. The name Collis is that of his adopted parents who were William Robert Collis and his wife. Robert Collis, as he was generally known, was one of three remarkable brothers born in Dublin all of who wrote books of commendable merit. John Stewart Collis, twin brother of Robert served in the First World War and during the Second World War was a farm worker who subsequently wrote of his experiences. His books which are highly recommended include,“While Following the Plough” and “The Worm Forgives the Plough” both of which deal with mans relationship with the soil. I first came across these books when they were recommended to me by a writer friend who in many ways is a kindred spirit of John Stewart Collis. I had earlier come across Robert Collis' autobiography “The Silver Fleece” written some time before the Second World War and also a play of his with the never to be forgotten title “Marrowbone Lane” which was specially written for the Marrowbone Lane Fund founded to combat T.B.. Robert was a paediatrician who entered Belsen in 1945 with a Red Cross team where he found the young boy, Zoltan Zinn whom he would take back with him to Ireland. The third Collis brother was Maurice who spent many years in India and whose writing was largely devoted to oriental topics.

The three Collis brothers were remarkable men of letters. John Stewart the Philosopher, Maurice the Orientalist and Robert the paediatrician and concerned medical activist have left an honourable legacy both in literature and in the arts.

Finally, I read of the recent death at 90 years of age of Jim O'Flaherty of Greystones. Jim was for a long time an official with the post office here in Athy. It was here that he met and married Carrie Glespen of Duke Street. He was a founder member of Athy Credit Union Limited and indeed was elected first President of the Credit Union by his fellow Directors following the inaugural meeting held at 82 Leinster Street on the 17th May 1968. It's remarkable to consider that in it's first year of operation savings in the Credit Union amounted to “almost” £5,000. Nowadays Credit Union savings are measured in millions and ensures that the objective of the Credit Union “to save together for the purpose of helping one another” remains a key element in its service to the community. Jim O'Flaherty and those other men and women who were involved in the setting up of the Credit Union will aways be remembered.

Eye on the Past 740

A further set of photographs from Athy's past is this weeks offering for the Eye on the Past. Athy Credit Union was established in 1968 and the first photograph shows the directors of the Credit Union at one of the earliest Director's meetings. The two young men at either end of the table were members of the local Urban District Council where Frank English still remembers a member. Jim McEvoy has long retired from local politics and carries on a successful bar business at the top of Leinster Street. The five other men should be well known, but see if you can identify them.

The second photograph is of the blessing of Geraldine Park sometime in the early 1950's. I haven't been able to check out the date but I believe the occasion was the re-opening of Geraldine Park after the refurbishment of the pitch and the construction of the spectator embankments. However, I would welcome hearing from anyone who can positively identify the occasion and confirm the date the photograph was taken.

The priest blessing the pitch was the local Parish Priest, Canon McDonnell, after whom McDonnell Drive was named. Standing with his right hand extended is John W. Kehoe who was a publican in Offaly Street and who for many years served as Chairman of the Geraldine Grounds Committee. He was the principal organiser of the annual draw which the local G.A.A. Club ran for several years in the 1950's to raise funds for the refurbishment of Geraldine Park. The first prize of a Hillman car and a caravan aroused great interest around the country as the Athy ticket sellers went from town to town during the summer months.

The man on the right of the photograph is Fintan Brennan, District Court Clerk for Athy and a former member of the I.R.A. who was imprisoned during the War of Independence. A former president of the Leinster Council G.A.A. Fintan was an important figure in the G.A.A. at club and county level. The altar boys are not known, but if you can identify them I would be delighted to hear from you.

Athy Credit Union

On Friday, the 17th of March, 1968 a number of local people came together in a room at number 82 Leinster Street, Athy. This was a house which in the past was occupied by the Duke of Leinster's agent but which was then used as a centre of activity for the old folks committee. Those in attendance had come in response to public notices which advertised a talk by Michael O'Doherty of the Irish League of Credit Unions and posed the possibility of a Credit Union for Athy.

130 years previously writing in The Athy Literary Magazine of the 6th of March, 1838 a local man cited the need for a Mont de Piete in Athy. He explained that the Mont de Piete was an institution for lending small sums of money to the poor on the security of pledges. The necessary funds were raised by a loan consisting of £5 debentures bearing an interest of 6% which could at any time be converted into money. After paying interest one half of the surplus profits was expended in refunding the principal and the other half appropriated for charitable purposes.

Reference was made in that letter to the only other Mont de Piete opened by Matthew Barrington in Limerick as a fundraising venture for Barrington's Hospital. "So manifest are the evils of the present system of pawn broking that it is truly astonishing that Mont de Pietes have not sprung up around the country" wrote the Athy correspondent of 1838. A Local Loans Fund had been established in the town some time previously with offices in Emily Square in the house now occupied by the Fennin family. This was a financial institution operated on lines somewhat similar to that of the present Credit Union. It's purpose as it name implies was to lend money to local people and thereby keep them out of the clutches of the pawn brokers and the unofficial money lenders.

The Mont de Piete was not established in Athy but when the meeting opened at 82 Leinster Street, Athy, on Friday, the 17th of March, 1968 there was a general acceptance of the need to have a Credit Union in the town.

The first Board of Directors nominated that night were Donal Murphy, Jim O'Flaherty, Pat Fay, Richard Mulhall, Patsy O'Neill, Christy McMahon, Paddy Keane, Dermot Griffin, Jim McEvoy and John Quirke. Jim O'Flaherty, an employee of Athy Post Office, and married to local girl Carmel Glespen was elected first President. Jim later appointed Post Master in Greystones is now retired and lives in that County Wicklow seaside town. Donal Murphy of Sunnyside then working in Minch Nortons was elected vice-President. Jim McEvoy was appointed the first Manager/Treasurer with Patsy O'Neill as assistant and Paddy Keane, another Minch Norton's employee, as Secretary.

The next twelve months was spent in studying the operation of Credit Unions and visiting neighbouring offices to gain experience of practices and procedures relating to what essentially was an alternative banking system. On Friday the 31st of May, 1969 at 8.00 p.m. Athy Credit Union opened for business in a room in the Courthouse secured with the help of the then County Registrar and former local solicitor, Tadgh Brennan. At the end of the first year almost £5,000 had been lodged as savings.

The business or as it was termed in Credit Union circles "the movement" developed to the extent that a larger and more accessible premises was required. Towards the end of June 1971 number 3 Emily Row which had been once occupied by the town weight Master, James Dempsey, and later converted to a shop by Mr. and Mrs. Brophy was purchased by the Credit Union. Athy Credit Union still occupies 3 Emily Row which was refurbished and extended some years ago. Further growth has lead to the purchase of the adjoining premises and this will be incorporated into the Credit Union premises in time. The Chairman in this the Silver Jubilee of Athy Credit Union is John Dooley and Ger Quinn is vice-President, Noreen Day is Secretary and Peter Barry, Treasurer. The offices which operated for some years with voluntary staff is now managed by the full-time manager Noel Brennan, assisted by Susan Page and Ann Howe.

The achievements of the Credit Union in Athy is reflected in the service which it provides for it's members. If the correspondent in the Athy Literary Magazine of 1838 could look forward to today he would no doubt express himself more than satisfied with the efforts of the volunteers who worked to make Athy Credit Union so successful over the last twenty five years.