BY KATE HEANEY
WELL known Letterkenny man Liam O'Neill retires from Carpet Interiors, Mountain Top next week having spent most of his working life in the carpet business. Work colleagues presented him with a cartoon at a special function last weekend which captured Liam's well used catch phrase "did you know my mother came from Derryreel"?
Born in the old station house in Letterkenny, Liam's playground was the train station until the untimely death of his Station Master father John, when Liam was only eight. From then on his mother Annie (nee Sweeney), who of course we know, was from Derryreel, moved to the Port Road with her three children and kept boarders to boost the family's meagre budget.
"Money was scarce and I don't remember any houses having bathrooms. There was no bathroom in the station house and I can still remember my mother bathing us in the sink and getting dried in front of the fire.
"It was a really big deal to get to the matinee in La Scala Cinema which cost four old pennies. I can still remember cattle going up the main street and horse-drawn hearses. The site here at the Mountain Top where Carpet Interiors is now was just a wilderness back then," Liam recalled.
One of the highlights of his childhood years was seeing a boat arrive at the port. He and his neighbours the Pattersons would rush down to see the "big ship" and find out where it came from and what it was carrying.
"We weren't very long out of the station house when the last train, the number 12, pulled out of the station for the last time. You would hardly recognise the town now it has grown so much. There is a lot of prosperity around but I'm sure there is poverty as well, even if it is hidden."
Liam is probably better known around the county for his musical talent rather than his carpet sales and fitting.
In his early teens he learned to play guitar and formed his first band The Vampires. They played parochial halls when men and women stood on opposite sides of the hall.
The second band he helped form was the Marine Showband which then evolved into the Ascots. When it came to an end Liam joined the Classic Showband but gave up when it began to travel down the country as the DeeJays. He holds the honour of being the first man on the dance floor of the Fiesta Ballroom when it opened.
"The opening night of the Fiesta was huge with everyone in the town there to see the lovely new dance hall. Myself and Chrissie Patterson, Billy's mum, were first on the floor. She pulled me out onto the floor. I had no choice so we were the first couple to dance in the newly opened hall. I always enjoyed dancing but you don't get as many opportunities now, only at dinner dances and weddings," Liam said.
Since starting work at Carpet Interiors 25 years ago Liam stopped playing in a band and he doesn't even own a guitar anymore. His grandchildren have never heard him play, he realised.
Liam met his wife of 43 years in the old Golden Grill dance hall which was located where the Chinese restaurant on the Port Road is today. Agnes, from Drumoghill, was a waitress and later became a cook there.
"Agnes and I went dancing at the Fiesta and I remember well getting told off for dancing too close to Agnes, I had my arms around her. Changed times now. If there was even a smell of drink off people, the doormen would not let them into the dances."
Liam and Agnes were married on 8 April, 1964 and were only the second wedding reception to be held in the Golden Grill. They have three children, Shane, Aidan and Paula.
FATHER AND SON
When Carpet Interiors opened at the Mountain Top 25 years ago Liam began working as a fitter. He then became a sales man as the business expanded enormously during that time.
The former general manager, the late Fini Geraghty took Liam's son Aidan under his wing when he joined the company as a carpet fitter and began grooming him for management. Today Aidan is the General Manager of the store.
"I have no problems having my son Aidan as the boss. We agreed from the outset he would call me Liam instead of Dad at work. We have a great rapport and get on well," Liam explained.
He added that he has no plans made for his retirement next week but he was looking forward to walking down town from their Ard Colmcille home and having time to meet and chat with people.
"Retirement itself will be a bit of a challenge although I'm sure Agnes will find plenty for me to do. I like travelling and holidaying in warmer climates. I retire on the Friday, my father will be dead 57 years on the Saturday and I will be 65 on the Monday," Liam concluded.
