The people of Fethard will witness the end of an era in a few months time when the town's popular postmaster Barry Connolly retires after over 30 years service in the role filled by four generations of his family.
An Post has advertised the contract for a new Fethard postmaster after Barry informed the national postal operator in recent weeks of his intention to retire.
Barry originally planned to retire at the end of next year when he turned 60 but has decided to go a year early after he and his colleague Audrey Devine suffered the frightening experience of a robbery at Fethard Post Office on May 27. Two people were charged in connection with the crime in early June and are now before the courts.
“The more I thought about it, I thought now is as good a time as any to go, so I put the wheels in motion,” he told The Nationalist.
While Barry feels the time is right to retire, he knows he will miss the job when he goes, particularly meeting customers.
“What I most like about my work is dealing with people, especially the old age pensioners who visit the post office on Fridays. It's a very busy day, and it's the day I enjoy the most. It's great craic, and the banter starts straight away in the morning and continues throughout the day,” he says.
He has worked at Fethard Post Office for over 40 years, joining his late mother Anne behind the counter at the age of 17 after completing his Leaving Cert.
Barry became the fourth generation of his family to manage the town's post office when he took over from her as postmaster following her retirement in the 1990s.
His own retirement will mark the end of his family's 110-year-long association with Fethard Post Office.
His great-grandmother Nanette Goldsbrough was the first family member to work there.
“Her sister Rita Morrin was appointed postmistress in 1916, but she was bedridden so Nanette ran the post office,” Barry explains.
Nanette went on to take over as postmistress and was succeeded by Barry's grandaunt Mary Goldsbrough, who ran the post office up to her death in 1977. The baton then passed to Barry’s mother, whose own mother Margaret (Peggy) O'Neill was postmistress of Rosegreen Post Office. Peggy’s mother-in-law Eileen O'Neill preceded her as Rosegreen's postmistress.
Barry says Fethard Post Office has been in the same premises on Main Street over the past century, though it has been situated in three different parts of the building during that time. The building once housed the local telephone exchange that employed a number of people and five postmen were based at the post office until their transfer to Clonmel Post Office in 2013.
Just as technological advances brought an end to telephone exchanges at post offices in the 1970s and 1980s, Barry has experienced huge changes in his work due to the digital revolution over the past 40 years.
“When I started there were no computers. All the (social welfare/pension) payments were done manually.”
He remembers the dole dockets given out to recipients with their payments on Thursdays and the pension books and manually totting up and balancing the payments that went out using calculators.
"Now you just swipe a card to receive your payment and all the information is added up and stored on computer,” he says.
Other big changes have been the decline in letter post due to the convenience and speed of emailing and the huge increase in the volume of parcel business due to the growth in online shopping and selling of goods.
Barry says they get many people calling in to the post office to collect parcels purchased from such websites as Vinted.
And he points out Fethard Post Office has become in recent years an important community banking service.
Barry doesn’t have an exact retirement date yet but estimates it will be sometime in the autumn.
An Post says it has canvassed local businesses who might be interested in taking over the town's post office as well as advertising the contract.
“We have a number of expressions of interest to hand and are confident of coming up with a suitable partner who will build on the long tradition of post office service to the town and people of Fethard,” said An Post spokesman Angus Laverty, who thanked Barry for his years of service at Fethard Post Office.
Barry says once An Post appoints a new operator of Fethard Post Office there will be a transition period of about two months where he will hand over the reins to the new contract holder.
Fethard Cllr Michael 'Chicken' Brennan has paid tribute to Barry and his late parents Anne and Jimmy on providing an “exceptional service” to the people of Fethard for decades.
“Their commitment to the community is deeply appreciated, and I want to acknowledge the professionalism and dedication they have shown throughout their years of service,” said the Labour councillor.
Cllr Brennan said An Post Retail Operations Manager Pat Cremins confirmed to him that An Post is fully committed to maintaining a post office in Fethard and that there has been strong interest from potential operators, which is encouraging for the continuity of service.
Check out this story in this week’s edition of The Nationalist now on sale in local shops.
1. Fethard Post Office retirement
Retiring postmaster Barry Connolly with his late mother Anne in Fethard Post Office during her time as postmistress. | Anne Marie Magorrian