Offaly woman celebrates 100th birthday at party in local hall

COOLDERRY lady Maureen Hanley is the latest centenarian in the parish and on Thursday of last week, she welcomed everyone to her birthday party which was held in the local hall.

Her great friend Fr Kieran Blake made the return journey from Bodyke in Co. Clare to celebrate a beautiful special birthday Mass where he was assisted by Fr Arnold Rosney Co PP Birr. St Ita’s Church choir added greatly to the occasion with the church packed with Maureen’s relations, neighbours, fellow parishioners and friends who came to celebrate the wonderfully happy occasion with her and with her daughter Mary.

It must be something in the Coolderry air, or maybe the water, as Maureen has now joined the centenarian club along with her neighbour Eileen Hynes who is just two months shy of her 108th birthday. Eileen, who attended the Mass, and Maureen chatted away to each other afterwards.

Born on October 6th 1924 in Ballyeighan to Thomas Errity and his wife Mary Corbett, Maureen was the middle child in the family of three, with her sister Kathleen born first and her brother Tommy the youngest. Maureen recalls how her father Tom was a talented landscape gardener, his work taking him all over the country but it was while working at Ballyeighan House that he met local woman Mary Corbett.

Maureen was born into the GAA from day one. Her father Tom, she recalled, was a former Dublin footballer who won five All Ireland football medals. “There was always talk of sport in the house and about matches,” she said. Her mother Mary was the cook in Ballyeighan House, home to Studholmes at that time. Her brother Tommy won six county medals with Coolderry and was a standout hurler with Offaly teams in the 50s. Indeed, he shared a distinction with Wexford great Nicky Rackard having once scored seven goals in an inter-county match and Joe, her nephew, was also an All-Ireland medal winner with Offaly.

“Unfortunately,” says Maureen, “both Tommy and Kathleen are gone now”.

Maureen attended school in Ballyeighan and unlike so many of her generation who didn’t attend secondary school, she went to Birr Vocational school (now the Outdoor Education Centre), until she was sixteen years old. “It was a simple life,” says Maureen “but a very happy life. People back then hadn’t much but made the most of what they did have. People helped each other out a lot more than they do now and shared with each other a lot too. We use to walk to Kilcolman Mass across the fields,” she said.

Maureen always had an eye for the latest fashion and for fine clothes and when she left school she quickly found work in Kavanagh’s ladies drapery shop in Connaught Street in Birr where she remained for the following thirteen years cycling in and out in all kinds of weather.

So it was no surprise then when Maureen related how she met her future husband. Loving sport, and the game of hurling, she went to a match one evening in the local hurling field and it wasn’t long before she spotted a handsome young man, Joe Hanley, who caught her attention almost immediately. The Hanleys too were immersed in Coolderry GAA.

Love blossomed and when she met Joe at a dance in Oxmantown Hall sometime later, she knew he was the one for her.

They were married in Kilcolman Church in 1953. After her marriage, Maureen settled into life as a housewife and looking after her daughter Mary who arrived a few years later.

With Mary growing older, Maureen took up work outside the home doing holiday relief in Clarkes of Roscrea and also by helping out in The Tower Restaurant, in Roscrea, over the years.

Although Maureen learned to drive and did drive for a few years,she preferred to let “the man of the house” do the driving and after Joe sadly passed away on December 3rd. 2005, it was daughter Mary that took on the job of driving.

An avid Bingo player in her younger days, she also helped to run the Bingo in Coolderry many years ago. These days she likes to sit and watch Maura & Daithi on TV as well as watching Last of the Summer Wine. She also loves all things GAA and going to hurling matches right up to present day and sometimes even a football match! She is certainly a familiar figure in the GAA pitches and even in Croke Park when Offaly are playing, regardless of the grade. Maureen is also a regular at the Blackbull Threshing where she prepares the hamper that is raffled off and she never misses a year.

And as for what she credits her longevity to, “Going to matches” replies Maureen without missing a beat. She also mentioned that she goes to Mass weekly and says her prayers every day. She also loves to attend Knock when she can go and she loves to go to the shops too, especially clothes shops. “Just keep going, don’t think about your age and don’t drink or smoke,” said Maureen.