Death of retired Navan shopkeeper, Colm Walsh
To mark the passing of Colm Walsh of Walsh and Kealy over the weekend, we reproduce this nostalgia piece from the Meath Chronicle's Inspire magazine of December 2015.
Turtle soup, paté de foie gras, escargots and caviar. Not the typical Christmas fayre you’d expect to find in local grocery stores in Ireland in the 1970s. But then again, Walsh & Kealy’s wasn’t your average grocery store. The Navan delicatessen and bar was an Aladdin’s Cave for rare and exotic foods long before the term artisan had even been invented.
Colm Walsh and the late Bill Kealy opened for business on Market Square in 1960 after they bought the building at auction for a sum of £3,200.
“The shop had been called Brady’s and was owned by two sisters, Rose and Maria, who sold everything,” remembers Colm, who is about to turn 91 in the coming weeks.
Walsh & Kealy’s fast became the destination for the working-class as well as captains, colonels and titled ladies for both the staple and more select ingredients for the table.
“I remember at Christmas, We would get in 36 dozen hams which we would then cut up to order. They would take up the whole floor space of a room upstairs,” Colm says. “We’d have to import the red and black caviar from Russia for some of our customers during the festive season. “Other delicacies included turtle soup, pea soup, bamboo shoots, escargot and vintage champagne from France. We would have been stocking those foods from the late 1960s to early ‘70s. “At that time, some of the biggest employers were the Bard Walsh’s furniture factory and Spicer’s who had four shops as well as the bakeries. I remember when the bread was delivered in the back of horses and carts,” he adds.
Long before the advent of health shops, Walsh & Kealy’s was the place to go for frozen goat’s milk and carrageen moss, which used to be given to both humans and animals for respiratory ailments. Prunes were also bought for their medicinal qualities. One rule Walsh & Kealy’s abided by was to never open on a Sunday, even when the busiest day of the year fell on the Sabbath.
“We’d close a half day on Thursdays and every Sunday. We never opened on a Sunday, even if it was Christmas Eve,” he recalls. Also known as ‘The Clinic’ by those suffering hangovers, Walsh & Kealy’s downsized the bar over the years and eventually closed it at 6pm each night. “Most of our clients drank a bottle of Guinness or ale and a ‘half-one’,” Colm recalls.
At Christmas, the normal takeaway for people was for a half-dozen Guinness and half-dozen Harp or Smithwicks. A bottle of whiskey, vodka or gin, was also a saved-up treat for most.” Forget Heroes or Celebrations. In the ‘80s, the pick of the bunch was a box of Milk Tray or Roses and a tin of Afternoon Tea or USA biscuits. It was only in late 1980s that a more diverse range of biscuits came into force, led by the revelation that was Chocolate Kimberley.
“We’d be run off our feet at Christmas Eve and used to work until 11pm as most shops in the town would. There’d be a great atmosphere. The tree would be on Market Square and people would dance around it, especially on New Year’s Eve when it proved to be a gathering point to ring in the New Year,” Colm says. Walsh & Kealy’s was also a first in terms of desserts and Colm remembers being one of the only ones to start selling raspberry ripple ice cream.
“One man was sent back in with some by his wife because she thought it was someone’s blood in the icecream!” he laughed. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, home bakers and chefs alike from all over Leinster used to travel to Navan to pick up some of the imported ingredients for their Christmas cakes and puddings.
“The window used to be full of orange, lemon and citrus whole peel which we got in from France; red, green and yellow cherries, prunes, crystallised ginger and pineapple as well as whole muscatel raisins and choice sultanas which came from Turkey and Australia. “In just a few weeks, all were snapped up by people coming from as far away as Wexford and Dublin in order to make their Christmas puddings and cakes.”
The Navan nonagenarian’s background was always in retail. Born in 1924, Colm was one of nine children of Christopher and Emily (nee Ward). He grew up at 12A Watergate Street, where his father was a watchmaker and jeweller - a trade handed down to Colm’s brother, Robbie, who died in 2010. At 16, Colm started an apprenticeship in his uncle Paddy Ward’s shop and bar on Watergate Street, where he found the going tough.
“It was hard work. I got paid two (shillings) and sixpence a week. For this, I often had to go to Drogheda on the train and carry back a two-gallon crockery jar of whiskey. I had to haul it up the hills in Drogheda, onto the train and then down from the station in Navan to Watergate Street,” he remembers.
From this, he secured a job as manager of grocery in James Sheridan’s department store. “At that time, all payments were made by putting the money in a little shell and using a pulley system to transfer the cash down to the office,” he explains.
“Them were the days where you had to serve your time to have a trade. There’s no such thing anymore as a shop assistant learning about weights and measures or different cheeses or anything like that. Now everything is packaged.”
When he first opened Walsh & Kealy’s, “you could buy 40 bottles of stout for £1”, he adds. “Navan was full of great characters and there was always a bit of craic in the bar, especially around Christmas time.
“There were a large number of grocery stores and shops that sold absolutely everything in the town at that time. One shop even had baby chicks in the shop window where they got the heat of the sun to grow. When they got a bit bigger, they were transferred out the back,” he says.
Another feature of Christmas Colm remembers was winning the Meath Junior Championship with Navan O’Mahonys in the snow. “I played with them all - Parnells and the O’Growneys growing up. Navan O’Mahonys was founded in 1949 and that year we won the Junior Championship. I remember I was playing as a forward against Drumree, It was December and it was snowing. It was such a bitter cold and mucky day that the only ones cheering on the sidelines were the subs. We won by three points as far as I remember.”
Colm was also a referee and umpired the Meath Senior Championship in 1950 that saw North Meath beat reigning champions Skryne by two points. “I remember that match well because there were four Carolan brothers on the North Meath team which was, I’m sure, unique for a family,” Colm recalls.
He also remembers refereeing a championship match when his watch stopped in the second half. “There was a chap who used to always come into the shop to me on a Monday after a game and berate me for playing a couple of minutes over or under time. I blew the whistle to start the second half and when I looked at my watch again, I realised it had stopped. I had to guess the time to blow the full-time whistle.
“No-one said anything and, the next day, the same chap came in and told me I was spot on with the time! Well, I laughed that day.” Now about to celebrate his 91st birthday, Colm will spend Christmas with his wife Patsy, five daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren. Although it’s 21 years since he retired, he still gets visits from old customers who love recalling the stories of old Navan.
- Louise Walsh Ferriter
Funeral arrangements
Colm, who died on Saturday, is survived by his wife, Patsy, daughters Yvonne, Martina, Patricia, Louise and Niamh, sons in law Michael, Donal, Trevor, Eoin and Padraic, grandchildren, brothers in law, sisters in law, nephews, nieces, relatives & many friends.
He is reposing at his home, Abbeylands, Ratholdran Road, from 2pm to 9pm on Monday and from 2pm to 9pm on Tuesday with removal on Wednesday morning at 9.30am to arrive in St. Mary's Church, Navan for Funeral Mass at 10.30am. Burial afterwards in St Finian's Cemetery, Old Athboy Road, Navan.