Local Heroes: It’s hard to keep a good man down

Not everyone can say that they were buried alive and lived to tell the tale, but Newtownards native, Vincent Adair can. 40 years ago in 1982, Newtownards native Vincent Adair was buried eight feet underground in Trim for almost five days in a make-shift coffin - where food and drink were lowered to him though small openings at the top – to raise money to fund his Ard Ri of Trim campaign at the time as well as other local charities.

The long-term Trim resident says he “enjoyed every minute of it” and the media attention it attracted back then. “I did it to raise money and to be a bit of a show-off,” he laughs. And he enjoyed it so much that he repeated the experience in 2008. “If you give people a bit of a laugh, then they are more likely to give you a few pennies,” he says.

These days the 77-year-old spends much of his time in his adopted town as a volunteer where he is renowned for working tirelessly with the Tidy Towns Committee, Men's Shed, Meals On Wheels and Trim Tourism Network.

He is arguably best known as his ‘alter ego,’ the unofficial town welcomer 'Sir Laughalot’ who stood outside Trim Castle pre-Covid, day-after-day dressed as a Knight to welcome visitors to the town and pose for photos with tourists.

This character came about following his dear wife Maureen’s passing in 2016, when he needed to throw himself into something new. “I was getting depressed moping around the house,” he says and ‘Sir Laughalot’ was very well received from the start.

“It was all good fun and I got thank you messages on Facebook from people all over the world,” he says of the character that he is really looking forward to revisiting this summer.

Each weekend morning, Vincent can be found spending at least two hours litter picking in Trim, taking in areas from the Town Hall to Aldi and back up to Lidl when he typically fills half a bag of rubbish a day. “I have a coffee with whatever colleagues are about and then I head home,” he says, “It gets me out of the house and I enjoy meeting people. Why would I want to sit in the house? I enjoy a giggle and a laugh.”

Mid-week, he has his little Yorkshire Terrier ‘a Godsend’ to thank for bringing him out of the house for walks. Other mid-week activities include his work with the Trim Men's Shed, which he enjoys immensely. He spends many mornings there making tea and honing his hospitality skills as he looks after everyone involved.

Vincent speaks very fondly of his late wife Maureen ‘a great woman’ who he shared a ‘long and happy marriage’ with. The couple had four daughters together Tanya, Katrina, Michelle and Gemma with two girls in London and Tanya and Michelle living in Drogheda and Trim respectively.

The family move to Meath back in the early 80s, arose from issues in Northern Ireland. “I was a Catholic, but my second name is Adair which is predominantly protestant,” he says. “We were living in Belfast and I was working for Michelin Tyres and all of the back windows of our house were broken one night – because we were Catholic. I didn't want my kids growing up in that atmosphere so we moved back to Newtownards and I had a driving job and worked in hotels at the weekends. Then we got a threat to burn us out of our home.”

Shortly after moving to Trim, Vincent joined the Tidy Towns Committee as he figured that it was a good way to meet people. He was subsequently named Volunteer of The Year in 2016 and 2018. His advice to anyone is: “Volunteering is a great way to get out and about and meet people – especially if you are new to an area or living on your own. Don't just sit in the house – get out there.”

The lively Co Down native is proud to recount that throughout his working life, which started when he left school at aged 15, he has had 36 different jobs including working as a barman, nightclub attendant, lorry driver and a karaoke entertainer – and he has enjoyed every single one of them. He is inherently proud that he has been on stage with the American Drifters and Frankie Valli and has sung karaoke in Las Vegas. “I will do anything for a laugh really and there are a few more years left in me yet!” he says with his usual energy and enthusiasm and a glint in his eye.

As Michael Hughes, chairperson of Trim Tourism Network puts it: “People like Vincent Adair fall into that one in a million category of folk that give 100% of themselves to passionately promote and help their community in any and every way….. Trim would be a lesser town without Vincent, cultivator of smiles!”