Fond farewell in Ratoath for retiring postmistress

The community of Ratoath turned out in huge numbers last Thursday and Friday to pay tribute to Claire Dolan, who retired as postmistress in the village after 40 years service.

Claire began her career in the post office 40 years ago, working alongside then postmaster, her uncle, the late Tommy Dolan, and took over as postmistress herself 34 years ago.

Claire closed the doors on the post office at 1pm on Friday, bringing an end to the Dolan family's association with the post office. A new facility opened up in Supervalu on Monday at 11am.

Claire says it was a job that meant she got to know everyone and made many friends, which was very evident last week when the local community rallied round to wish her well.

The local community and the local business community made surprise presentations to her on Friday evening at the switch on of the Christmas lights.

"They caught me on the hop," she says. "It was lovely."

The post office itself was extremely busy on Friday morning as people streamed in to wish Claire well on her retirement. "Everybody was so kind. They came in to wish me well and said they hoped to see me again - which they will."

Claire grew up in Ratoath, the daughter of Margaret and the late Paddy Dolan. The Dolan family are a very old Ratoath family and Paddy was the local butcher in the Main Street. His son, Paul, now runs the business.

When Claire went to work for her uncle Tommy, straight after school, the post offie was located in her great-grandparent house, an old famine era mud hut on the corner of the Well Road.

"It was a very small building, but then we only had a small community - there were just 500 people living in the entire Ratoath area at the time," she recalls.

When Tommy retired, Claire took over as postmistress and Ratoath was beginning to grow.

Claire built a new post office beside her father's shop and moved into it in 1991 and has been there to this day.

"I enjoyed the social aspect of it. I knew everyone that came in the door and then when new people came to live in the area, I got to know them and their families.

"It was very much a social job in those days, it wasn't all about hard cash and I enjoyed looking all the pensioners.

"Now the Post Office is very like a bank. There have been a lot of changes. Everything is electronic now and a lot of our pensioners are getting their pensions paid into the bank.

"Mary Carr came to work with me in 1995 and became a life-long friend and my sister, Miriam, who works with me is my right hand.

"My family has always been very good me - my mum, Margaret, my daughter, Mairead, Dad was very good and so were my other sister, Margaret and brothers Paul and Padraig.

Claire has seen a lot of changes in Ratoath over the years.

"There has been so many houses built and the population has grown.

"There have been the opening of the new schools, the community centre, scouts den, the GAA has a huge establishment and has been a great supporter of the community. We also have Fairyhouse, I live quite close to it."

Claire is looking forward to retirement. "My daughter and I have always been very interested in horses and dressage, so I intend doing more of that. I'll probably take a little holiday and then I'll see what my plans are.

"I love my garden and I love golf and yoga, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy. There is a great community in Ratoath and lot of organisations that I hope to get involved with now,"she says.