Charles Kennedy, 1943- 2024, an appreciation

In early June this year, the town of Castlepollard lost a well respected and popular resident, the late Charles Kennedy, RIP.

Despite indifferent health in recent years, Charlie remained quite active and celebrated his 80th birthday with his family and many friends in Mick Comiskey’s late last year.

In the months before his passing, his health deteriorated and following long spells in hospital, Charlie died peacefully at his residence in Church Street surrounded by his loving family.

Charlie was born in 1943, the second son of Michael and Alice, both natives of Ballycomoyle. Michael, a barman by profession, who had been interned during the War of Independence, purchased the late John O’Farrell’s public house on the Square in 1935 and in 1941 married Alice Rooney. They had four children – PJ, Charlie, Michael and Larry [RIP].

The Kennedy family resided on the premises and Charlie grew up observing and listening to the tales told by the various characters that frequented his father’s pub during his childhood and youth.

In 1959, aged 16, Charlie left Castlepollard to train as a barman in Dublin.

He began his apprenticeship in Larkin’s Bar in Dolphins Barn, later moving and eventually ended up as head barman at the Terenure Inn. Charlie loved those years he spent in Dublin and retained fond memories of his employers, customers and the many friends he made during his stay in the capital.

In 1970, Charlie returned home and took over the running of the licensed premises from his father.

Within a few years of his return, Charlie met a young hairdresser called Marian Masterson, a native of Toneyowen, and in 1977 they were married.

After residing at the Corner House for a year or so, Charlie and Marian moved up to Church Street and it was there they raised their three children – Joy, Andrew and Ian.

Charlie and Marian were a hard working couple and between them they built up two successful businesses. Kennedy’s pub developed a reputation for good drinks and plenty of entertainment, musical and otherwise. Long before it became common, traditional Irish music was always available at the weekends in their popular public house.

Marian managed to balance rearing their children alongside running one of the most popular hairdressing saloons in the district.

In 2003, Charlie called time on his bar keeping days and joined the staff of St Peter’s as a care assistant. The residential centre catered for adults with profound mental disabilities and, though caring for those people can be extremely challenging, Charlie found his new career rewarding and for the first time in his life, he enjoyed regular working hours – which allowed him more family time.

He gained the affection of both staff and residents with the care and attention he gave to the residents he looked after.

In 2012, Charlie retired from St Peter’s and busied himself with historical research, reading, and minding his grandchildren when required.

With advancing age, Charlie’s health began to suffer and he grew less mobile, but he carried the best he could without complaining or feeling sorry for himself. His family were extremely supportive and did all they could to assist him, as did his carers, especially Augustine.

After Charlie’s funeral, a neighbour from his days in Dublin recalled how popular Charlie had been at his lodgings. His landlady discovered that Charlie was a dab hand at stitching and sewing, a skill he had acquired as a lad while visiting his uncle, the Tailor Kennedy. From then on, he was in constant demand, especially by the ladies, for alterations and repairs to various items of clothing.

Despite the fact that he had hands the size of small shovels, Charlie was a gifted tailor and there is no doubt that if he had entered the rag trade instead of the pub trade, Louis Copeland would have had a serious rival.

Over his fourscore years, Charlie amassed a large body of knowledge on various subjects. He enjoyed cooking and was fond of making Dublin Coddle. A keen gardener with an encyclopedic knowledge of flowers, Charlie was happy to plant all kinds of seeds and bulbs and relied on Marian to do the necessary weeding.

Carpentry held no fear for him and he enjoyed renovating his public house every so often and made major alterations to his premises practically single-handed.

Charlie had an insatiable curiosity about the past and loved nothing more than researching elements of Castlepollard history. He was proud of the fact that Kennedy’s licensed premises had a strong association with the Castlepollard Massacre of 1831. He was conscious too of the fact that the past of his childhood was vanishing and collected many of the old poems and songs written locally before they were lost forever.

With Charlie’s death a host of other characters have now also departed the scene. As befits a man who spent a lifetime behind the bar, Charlie had numerous affectionate and comic anecdotes about many of the old and long departed customers. He was a marvellous mimic and because he knew the characters so well had no problem copying them and bringing them back to life. Now that he is no longer with us, they too have gone.

Charlie has left a legacy of great memories, many friends and a family who will always cherish his memory.

By Bill Ryan