POPULAR PAIR Noreen and Tom Hopkins, Ballyhaunis, relaxing together a few years ago.
Farewell to a remarkable Ballyhaunis couple whose welcome and kindness were legendary
People and Places
Michael Commins
THERE are some of us who will never feel at home in shopping malls or big stores. We prefer the more gentle pace of the small shop where people have time to stop and chat. The world of big business holds little appeal for many people going about their daily routine. At the end of the day, it all boils down to that sense of place, the soft light falling on the vales of our mind from where echoes the sweet songs and memories of our youth.
One always felt welcome in Hopkins’s shop in Ballyhaunis. It was ‘lived in’ and of the people. Tom and Noreen were there to welcome you. A chair was placed in the corner for whoever wanted to rest their limbs. From early morning to the veil of night, the world came and went within those walls. Stories from the farming hinterland mingled with the great news stories from overseas. Many partook of the elixir of wisdom at this University of Life.
Tom died in recent days, four years after Noreen bade farewell to this world. They had closed the shop in 1997 and availed of some pleasant years of retirement. But they remained special in the hearts of many who cherished the memories of happy times in their gentle company in Ballyhaunis town.
Many were the friends who came to pay their tributes and share in the reminscences. Martin Joe O’Toole made it all the way from Louisburgh, an effort much appreciated by the family. Old stock know each other in a special way.
In keeping with tradition, Tom was waked in the home he loved so well. He got a great send-off, and numerous were the people who attended the funeral ceremonies at the family home and in St Patrick’s Church. Peace to his gentle soul.
Back in 1997, on the occasion of the closing of the shop, I wrote an article to mark the passing of an era in Ballyhaunis. In this week’s column, I include a somewhat edited version of that feature story as a tribute to Tom and Noreen and their contribution to the life of the town and district for almost 50 years:
TOM and Noreen Hopkins’s shop was a veritable institution in the town of Ballyhaunis, and, when they decided to call it a day earlier this year, few needed reminding that a part of the old town was slipping quietly into the pages of history.
Hopkins shop was on ‘our way’ into town. It was home to shopper, talker, raconteur, storyteller, friends and strangers; only that no one felt much of a stranger after spending a few minutes inside the door .
Nowadays, we have these big shops and corporate take-overs and all the choice in the world. And yet we are missing something that these super-chains can never aspire to – that sense of community and belonging and being part of what we are.
Tom and Noreen epitomised the spirit of the family-run shop. They opened their premises on October 14, 1950. It was an exciting time and a great time to be from Mayo. The county pride was bursting at its seams, as Mayo had won the All Ireland a few weeks earlier – a feat they would repeat the following year.
Tom had just married Noreen Waldron from a few doors up the street. Noreen certainly hadn’t far to travel. The Hopkins name had first become associated with Ballyhaunis as far back as 1913 when Tommy’s father, Daniel, came in from Laraganboy to set up his own shop in Upper Main Street. The venture continued until the War Years when the shop closed down.
Hopkins’s shop was one of the first in the town to sell bottled milk. At that time most people had their own milk supplies, and some said there would never be a great demand for this product! Tom recalls that Denis Mooney from up around Glenamaddy was the milk agent at the time. “There were eight or nine shops in the Upper Main Street part of the town back in those years. It was like another small town in itself. All the shops were doing nicely, and we all had our own customers.”
From early morning to late at night, Tom and Noreen heard the people of the district discuss the news of the day, the price of the cattle and sheep, the triumphs and tragedies, the good news and bad news, the sporting exploits and political upheavals, in fact the whole merry-go-round of human life.
Local man Seamus Mulrennan regrets the closing of this grand old shop: “We got so used to calling to Tommy and Noreen over the years that you would almost expect the car to slow down and pull in as you came down the hill. It was where we met friends and neighbours, where we chatted on the way to and from work. It was just a special place for so many people.”
And special it was. People heading on the morning train to Dublin would often take a newspaper or two from the bundle lying outside the unopened shop. No notice was taken because Noreen and Tom knew full well that their ‘customer’ would be back to pay for the paper that evening or sometime during the week. There was that sense of absolute trust between the lot of them.
It seems like a million miles removed from the crime waves of big cities and towns and, perhaps it was, for here in this corner of east Mayo, Tom and Noreen nurtured a business that was homely in the extreme. They knew their people and their people knew them.
Forty seven years of opening seven days a week, from 8.30am to as late as 11.30pm at night on many occasions, often averaging ninety hours a week. They raised six daughters. They had to bear a heavy cross when their lovely daughter Rita died at a young age.
Noreen recalls the many pupils from the school who called into their shop over the years: “Back in the ’60s, girls from around Gorthaganny and other areas would often arrive in Ballyhaunis soaked wet on their way to the Technical School. Many of them would leave their scarves and other clothing to dry out, and we would have it ready for them in the evening. Many of them never forgot those small things.”
“There was a great decency in the people in those years,” says Tom. “They lived within their means as far as possible. Sometimes they might avail of a bit of credit, but they always paid it back. There was a great sense of duty and honour and trustworthiness about them. They always appreciated what one tried to do for them in times of need.”
Today, Tommy and Noreen can relax and look back at almost half a century of faithfully serving the people of Ballyhaunis and district and the many people who passed through the town on their way to and from Knock or other places. People who liked to do a ‘bit of shopping’, collect the few ‘messages’, buy the papers and have a chat.
“We always appreciated the custom of the people. They were very good to us. It was our pleasure to serve the public, and we made many friends during the years. The business was still going well but it came to the situation that we were not able to manage it much longer. The hands of time kept moving on,” explains Tommy.
The curtains now drape the windows, and there’s a lonesomeness about the street. Tom and Noreen have called it a day. They deserve their rest too, for theirs has been a huge contribution to the town of Ballyhaunis and to a way of life that had far more heart and soul than much of what passes for progress today.
Tom is survived by his daughters, Mary Teresa (Ballinlough), Catherine (Roscommon), Bernadette (Enniscrone), Anne (Knock) and Patricia (USA), and his sons-in-law, grandchildren, relatives and friends.
