A rural posting
Billy Rodgers has been postmaster in Knockmore for over 30 years, embracing the changes that have shaped the scenic village along the way
The Interview
Emer Gallagher
AS POSTMASTER in Knockmore for over three decades, Billy Rodgers has had the privilege of playing a central role in the lives of the people of the community.
And over the years the he has been keeping a watchful eye on the developments, people and occasions that have shaped the tightly-knit village.
Billy and his wife Ann have been running the post office in Knockmore for almost 32 years but prior to their appointment as postmaster and postmistress Billy lived and worked in England, having emigrated as an 18-year-old in a bid to secure employment after serving his time in various posts.
“I was with Alec Heffernan in Moygownagh, where Mitchell’s is today, for about 18 months, getting £2.50 a week for seven days’ work,” recalls Billy, who fondly remembers travelling around Moygownagh in the travelling shop with Paddy Breen and Maud Gallagher from Ballycroy.
“The people of Moygownagh were lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.”
From there Billy went on to John ‘Goo’ Maughan in Crossmolina, the late father of ex-Mayo football manager John Maughan. An increase in wages to £3.10 was enough incentive for the eager teenager.
“It was a great experience there and they taught me how to drive and I will never forget working with Goo. I didn’t mind what work I did because I was getting £3.10 a week, which was wonderful for 1952.”
Billy vividly recalls an occasion when his father saw him selling fish in Ballycroy. “He was livid,” laughs Billy at the memory. “But I had to turn my hand to all different sorts of jobs working with the Maughans and I still have an affinity for Crossmolina to this day.”
Talking to Billy, one gets the impression that he takes all life has to offer without questioning and sees the best in everyone, and this positive attitude went with him when he emigrated to London too.
“They used to laugh at my accent as it was a strong brogue after coming from the west of Ireland but after a time you learned to water it down to make them understand you. I was in London for nearly 24 years and I can safely say that I didn’t make any enemies,” said Billy.
Billy met Ann, who hails from Arigna in Co Roscommon, at a dance in London and they later married while in England. But it was to be a meeting with Fr Harte at a Knockmore/London reunion in Cricklewood that set the wheels in motion for Billy and his wife to become the postmaster and postmistress in Billy’s home place.
Fr Harte, over at a Knockmore/London reunion, urged Billy to put his name down for the vacant position in the village post office.
“Ann was a telephonist at the time and she had experience of doing the pay roll. It was her CV that got us the job and we were the most surprised people,” said Billy. “Life is like a game of cards, you have to play the hand you’re dealt with, you cannot change it. It’s life, you make a decision, you reach a crossroads and you decide what move to make. So we moved home.”
This suited Billy’s father, who had long been asking his son to come home to run the family shop in the village. The couple moved to Knockmore in 1976 and while it took them a time to acclimatise to life in the village after the noise, bright lights and hustle and bustle of London living, they say they ‘haven’t looked back since’. The couple have one daughter, Susan, who married and returned to live in Currabaggan with her husband Sean O’Sullivan and their three children, Ruth, Tadhg and Liam.
Billy and Ann operated the switchboard 24 hours a day until 1986 and the Knockmore man no doubt connected many in the area, but not everybody understood the service he was offering, it seems. “A particular instance that stands out was when an elderly lady living on her own rang the switchboard at 1am. I was immediately worried that something was wrong as it was late on a winter’s night.”
But the lady was in fact just ringing Billy for a chat explaining that her visitors had left earlier than expected and she didn’t want to waste the ‘lovely fire she had set down’.
Over the years the automated post office has enjoyed the support of local businesses such as Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Bellco factory and Mount Falcon Hotel.
“We are doing very good business and have the support of the local community. But in the wake of many rural post offices closing, there is no room for complacency,” says Billy.
“You have to sell your business and you have to be nice. You also have to fight your corner but we are well used to that.”
The closure of rural post offices is something that has been widely lamented in small towns and villages across the country but Billy feels that those affected by the closure of a small office can usually be accommodated nearby.
“An Post have got to make a reasonable offer to those people and let them go because we feel in the automated offices that if they gave a decent gratuity to those in the non-automated offices they would accept it and it would help save the offices like Knockmore, Foxford and Crossmolina.
“But I know that certain areas have little post offices where people get their pensions so there is for and against. There are a few isolated cases where it would suit the rural community to keep the non-automated office.”
Reminiscing on the changes that he has seen in the village, Billy acknowledges the new community centre in Knockmore that has brought a renewed vibrancy to the area, and the new hall currently under construction. The developments in the village remind Billy of those great community stalwarts who have passed away.
“When we took over here the people that were involved in running the hall were really famous people such as TD Gunning, James Lynn, Willie Butler, Fr Harte and my parents were also involved. They did the job to the best of their ability and the new crew that are taking over the hall and the centre know nothing about the people who went before them. It is a shame that all those people are gone after the years of service they provided. But that is life,” muses Billy, who also remarks on Cllr Seamus Weir’s term of office as Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, which will draw to a close shortly. “The people of Knockmore are very proud of him and all he has done during the year.”
Having served as Chairman of Knockmore GAA Club during 2005 and 2006, Billy had an ‘enjoyable two years’ and took matters like trying to allocate All-Ireland tickets to 500 GAA-mad club members in 2006 and dealing with the county board in his stride.
“I was vice-chairman prior to that so I knew what was going on. I enjoyed my time in office. It’s the people you meet when you’re involved that make it,” says Billy.
“You might be summoned to the county board because there might have been an incident on the pitch but they have a job to do and they have to act if something happens.”
After making a decision to relax in recent years, Billy found himself elected into the role of Chairman of the Parish Council in Knockmore. The modest postman acknowledges that the people of his community saw him fit for the position and it is for that reason he took the role.
It’s a new challenge, and rest assured, he has no plans to retire ‘just yet’.
