Outspoken Castlebar businessman Oliver Kelleher’s to launch memoirs next week

Well-known Castlebar businessman Oliver Kelleher will be launching his first book, 'Stay In The Drain', next week He will have a Castlebar launch upstairs in the banqueting suite in Johnny McHale’s pub on Newline, Castlebar at 7.30pm on Thursday, November 23. His memoir is sure to be a very sought-after book.

The popular Leitrim native has had plenty of ups and downs through the years and in his book, he tells the story of a fascinating life. From an early age Oliver showed signs of his entrepreneurial talents. At seven years of age, he used to collect the old age pension for Odie Clyne, a homeboy who came to live and work on their farm in Gortletteragh, Co Leitrim. Every Friday he collected the pension for Odie at the local post office.

Having left the local national school, he was bundled off to a boarding school in Cavan to make a priest out of him. It didn’t happen. It wasn’t meant to be because it was his mother who had the vocation. After doing his Leaving Cert he headed for the bright lights of Dublin to seek a fortune. His first job was a start on a building site. He stuck that for three months before starting as a trainee supermarket manager with Pat Quinn, who had just returned from Canada to set up Quinnsworth.

He spent eight exciting years there and moved on after Quinnsworth was taken over. He always had the longing for the road and to become a commercial traveller. Since then, he has spent most of his natural life in this trade having set up his own business over four decades ago.

That was in Castlebar where he set-up a hygiene and catering equipment business with his late wife Mary. Over the years the business expanded into trophies and awards, giftware, a fancy dress shop and a catering equipment hire business.

Over the years Oliver has appeared on TV shows for some of his inventions which he designed and developed some years ago. One was a glass that holds the head on beers and lagers. He also designed and developed a tabletop cooking unit for restaurants. He showed his talent for cooking when he took part and came runner-up on a RTÉ cookery programme. For over six years he wrote a popular opinion column for The Connaught Telegraph and the Western People.

Oliver now spends his time writing and dealing on the stock market. He has become an expert on the art of making a small fortune and losing a small fortune in stocks and shares. Like farming, ‘some days are diamonds, and some days are stone’.

You could get a call from Oliver from any part of the world. From doing business in Hong Kong to looking up his famous neighbours in Tasmania or travelling around Australia or New Zealand or in Fidel Castro’s Cuba or building houses in Cape Town with the Niall Mellon Township Trust or cooking boxty at the heritage days in Castlebar or playing a blinder on a reality cooking show on RTÉ or selling his bar and catering equipment on the highways and byways around Ireland.

Despite all his travels, he never lost touch with his home county of Leitrim or his adopted county of Mayo where he sponsored many sporting events and many charity events and fundraisers.

Written in his quintessential gregarious style, this is a book that will have you laughing out loud as Oliver casts his eye over his own life, people he met along the way and life and society in Ireland and beyond with great observation and wit.

He’s a straight shooter but, above all, despite all his setbacks, the book reveals a man with a very positive outlook on life and his memoir has plenty of life lessons in it. The book will be on sale in all good bookshops and online on mayobooks.ie.

There’s a great story about the title of the book too. Come to the launch or pick up a copy of the book to find out about ‘stay in the drain’. All are welcome to the launch. The legendary journalist Michael Commins of The Mayo News will be officially launching the book on the night.