The story of william carthy and the examiner pen

Who knew that Westmeath Examiner pens were such sought after items?

We knew that people like them, and the winners of our crossword competition every week certainly appreciate them.

What we didn’t know till today was that we’d be persuaded to give one to a non-crossword winner!

Here’s the story, as told by Ashleigh Earley, who’s here on work experience from St Joseph’s Secondary School, Rochfortbridge.

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Determined to get a Westmeath examiner pen, William Carthy made it a priority to call in to the Westmeath Examiner office and insist on having one earlier this afternoon!

The 85-year-old from Lislea, Ballinalee arrived with his “favourite nephew” Enda Carthy and a special request for a pen. They were in town for a day procedure at the Midlands Regional Hospital, Mullingar and went to Con’s for food.

There, the retired farmer spotted a Westmeath Examiner pen the girl who took their order was using. He described it as “a lovely pen with a nice general appearance”.

William, who now gardens as a pastime, explained that he asked about the pen and where he could get one for himself.

“He was determined to get the pen and insisted on finding out where he could locate one,” said Enda.

Mr Carthy Snr learned that the woman had won the pen in a Westmeath Examiner crossword competition, and that the only way he could get one would be to enter and win the competition.

But instead, he came to the Examiner office to enquire about obtaining one of his own.

So, we relaxed the rules and agreed that he could have a pen if he would tell us his story.

William was more than happy to oblige and happily left the Examiner office with his new pen firmly in his grasp.