Fabulous 40, and Joan is still developing at McGreals
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Eugene Daly was one of the former colleagues who called in on Friday to wish Joan well.Image 2 of 8
Joan with Amy Matthews of Belly Cafe, who dropped in a gift and promised her lunch later on.Image 3 of 8
Breda Quinn, Eugene Daly and Rose Colgan are former staff of Weirs Pharmacy.Image 4 of 8
Fidelma and Sean Kennedy with Joan; Sean is a keen photographer and is a regular customer with Joan. Sean often attends anniversary parties and Christenings and takes his pictures with an old style camera, which is where Joan comes in, as she develops the photos for him.Image 5 of 8
Trudy Maguire, who works in the North Westmeath Hospice shop on Mary Street, dropped in to say hello to Joan.Image 6 of 8
Joan Byrne (centre left) with colleagues at McGreals Pharmacy, Mullingar, on Friday morning, from left, Deirdre Byrne (HR), Niamh Scally, pharmacist, Audra Forde, Karen Gavigan and Regina Glennon.Image 7 of 8
Joan's work logbook from when she was a trainee from the Vocational School in 1987.Image 8 of 8
The front cover of the 1987 work logbook.Not everyone who called to McGreals Pharmacy on the Market Square in Mullingar on Friday morning was there on routine business. Many were, of course, but many wanted to congratulate Joan Byrne, who was marking 40 years of working there.
Joan began in 1986 when it was Weirs Pharmacy, and she has been there since, smiling and friendly as ever, and on Friday welcoming colleagues she had worked with over the years, customers she has been dealing with for decades, and new customers too.
Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Joan remembered her time with the Weir family began as work experience through the Vocational Preparation and Training Programme at the Vocational School. That meant classwork most of the time and working on the Fridays. “So you did that for six months, then you were back in school for so many months and the second phase came. It happened that they asked if I was still available, and asked for me to come back here again.
“Then they used to ring to know could I come in on the Thursday and so I used to do Thursday, Friday and then I used to do the Saturday too. That worked up to the end of 1986 and then in 1987 I was taken on, for six months with Manpower.”
Joan remembers that the principal of the Vocational School in her time was John Maher, and among the teachers and tutors who taught her were Albert Lee and Gabriel Clancy.
On Friday, she had the log book she had to fill in daily from that time in 1987, still in perfect condition and filled with notes and reports in her own elegant handwriting.
Asked for a standout memory, Joan recall her mother advising her, ‘if you get a job, keep it’ – “and you compare that to now when you see people will come and then say ‘no, it’s not for me’.”
She definitely took her mother’s advice, and in the four decades she has built up strong bonds with colleagues and customers. “Because you were all over the shop; I started in OTC, over the counter, then when one of the girls left to go to college, I was transferred over here (the photograph and camera area), then I operated in veterinary and in optical… you learned so much.”
She did her training in-house and says that required discipline: “That time you had to read it all and you had to write it down, it kept your brain functioning.
“And also, you met so many friends, outside and inside, the staff – I was the youngest in the shop for a time, and the older staff were such a great guide to you. I worked with Eugene, Cathrine, all of those.”
Eugene Daly was one of the former colleagues who had called in to wish Joan well. He had 47 years of service at the pharmacy, and recalls working with Joan before his retirement in 2015.
“I still meet those people,” said Joan, “it’s a great way of bonding, it’s a great workplace.”
Asked how much longer she would work, Joan responded: “I’ll see it out, I was just saying to Regina (current colleague), I’ll be back, because I’ll be in, all confused with me blister pack!”
She laughed at that one, and concluded by thanking the people she has worked with, from the Weir family, including Neil Weir, who gave her the start, to the McGreals team who now run the pharmacy.