Pat Hannon from Ardsollus Quin, shares memories of his life growing up in Quin: his farming life, Macra na Feirme in Quin and his involvement with horses and ponies.
In part one, Pat talks of his early years as a boarder in Flannans and his subsequent life on the land. His mother wanted him to deveop a dairy herd and to that end he completed a course on same. He began with a bucket plant and then built a milking parlour in 1978. He speaks fondly too of Macra na Feirme set up by local man Tom Hallinan which operated like a co-op system, as farmers could borrow machinery as needed. He recalls the visit of ‘The Riordans’ to Quin to raise funds for Macra na Feirme.
Pat then speaks of his uncle Jim Hannon whom he admired greatly. Jim was in the Irish Army during the War of Independence and Civil war and a friend of Tom Barry who was anti-Treaty to whom he was loyal, despite being on opposite sides of the war.
Finally, he talks of his family association with horses, Pat rode ponies from the age of 6. His dad bought a lot of foals with ‘good blood in them’ and Pat would hunt them. His sister Mary won the Championship of Dublin on a pony called ‘Carraig Donn’. The tradition continues, as his own children hunted on ponies and now his grandchildren.
