Nowadays every
household has the essential commodity of a car,
some may even have two or three however
turning back the clock about 50 or 60 years ago
this was not the case.
A village in West Cork
or any part of rural Ireland were lucky if one
or two cars were owned locally by
residents
At that time you wouldn't have the
choice of various brand names and styles you
would have had to make do with the old
reliable Cork manufactured Ford Model T
which is probably one of the most fondly
remembered cars of all time.
For a small
village in West Cork, namely Ballingeary, the
older generation did indeed have fond memories
of the old model T . They were one
of the few villages in the area to have their
very own registered hackney service ,
which was owned by Mr. Jerimiah (Jerry)
Cotter in the village.
Fr. Browne
Jerry was born in 1914. He lived a very exciting
and carefree childhood with fond memories
of growing up in Ballingeary
One of
his fondest is the day that Fr. Browne, the well
known photographer visited the area On
this particular day Fr. Browne took many photos
depicting the lives of people living in
rural Ireland in that period of time. After a
quick chat with Fr. Browne ,Jerry was asked to
stand for a photo .The year was 1925 and Jerry
was 11 years of age. The picture was to become a
classic and was entitled " Taking his first
photo". The photo was seen in exhibitions all
over Ireland in 1995/96 and is also included in
the book "Father Browne 's Photography.
First Car
Jerry then made the "Local
headlines " and gossip when he purchased his
first car in 1932 at the tender age of 18 years
. The car was bought from C.A.B. Motors Co
Ltd , Copely St. Cork, for the princely
sum £ 50 .
In the same year he registered the car for
hackney and towards the end
of the year he received his plate and
badge in Bandon .His badge number was 2868
From the very beginning Jerry had to get
accustomed to late night and early morning
calls from everyone from locals to doctors and
Gardai. This was because Jerry was the only
hackney service in the area.
Jerry was on 24
hour call by the Southern Health
Board taking Doctors to patients , and
patients to clinics and hospitals. Many a night
he had to combat dreadful weather conditions
such as heavy snow, dense fog and floods to get
his passengers to their required destination.
It was once quoted by local man Mr. Tim McCarthy
"That Gerry was there for nearly every child in
the parish". Tim said that " He was there when
they were Born, Christened, when they
received their Holy Communion, Confirmation
and their Wedding Day , What a record!!!!!!"
He did indeed attend many weddings and
funerals and he also had many a story to tell
about his days as the local hackney
driver.
One particular story that a lot
of people would remember is the night that he
was travelling to a dance in Ballinvourney with
an overloaded car ,as he approached the
outskirts of the village he was stopped by
the local guard.
As he rolled down
the window of the car, it was quiet
visible to the guard that Jerry was well over
loaded with over six in the car. The guard shone
in his flashlight and then said to him " I
think you have one too many there Mr. Cotter"
To which he replied in a confident and
devious tone " Which one Guard? "
What could
the Guard say ,he cautioned him and left him
drive on.
In his busiest period in
the 1940's . He often had a number of trips in
one day. Alot of his days consisted of a funeral
in the morning , a clinic appointment in
the afternoon and maybe taking someone to the
bus station in Macroom in the evening.
During this time he was also on call 24 hours
for anybody who needed him from the locals to
midwifery , Doctors and the Gardai
When
the "Feile Dramaiochta Na Mumhan " was held
annually in Ballingeary he was used to collect
those who would be judging the plays
He would collect them in Cork from the train
station and he would also drive them
around locally during their stay. He
became very friendly with all of the judges and
one particular friend he made was
Seamus Healy who is better known as father
to Shay Healy TV presenter and songwriter.
Because of the period of time, there was a
shortage of cars being used by the Gardai
so as I have mentioned before Jerry was
on call for them .His car was their only
mode of transport
He was often called upon
to drive the Gardai to poitin raids on local
farms and to Court Cases in Macroom and in Cork.
When the rationing of the petrol was
introduced ,He was issued with extra petrol to
enable him to continue service to both the
Gardai,Southern Heath Board and the
public.
Sick Call
Another story he
recalls is the day he received a call from
the local priest to drive him to a sick call
.They were to call to a house in the
area where one of the children
was ill with meningitis.
As Jerry was
unfamiliar with that particular house
they asked a local boy to show them the way and
they explained to him that they were
visiting the house for a sick call.
When they had finished with their visit,
they waited for the young helpful boy to
sit in again to which he refused they
asked him again and he refused claiming
he " didn't want to catch the disease " .
He then proceeded to run after the car all
the ways down the road, until he reached his
home. according to Jerry "He was so fit he could
have run for Ireland"
Jerry explains
that this particular story depicts the
fear the people of that time towards
illness.
Many stories could be told
about Jerry 's hackney days, fond memories
relived and many a laugh could be shared.
Speaking to many most recalled similar
type tales however one close friend
of Jerry's had a few extra.
One he told was
the night that Jerry was taking a car load to a
local dance as they drove on trying to make
time, someone remarked that the car seemed to be
travelling funny.
" Maybe it was a puncture
", one of the passengers questioned Jerry.
The passengers kept asking Jerry ,
what was wrong so to relax them he
decided to stop the car and check the
tyres. He proceeded around the car
inspecting each tyre , Then he calmly sat
in and started up the car
As he looked back
at his passengers he was questioned once
again about the suspected puncture.
Jerry
turned around and in his calm and convincing
tone answered his concerned patrons with the
comment " Its OK.....its only a little air
coming out of one of the wheels" and then
he continued to drive on to their
destination.
Sean also had the story
about the time Jerry picked up a passenger who
spoke the whole journey about the books he had
read and how educated he was . He went on to
ask Jerry what book he had read recently
to which Jerry answered without hesitation
, " The Far East".
An additional
story told by Sean was the night that
Jerry was again travelling to Ballyvourney
. He had just fitted new v8 tyres to the car and
they had been working out perfectly.
However
as the people started to fill in to the car , (
and Jerry was overloaded again) the back mud
guard started rubbing against the big wheel ,
everytime they took a turn.
Nobody let alone
Jerry suspected anything was wrong until one of
the passengers ("Lisa Dans ") coat
started to take fire from the heat of the tyres
rubbing of it. this was one journey Jerry
would prefer to forget!!!!!!!
Finally I
would like say to Jerry or Dada as we know
him , " we all love listening to your stories
and we hope we will recall many more in the
future with you."