Jump to Content | | | A - A - A
Home > Publications > Contact Autumn 06 > Tom Smyth Retires

Tom Retires After Fifty Years Service

Tom Smyth, Sligo County Council’s waterworks caretaker in North Sligo, has retired following over 50 years dedicated service. He started work in the Council in 1956 as a labourer, and in 1995 was appointed Waterworks Caretaker in North Sligo. His ‘territory’ covered the area from Davis’s pub in Drumcliffe to Bunduff bridge, the county boundary of Leitrim.

Tom Smyth
- Tom Smyth

Tom Smyth left school when he was 13. ‘My father handed me a shovel and told me to make a living for myself.’ He recalls his first job was picking potatoes for farmers for half a crown a day. His father Jim worked with Sligo County Council for 40 years, mainly as a carter. When he fell ill, Tom took over the reins. "I started with the Council in 1956, and looking back now people would say it was tough, but we didn’t see it like that. I used get up at 6.00 a.m., and travel the eight miles to work with my ass and cart. There was no tea-break in those days, at mid-day I’d stop by the roadside for lunch - maybe a mug of tea and soda cake. I’d be home around 6.30 in the evening; that was the routine six days a week’.‘The people of the area were very friendly. They would love to see you coming; there were no televisions had the news of the road. It is sad now that so many of these good people have passed away, and every day I would pass ruins of old houses where we shared many a pot of tea.’

‘There was six in our family, and though we hadn’t much money were self-sufficient and had plenty to eat with spuds, milk and eggs. I remember I used to hand my wages over for the running of the house, and if I wanted to go out for a night I nearly had to give a week’s notice - nothing like today!’

Tom held down a few jobs for the Council, including labourer and driver. He remembers pulling material from Danny Herity’s North Sligo in 1995. ‘I have kept the habits of a lifetime. I still got up around 6.00 a.m and was in the plant by 7.30. I know the minute I stepped into the plant if there was anything wrong. It came to the stage I’d almost sense it below in the house.’

Advances in technology meant that a computer at the plant gave Tom instant access to details of reservoirs and pumping stations throughout the North Sligo Area. He would start a typical day by checking the intake from the mountain, then check the main reservoir at Barnaderrig. Filters would also have to be checked, maybe cleaned, and then he would test the water for chlorine. The day’s routine would take Tom around North Sligo checking pipelines, checking for leaks and bad pressure, reading meters and calling in to the sewerage works in Grange and Mullaghmore.

Sometimes in wintry conditions Tom had to take out the tractor to make it up the hill to the plant. Even though he became very adept with all the technology at his disposal, you get the impression he didn’t fully trust it. ‘I would call in to the plant every night around 9.00 for a final check.’

Tom has certainly no regrets about his job.  ‘I knew when I took up the job that I would either be working or available for work 24 hours a  day 7 days a week, but I loved every minute of it - It was as good as sweetcake to me.’



< Back
Next >
 
Valid CSS! wai-aa Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional