Marts organiser turns over new leaf
After a lifetime devoted to the organisation of farmers to establish and run their own livestock mart co-ops, a native son of Ardmore returns.
The official launch of “Recollections Of A Childhood In Ardmore”, by Maurice Colbert, the popular former executive secretary of the ICOS National Marts Committee, is the completion of a labour of love.
The 80-page production will be launched at St Declan’s Hall, Ardmore, on Sunday next, June 4, at 7.30pm when Maurice, who has lived for many years in Co Kildare, travels “home”.
The unusual format of the book, written in free verse, sets it apart, as does the recollection of many customs and values of rural life, many of them long lost, regrettably.
Maurice describes it as a collection of portraits, snapshots, and stories from his memories of Ardmore, mostly of the rural and farming ways of life.
“The Ardmore I knew was a marvellous, magical, and mystical place, which left its mark on all of us who were fortunate to enjoy it. They were decent good people, and Ardmore was a good place in which to live and work. The Ardmore I knew was full of good characters,” he says. His book brings many of those great characters from the Fifties and Sixties to life again.
