This much I know: Norma Smurfit

I WOULD hate to be stuck with people my own age the whole time.

We’d drive each other mad.

I firmly believe that different generations learn a lot from each other. I make sure to have friends of many different ages.

I grew up in London’s East End during the war and one of my earliest memories is of being evacuated to Cornwall. I remember walking down a country lane that lead to a one-room school house. I went back, years later, but could never find the exact spot.

When I left school, I worked as a hairdresser for seven years in London’s West End — on Regent Street to be exact. It sounds much more glamorous than it was. It was all pin curls and tight curly perms back then, and we were on 19 and 6 pence a week.

I first got involved with charity work when I put together a group of women, mainly made up of Smurfit company wives, to buy mini-buses for the blind and Central Remedial Clinic. We called ourselves ‘The Helpers’ and began by raising money through coffee mornings and jumble sales, before we moved on to more ambitious events.

I don’t think anyone chooses to be homeless. Circumstances conspire so that people end up on the street. I have done a lot of work in this area over the years and although there are great hostels and back-up services now, more still needs to be done.

The Irish are definitely very generous when it comes to giving to charity, although since the recession the big fund raising events — the black-tie balls, lavish lunches and dinners — have gone by the wayside. It became more and more difficult to get sponsors, and, without free food and wine it becomes impossible to make a good profit for the charity.

I met Michael Smurfit at a dance when I was 21. When we moved to Ireland a few years later it was a bit of a shock to the system. It was very different to the London of the swinging Sixties with its Biba, and Mary Quant and Carnaby Street. I was very struck by how strong religion was in Ireland back then. I remember seeing my first sacred heart — my mother-in-law had a flashing red one — and wondering what all that was about.

My guiltiest pleasure is watching a lot of TV. Especially Eastenders. I detest sport, especially golf.

After getting divorced, I decided to pull myself together and just get on with my life. Obviously, having money helps. Life has taught me to enjoy what I have and to make the most of it.

I’m pretty good at balancing work pursuits with time off. I spend most of my time with my family. I have twelve terrific grand children — eight of them live five minutes away from me in Dublin and the other four are in France.

I laugh when I think about how parenting has changed since my day. We just threw the kids in the car without ever thinking about a seat belt, and a trip to the zoo or the panto once a year was a treat. It’s all so formal now, I think there is almost too much going on for kids these days.

I love to travel. My favourite places are Majorca — not in July or August mind — and Tuscany, around Sienna and Florence. And I love Kerry, I get down to my friends Bill Cullen and Jackie Lavin’s Muckross House in Killarney as much as I can.

My latest charity project is Spring Clean for Charity in aid of St Vincent de Paul. It’s great fun, just like an indoor bric-a-brac sale really. You can clear out your attic and give us your castoffs to sell. Come along to the next one in Cork on September 24 and you never know what you might find.

Norma Smurfit has been involved in philanthropic work in Ireland for the past four decades. Spring Clean for Charity comes to Cork City Hall on Saturday September 24 in aid of St Vincent de Paul Cork. See www.springcleanforcharity.ie