John pulls the plug on crane lights
One could never accuse John Madden of being afraid of heights, especially as the owner of the Douglas electrical contracting company has been decorating massive cranes for PJ Hegarty’s for the last 12 years.
However, at 52 he has decided to call it a day and let his colleagues carry on the work. “I’ll leave the lads do it now, they’re younger than me,” Mr Madden joked.
His workers, David Ahern and Aidan Madden, have decorated three cranes for Hegarty’s this year, each of which can have up to 500 lights. They’ve also put up lights on the roof of PJ Hegarty’s headquarters at Carroll’s Quay, which Mr Madden described as a “doddle” compared to the cranes. “It usually takes one-and-a-half or two days to do a crane and they are normally done at the weekends,” said Mr Madden. He said he loved the views of Cork, especially on quiet weekend mornings.
“It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s really great being high up on a crane on a fresh November or December morning. I’ve never had a scary moment on them.” Mr Madden pointed out that PJ Hegarty’s spent a lot of money on decorating the cranes and got tremendous pride from the reaction.
“Children think they’re great. They’re especially delighted when we turn the lights on,” he said. When it comes to lighting his own Christmas tree, however, he is not so eager.
“I’d be the last to put the Christmas lights up in my own house. My wife, Virginia, looks after all that.”
