Meet the 76-year-old Traveller breaking stereotypes through flower-making
John Corcoran is an elderly Traveller who is attracting lots of attention with his handmade flowers. Picture: Ray Ryan
While artificial flower crafting isn’t an art typically associated with male Travellers, John Corcoran is determined to pave the way for other men in his community.
The 76-year-old has been inspiring neighbours at Tuam Halting Site in Galway since rediscovering his passion for the craft more than three decades ago.
His work has since featured in numerous Traveller events across the country. President Catherine Connolly was even presented with a bunch of his flowers at an afternoon tea reception she hosted in Áras an Uachtaráin last May.
Seeing the standard of flower making in women’s groups had frustrated John, who wanted to show them how it was done. This was decades after he had first been introduced to the pastime by his mother, who needed help making them while on the road.
“Years ago when I was young, we used a horse and cart to get around,” he told the .
“My father was a stonemason, but he worked in the fairground sometimes and did tricks on horses. My mother was a fortune teller. She didn’t always sell the fortunes, but instead swapped them for food or clothes. People years ago didn’t have much money, but they did have food and clothes which were still useful to her.
"She also made artificial flowers. When I was eight years old, she asked me if I would help her make them. She even promised me that I could drive the horse and wagon by myself if I agreed. Fortunately, she didn’t break that promise.”
The moment was a turning point for the great-grandfather.
“I loved making the flowers, and it turned out I was really good at it. As I got older though and became interested in girls, I didn’t really bother with the flowers anymore. I had a lot of other interests over the years. I loved animals and surprised my mum with a monkey from the pet shop at the age of about 17. His name was Bimbo, and he travelled around the UK with us. At £30, he was quite expensive, but I was young and clever and saved up every penny I had.”
It was a quirk of fate that rekindled John’s love of artificial flower crafting.
“I didn’t think about the flowers for a long time. Then, years later, my cousin introduced me to the Galway Traveller Movement, and they helped me through some difficult times. I must have been in my 40s when I came across a bunch of women a lot older than me, who were making flowers at these tables. Their flowers looked terrible. This woman there looked at me and asked: “You’re not a Traveller, are you?”
"I told her that I was more of a Traveller than she was, and that I also made better flowers. The boss there, a settled woman named Margaret, asked me if I could make her one. She loved the flower I made her. The other women walked out because they were so jealous. The women are getting better now, but they’re still not as good as me," he joked, with a roguish twinkle in his eye.
John’s family — including his eight children, 27 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren — are all extremely proud of him.
“I was asked to go make flowers in the local school. My grandson saw me making flowers there, and he put his arm around my shoulder. He was really proud.”
The flowers have brought a lot of joy to his community.
“I love giving the flowers out to the children, because it’s like Christmas time for them. The wee girls love them. Sometimes it can be difficult to teach them when they can’t stop fidgeting. However, last year I taught a child who was 12, who was able to watch me for an hour and did a really good job with them.”
Making the flowers is not without its challenges.
“They are making the paper skinnier and softer to touch, which makes it more difficult to work with. I can’t do the wax flowers anymore because of my emphysema. The smell of the flowers tends to get in my chest.”
Paddy Sweeney, chairman of the National Traveller Men’s Forum, who is a neighbour of John’s, said he defies the age-old stereotype of male Travellers in Ireland.
“It’s unusual to see Traveller men doing flowers," he said. "The only reason John started out was that his mother offered him the chance to drive the horse and cart. All these years later, I believe John is the best around at doing flowers. It’s not just the flowers that set him apart.
"He is breaking stereotypes in other ways too. We often saw him collecting his grandchildren and pushing them in their prams. This is something you don’t often tend to see with older male Travellers. It’s also really inspiring to see how active he is at 76. You’ll often hear him humming his opera songs at 6am, and you can be sure he will be walking the roads shortly after that.”
He lauded John for his dedication to the art.
“A number of Travellers were invited to a tea day in Áras an Uachtaráin last May. We only got invited by the skin of our teeth, so I asked John — last minute — if he would do flowers for us to present to Catherine Connolly. John was at my door at 5.30am the next morning with a bucket of flowers for the president.
"It had the Traveller ethnicity flag wrapped around it. It was lovely to give the President something that was so traditional.
"Years ago, the Traveller women used to go around selling these door to door. What John is doing is keeping a tradition alive.”
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