I volunteered for Meals On Wheels... customers were younger than me!

With such a lively sense of humour, it’s no wonder that Tom McCarthy will reach the rare old age of 100 tomorrow, June 10.

“People will think I’ve already gone with all the cars outside!” says Tom with a laugh when I meet him for a chat with his three children.

What does he put his longevity down to?

“A great family, being able to eat whatever I like, and a good sense of humour,” says Tom.

There is another reason that contributes to his long and happy life.

“Midleton is the best place in Ireland to live,” says Tom. “I had a nice happy life here. I did well here.”

Tom’s sons, Denis and Tadgh, and his daughter Margaret, have, like me, come to the family home in Midleton to hear about Tom’s life and times spanning a century.

Sitting at the kitchen table, with the crossword and sudoku in front of him, Tom’s memory serves him well.

Tom was born on June 10, 1925, in Carriganima, 11km north-west of Macroom.

“Times were tough. We were all in the same boat,” he recalls.

“There was plenty work, but not much money. The horse and the donkey were used for transport. More well-off people had pony and traps.”

The horses and donkeys were well shod.

“We were blacksmiths,” says Tom. “I had two sisters and four brothers.

“My dad ed away when I was seven years old. My mother, Mary Murphy, was a mighty woman, and she raised all seven of us single-handed”.

Mary was a great baker.

“She made plenty of cakes, she was great for the bastable cakes baked over the open turf fire We had good neighbours. And we’d kill a pig every year, so we ate bacon and pork and pig’s head.

“During our holidays we’d go the bog footing turf, the older children would cut it.”

Tom re something else.

“Making reeks of hay in the winter, you’d get a cold backside!”

His business head always worked well.

“To make a few bob, I snared rabbits, I bought and sold rabbits, and I ate rabbits!

“Back then, it was hard to get a trade. You’d have to pay for apprenticeships. If your dad was a plumber, then you could carry on the trade.”

Tom considered one career option.

“I had three friends who ed the guards,” he says, “but at 5 foot nine inches I was too short.”

Did he want to the force?

“You’d anything that time to make a few bob!”

When Tom saw an ad on the paper for a trainee barman, he applied for the job.

Did he know it was in Midleton?

“I’d go to Timbuktu if I had to!”

He landed the job, and he landed in Midleton.

“I liked it from the start,” says Tom. “I had a great time. The bar, The Long Valley Bar, was where Ina’s flower shop is now on Main Street, Midleton. It was a busy bar.”

Times were good.

“A pound would buy you 24 pints!” says Tom.

How did he travel to Midleton from his home in Carriganima?

“I got a spin from a lorry driver in the village and then I got a bus from Cork to Midleton”.

Tom recalls the date when he arrived in Midleton after enjoying his lunch at the Savoy in Cork.

“It was March 5, 1945,” he says. “I got the 2pm bus and was in Midleton at 2.40.”

There was no time wasted.

“I was put behind the counter straight-away,” recalls Tom.

“The owner Brendan Forrest and myself got on great. He was a former Cork footballer.”

Where did Tom stay?

“I got digs with a lovely Monaghan lady, Mrs. McBennett.

It was share and share alike back then.

“Five of us shared the same bed but not at the same time!” says Tom.

He was the golden-haired boy.

“In Mrs McBennett’s eyes, I could do no wrong. When I worked late, she’d tell me, ‘make a sandwich for yourself’.

When the pub was sold, Tom looked at other opportunities.

“A pub across the road, 75, Main Street, came up for sale,” he says. “The boss said it was worth more to me than anyone else. I thought I was too young to own a pub at 23, but when I went to the auction, the boss winked at me and said, ‘It’s yours’.”

Tom, used to hard-grafting and with a good business head, put all his money into the repair of the building and opened his own pub, fondly known as Tom Mac’s.

“I was there for 21 years until we moved here in 1969,” says Tom. “I liked the business.”

He also liked the fact that there was a bus depot at the front of The Long Valley Bar to despatch parcels, which is where he met his future wife Nora Desmond, who came there to send away her parcels.

“We got married in 1955 and she worked in the pub with me,” says Tom. “We raised three children.”

What was the pub trade like in the ‘good old days?’

“There was no paper money then,” says Tom. “It was all coins. You could get three pints for a half-crown. I can the streetlamps were lit by gas. And we had a town crier who told us at midnight that all was well.”

Did Tom like a drink?

“You can be sure I did!” he says. “But I never drank on the job.”

Tom Mac’s welcomed everyone both near and far.

“Jack Lynch came in and was introduced to me when he was canvassing,” says Tom. “Visiting GAA teams togged out in the pub, there were no changing rooms.”

Tom and Nora accepted a special invitation to meet the legendary President Kennedy at City Hall, Cork.

“My first cousin, Sean Casey, was Lord Mayor of Cork in 1956, 1962 and 1966,” says Tom. “JFK got the freedom of the city in June, 1963, and he was assassinated that same year, in November.”

What does Tom about the former President of the USA when he met him?

It wasn’t all work and no play for Tom McCarthy.

“I played a lot of football, full back for Midleton and for Imokilly,” he says. “I like all sports except cricket.

“I enjoyed going to matches in Dublin. My pals would get tickets, and I enjoyed playing road bowling.”

In 1969, Tom sold the pub and went into another business.

“I bought a truck and worked for a bottle gas company. Lifting and delivering gas bottles kept me in good physical shape. I could be loading and unloading up to 280 bottles of gas a day. It made a man out of me. I parked up the truck in 1988.”

Tom served the town he loved so well; the ‘best place to live in Ireland’.

“I volunteered with Meals on Wheels,” he says.

How did that go?

“I ended up delivering meals to people that were younger than me!” says Tom, laughing.

How did he deal with the pandemic?

“I stayed at the front door, even though I told Margaret to come in when she brought shopping. Nobody would know.”

Tom knows his health is his wealth.

“Walking is the best exercise,” he says. “When I retired, I walked five miles a day.”

He ed a ‘4 O’clock Club’.

“A couple of pals and myself went swimming every day at 4 o’clock and we enjoyed many nights out. I have good mates.”

Tom is taken good care of by a home help, and his children are in constant touch on a family WhatsApp group.

“We call him ‘the boss’,” says Tom’s son, Denis. “One of us could ring dad and ask, where are you?”

What is the answer?

“I’m half-way to Carrigtwohill, he’d say.”

How come?

“That’s the distance he reckoned he had done on his exercise bike!”

Did Tom wish to travel anywhere else during his long and happy life?

“I wanted to go to the USA,” says Tom.”I never got there.”

He made it to Midleton though.

“I love Midleton. I did well here. If I had stayed in the pub business, I might not be here now.

“I am happy out. I have a good family, from the oldest to the youngest. I was always a family man.”

The family man, who lost his wife Nora in June, 1988, who has three children, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren has had a good innings so far.

“I don’t ever stress or worry,” says Tom.

He likes the good things in life.

“I get the paper delivered every day and I like a cappuccino.”