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Malachy Gribbin
"I remember this amazing smell of fresh straw, pigs and aftershave..."
The Story
Full of excitement and anticipation, Malachy made his way with his father to Cookstown pig market for the first time. Amazed by this new environment, he watched in wonder as the rarefied ritual of the pig auction unfolded...
The story continues...
Just like his father, Malachy's Grandfather Hugh Gribbin was a pig dealer and during the Second World War, exported pigs to London and Liverpool from his slaughterhouse in Anahorish, Derry.
It is this slaughterhouse that Seamus Heaney, who was from the local area and would have visited the Gribbin farm as a young boy, chose as the setting for his poem Anahorish 1944. Indeed in Malachy's photo gallery you can see the inscription that Seamus Heaney dedicated to his father Willie, in the opening pages of the poetry collection 'North'.
Malachy is now the owner the slaughterhouse and has big plans to refurbish it for his own business...
Comments
Name: Liz Weir
Date: 31/10/2007
Comment: I thought this was excellent - fresh, appealing to all the senses - we could imagine the sights and sounds and smells plus a good day's "take" - a lovely bit of memoir.
Name: Edmund Slaine
Date: 05/11/2007
Comment: Malachy's father Willie used to supply pigs to my father. I really enjoyed listening to the story. My Down's syndrome uncle called Willie " The big man with the small pigs". My father had put my uncle up to calling Willie this name,Willie really enjoyed it. Willie called regulary to see my mother up to just before his death
Name: Mick McLoughlain
Date: 05/11/2007
Comment: Malachi Gribbin's story is one of the best stories I have heard in the series
Name: Joe Kelly
Date: 31/10/2007
Comment: Malachy, I can almost hear the snorts and oinks of them pigs and smell their dung but for the life of me I never knew that farmers were into aftershave in a big way. The story was nicely paced and well told. Congratulations.
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