Ned Smith

Anne Blake and Susan O'Neill went to interview Mr. Ned Smith on Monday the 13th of March 2006. We asked him lots of questions about working at the Co-op and how he got the job there. This is what he told us.
Ned Smith started working in the Clonaslee Co-op in 1963. He worked there for thirty years. He left in 1993. He liked working in the Co-op. He told us that he had left a very good job to go and work at the Co-op. He said, " Work was very hard and the busiest time was morning". Pay was very bad. He did the ploughing, tilling, sawing and tractor work.

Fifteen people worked there full time. The committee were Jim Costello, Fred Matthews (first manager), P.D Brickley (secretary), Chris Horan, Paddy Corbet, Tom Hennessy and Mick O' Neill. Students came to study to become workers.

Ned Smith lives in Chapel St, Clonaslee, Co. Laois. He is married with two children, three grand children. He is now retired.

They sold the pigs to the meat factory in Roscrea. They had to be heavy before they went. Pigs (back then) cost £6 or £7. They bought them in as weanlings and sold them in a few months. A lot of people were interested in buying pigs at that time as there was nowhere else for them to go. People came from far and near to get to the Co-op.
This is a picture of some of the pigs.

By Anne and Susan