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ESB NETWORKS LTD
October/November 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Appreciation
PERCY JONES
A native of Cleariestown, Co Wexford, Percy Jones who passed away on Sunday June 17th. Percy’s passing has left a great sense of loss for his wife Teresa and family and friends. He was living in Kildare when he joined ESB in 1964 and Kildare remained his home up to his death.
In his early years with ESB, Percy worked on the construction of the Finglas/Maynooth 110kV line and, after a number of years, his experience and personal qualities saw him made charge-hand of the crew that had responsibility for cabling on the northside of Dublin. As cable patrolman, all Transmission Operation on the 110 and 220 kV were monitored ensuring that contractors had full surveys of the area prior to any excavations. Percy knew the intrinsic cabling of the city streets like the back of his hand, which was acknowledged and greatly appreciated by his ESB colleagues and by contractors alike.
After 35 years service, Percy and 13 of his colleagues in Transmission Operations Department left ESB on Voluntary Severance in 1999. Percy is fondly remembered by his past colleagues as a gentleman with a great outgoing personality. Always one to get a sing-song going, he was an accomplished singer and guitarist. Following his retirement, he played for many years with a local group and was always very popular at functions.
Percy is survived by his loving wife Treasa and his daughters Ann and Collette and his son Pierce.
May his soul rest in peace.
Songs of a Stargazer
Poems by John Daly
RETIRED STAFF member John Daly has been writing poetry for as long as he can remember and has recently launched a poetry collection, Songs of a Stargazer. All of the poems included in the book have been written since he retired from ESB Networks in 2003.
This collection covers a vast array of subjects from social comment to recent history and locations such as the Comeraghs, Bonmahon Copper Mines, Ballinacourty, Ballyvoile and Dungarvan. At the recent launch, which took place at the Waterford Country Museum John said, “I have been writing poetry for as long as I can remember, it was from the encouragement of my Grandmother Aoife who cane across some of my old poetry and said I should put it into a book.”
Copies are priced at €10 and are available from DePaor, Scanlons Yard in Dungarvan and other good bookshops.
TURN TO PAGE 34 TO BE WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING A COPY
Tadhg Ryan and Fiona Mullen tie the knot
Billy McDermott retires
IT WAS TRULY the end of an era on Friday July 13th when Billy McDermott retired from ESB after 44 years service.
Billy was known throughout ESB as one of life’s true gentlemen. Always approachable and helpful’ he had a huge knowledge of ESB’s metering and billing systems and no task was too difficult or complex for Billy to resolve.
Down through the years various managers came to appreciate these qualities, as well as customers and suppliers.
Billy came to ESB Portlaoise from the Garda Síochána in 1968 and remained there until his retirement. Throughout his career, he held many positions in the accounting/admin areas including Consumers Unit Head, Customer Billing Supervisor and, finally, Team Leader MD Database.
Even in his last week of service, he continued to pore through reports checking that we had correctly billed customers. No stone was left unturned!
A very enjoyable function was organised for Billy by the staff in Portlaoise in the canteen on his last day and as befitted the man it was with the minimum of fuss and was suitably low-key. A large crowd of current and former colleagues, such as Tom Fitzgerald and Paul Conroy, were present. Gerry Maher acted as MC and various speakers, while keeping their contributions short, spoke of Billy’s good nature and of the pleasure it was to work with him.
Database Manager Mary Dunne presented Billy with a framed copy of the cover of The Irish Press from the date of his birth. In honour of the occasion, Eileen Glynn also wrote the following poem aptly summing up Billy’s qualities.
The Quiet Man of Woodbrook
Coming from Mountrath
Is his only sin.
We forgave him that
And we took him in.
44 years have passed,
Now he’s calling it a day,
So we wish him well
As he heads on his way.
We had great banter and chat
Over the years
In between meter readings
And following up on arrears.
If you were ever stuck
And had a query,
All you had to do
Was phone our Billy
So we bid farewell
And the best of good luck
To our friend and colleague
The Quiet Man of Woodbrook!
Dolphin rescue
Danny McConville of ESB Networks staff, proved himself a hero when he assisted with a recent dolphin rescue at Pilmore Beach in Youghal over the summer. The dolphin was stranded and had to be carried a great distance to re-enter the sea – an operation that took nearly seven hours but which resulted in a happy ending. Had Danny not been present to take control the situation the outcome could have been very different. Danny received a thank you from the from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, who say it is very rare to have a stranded dolphin refloated successfully. This is only the second such instance recorded in recent times.
Finance Transformation Programme (FiTP) update
page 7
