A big change at the Vincents shop
After more than eight years — she has managed the charity shop since it was set up here in 2010 — she has been transferred to look after the Vincents shop in Blessington.
Pat Brennan, who has worked with Maureen in Kilcullen for more than five years, is also transferring to the Blessington operation. Pat will finish on Friday, while Saturday is Maureen's last day here.
"It's like leaving family," she told the Diary this afternoon, as lots of messages came streaming in on the shop's Facebook page. "There's something special about Kilcullen, and I've really loved it here."
The present shop is two doors down from where the original was, and that move in 2015 is one of the highlight memories that both Maureen and Pat will be taking with them in the move.
"I remember Bill Cullen came down to officially open the new shop, and he donated a Louis Copeland suit that he'd worn in 'The Apprentice'," Pat says. "Yes, we've had the pictures on the wall ever since," Maureen adds.
"We were also TV stars at one stage," Pat reminds us of the shop featuring in an episode of 'Nationwide' some years ago. That short appearance had an amazing effect. "People came from all over the country to see us, even from as far away as Donegal," Maureen says.
But it's the local people both of them will miss. And the volunteers. "We've had just wonderful volunteers down the years," Maureen notes, and when asked what the volunteer turnover was like, said it was very small. Which tells its own story.
"Where else would volunteers get up at five in the morning to head up to work at the Hollywood Fair, which we've done for several years?" They also got great receptions when they participated in Kilcullen St Patrick's Day Parades in recent years.
The customers too will miss Maureen and Pat. As we were speaking, one man came in and wondered, only half in jest, who would remember his taste in books and put the right ones aside for him?
And the wide range of other people who'd regularly stop by, just for a chat? "It has been as much a drop-in centre for people who might be feeling a little lonely, as it has been a shop," Maureen says. "It has also been a favourite stop for people from KARE, and the Bridge Community."
Originally from Clare, and living in Poulaphuca, she moved to the Kilcullen shop from the one in Ballymore, managing both for a time before going full time in Kilcullen. She has had a long-time association with the St Vincent de Paul Society, beginning as a volunteer in 2002.
Moving on to a new phase, she and Pat wish all the best for the new manager, Louise, who starts in Kilcullen on Monday.
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