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An Entrepreneur Born on the Streets of Maghera: By Conor Oโ€™Kane

An Entrepreneur born on the streets of Maghera.

When I was around 5 years old my dad had a joinery workshop on Glen Road. There were always a few trimmings and cut-offs lying around from the various wooden products heโ€™d make. From these, myself and my friends would make bows and arrows and toy guns. Weโ€™d also steal a few sheets and planks to make tree houses and huts. If anyone was to dig up around what is now Fairhill Park theyโ€™d find the remnants of these old huts. This used to be a field in which we spent our summer months play fighting around the ruins of the old Fairhill school.

One day the entrepreneur in me kicked in and we discovered a wonderful use for the left-overs from my Dadโ€™s work. At this time central heating was only for a few futuristic people. Everyone else had a fire and used sticks and coal to heat their homes. Myself and my neighbour filled turf bags with sticks. We got my dad to lift them onto a wheelbarrow and off we went on our trade mission along the houses of Glen close and Glen road.

Our customers were more than happy to hand over ยฃ1 for a turf bag of fire-lighting wonder. In a dayโ€™s work it wasnโ€™t uncommon to get ยฃ10 โ€“ ยฃ15 between us. Although our entrepreneurial skills were working overtime at this young age, our savings and investmentsโ€™ strategies needed some work. Weโ€™d take our sales for that day and make our way straight to Patsy Cassidyโ€™s shop. (Now Kellyโ€™s Eurospar). In those days ยฃ5 or ยฃ10 would buy enough sweets, ice lollies and lucky bags to cater for a party of around 30 children.

I loved my early days in Maghera. It was a wonderful, friendly town where everyone felt like family. I owe my current business skills and bad teeth to the story above