Charles Henderson, Kinsale – A Wonderful Life of Community Service
- Online Journalist
- Jan 5
- 13 min read
Writes Leo McMahon
‘Volunteering is my hobby’ says Charles Henderson, whose record of service to a wide range of organisations in Kinsale over many decades, is second to none and is a person who epitomises what civic pride and love of community are all about.
‘I was born in Kinsale Hospital on April 8th, 1951, son of Walter and Jenny (nee Gunney from The Glen, Kinsale), Henderson and grew up in this house at Fr MacSwiney Terrace, Ardbrack, Scilly, Kinsale which was then a very different looking three bedroomed council house to today,’ said Charles.
‘When he was younger, my dad told me, he would go round to the houses in Scilly and deliver milk by pony and cart for a local farmer Willie O’Brien. Most of the houses had half doors from which residents would dip into the churns with mugs for their daily milk. He also worked for a Kinsale haulier Danny Wilson driving a truck to Cork which was sometimes used to take Kinsale GAA players and some supporters to matches at weekends. Walter went on to become a lorry driver with Cork County Council.
Charles is very proud of his late aunt Aggie Forde-Henderson from Greenwich who died in 2024, aged 101. An emigrant to England aged 22, she was a founder of the Kinsale-London Association, never missed attending the annual Regatta Festival, especially the Emigrants’ Reunion, and loved to sing the Kinsale anthem ‘The Old Holy Stone’. She was the first president of the Irish Community Services organisation in Britain and was presented with a British Citizen Award for Community in the Houses of Parliament.
Charles is the eldest of five sisters Mary Hurley, Theresa Hurley, Aggie Carty, Geraldine Dunne, Angela O’Sullivan and brother Noel married to Celine Hurley.
The house where Charles now resides with an upstairs lounge and stunning views of Kinsale town and harbour, has greatly changed from when he grew up there. His father, he said, was a great gardener and grew every type of vegetable on land leading at that time all the way down to the Low Road. His mother, was a hard worker and a very good housekeeper who sadly died aged 54 from cancer.
Charles first attended school in Summercove and after that St John’s School in Kinsale run by the Presentation Brothers who were very strict.
‘Money was very tight for my parents who had six children and being the eldest, I got a job in Acton’s Hardware, Pearse Street delivering bills around the town after national school at a time when it also had a yard at the Glen as well as undertaking and printing businesses’.
As a youngster, Scilly was his playground and leisure time was often spent playing Cowboys and Indians at Charles Fort which was then wide open and derelict. Pals then included Mick Ahern, Denis Gimblett, Jerry and Dan Hurley and he recalled the Hippies taking up residence in the fort in the late ‘swinging ‘sixties’.
Charles went on to study at the Vocational School at Bandon Road where he completed the Group Certificate. His tutors included PJ Sliney and Denis Paul Griffin.
‘I loved carpentry and was fortunate to be taught by a very good woodwork teacher Christy Power from Rushbrooke. In the morning, he would be up at the board and some mornings, and when I’d slip in late - because his door was alongside the front door of the school – he’d turn round and say ‘Sonny, sonny boy, you’re only fooling yourself !’
Another side-line for Charles earning money and contributing to the home in his teens was collecting tickets at Vincy Fitzerald’s cinema at Pier Road and very occasional work with Piper’s funfair.
Junior Postman
Times were tough in the 1960s and Kinsale was a town with rampant dereliction, poor roads and very few jobs but Charles applied for the job of what was to be Kinsale’s last junior postman which was in effect, a telegram boy. Often, he recalled, he had to cycle towards the end of a working day to deliver telegrams to Sandycove but the pay was good at the time.
Moving to Cork to graduate to being a postman (which his grandfather Charles was) wasn’t practical, but fortunately, Charles was able to pursue his interest in serving his time as a carpentry when he got a job with Fred Good who ran Atlantic Yacht Charters. The company built and provided storage, repairs and upkeep of boats and yachts (e.g. cruisers, mirrors, dragons) at its yard behind Acton’s Hotel in Lower O’Connell Street.
For Charles, he recalled, it was a drop in pay to £1.10 shillings (30 bob) but his mother said ‘if you want it, we’ll manage’.
After two years, Fred Good bought Kilmacsimon Quay Boatyard which had an enormous store shed, most notably used during a cement strike. It was while working for Atlantic for around eight years that Charles served his time as a shipwright. The company also repaired engines and stored and repaired and built yachts (e.g. dragons, mirrors and cruisers) during the winters.
‘When I was serving my apprenticeship, I also worked in The Spaniard pub, Scilly when Peter Barry owned it and The Folk House when Denis Sheehy was owner. I came back to The Spaniard when Michael Frawley became owner.’ He often spent several Saturdays doing ‘foxers’ for building contractor and later neighbour and fellow community volunteer Ted McNamara.
Work colleagues Charles could recall at Kilmacsimon included master craftsman Bobbie Beare (also a renowned singing tutor) from Bandon, Tommy Kiely, World’s End and Christy Daly from Ballinspittle. The yard at was eventually bought by local boat builder George Kingston.
Indeed, it was from Christy Daly that Charles and his wife Theresa bought their first house, a bungalow from Glenside homes, in Ballinspittle. In 1981 they moved to Ardcarrig, Bandon Road, Kinsale and 21 years later back to Ardbrack which was left to Charles by his father who died on February 14th, 1993, the same day as their daughter Niamh was born.
Town Foreman
In 1977, aged 26, Charles Henderson applied for and was appointed Town Foreman of Kinsale Urban District Council, a position he held for 40 years. He replaced the retired Mossie Hayes. ‘The job consisted of everything, water curator, sanitary curator, house and road repairs, you name it. I was on call 24/7 and was even obliged to attend monthly meetings of the council in the Municipal Hall. Watermains breaking in the flat of the town where the pressure was greatest, were frequent as were flash floods and myself and the crew would be out at all hours’.
Charles recalled that a major problem resulted from the fact the then new water and sewerage scheme had asbestos pipes, which were supposed to be ‘the thing’ but simply burst under pressure.
When he became town foreman, Charles had six men which later was reduced to four. He spoke fondly of his work colleagues who included Tim O’Brien, Charlie Eaton and his sons Michael, Timmy and Gerard; Pakie Dillon, Tony Corcoran and later on Canice O’Connell, Peter Gimblett and Austin Callanan, the latter, a fantastic gardener who worked seven days a week for Tidy Towns. Great work was done by Social Employment Scheme and by area supervisor Danny Cummins.
Charles also worked under county council area engineer Pat Treacy, followed by Frank Morrison while Billy Houlihan was architect. They along with town clerk Hugh Peacocke, Danny Cummins and others, working in co-operation with Tidy Towns volunteers, made a major contribution to transforming Kinsale into a year round visitor destination.
There were also great colleagues in the office over the years including Claire O’Donovan, Claire Levis, Niamh Spillane, Anna Burke and Anne Collins as well as town clerks Michelle Kelleher and Finbarr Allison. He also praised manager Mary Ryan, as another officer who took an interest in Kinsale and recalled great parties they had at his home in Ardbrack.
In 1999, Charles Henderson decided to stand for election to Kinsale UDC and topped the poll. Five years later, he trebled his vote and was elected mayor for 2004-05. Sadly, a law was brought in which effectively precluded him and other council officials in Ireland from going for election. He served on the former Kinsale Harbour Commissioners and when chairperson in 2005-06, the decision was taken to build a much needed new Port of Kinsale office on the Pier and designed by local architect Rob Jacob. He is also a Peace Commissioner.
Kinsale, he contends, still needs a local council serving the town plus its hinterland only because in his time, all nine members were from the locality to drive it forward. There was need for more social and affordable houses for local people as well as extra parking on the outskirts and a harbourside road with promenade walk along the edge of the car park from Perryville to Pier Road. This would reduce congestion at the town centre junctions caused mainly by Garrettstown-bound only traffic.
Volunteering
‘I didn’t get involved in sport very much because my hobbies were always volunteering,’ said Charles. During the 1970s, he and others were on the Temperance Hall youth committee that organised bus outings in the summer. One of these, he recalled, was to Youghal and a visit to Perks Funfair.
‘On the way back, I was kind of in charge on the bus, which incidentally had been robbed that day, and I saw this beautiful girl with long legs and said to myself, ‘she is the woman for me’.
That was Theresa O’Leary from Higher O’Connell Street and whenever she came to the disco in the Temperance Hall, Charles, who ran it with Dermot Healy, would play ‘Teresa’ by Joe Dolan. The disco stage incidentally, was on the roof of the toilets!
Charles also recalled great dance nights during the Regatta, of which he was also a volunteer member, in a marquee on the site behind what used to be the Kinsale Candles factory and later became Shearwater.
Theresa, daughter of Denis and Eileen O’Leary, worked in the Civil Service in Cork. She then worked for the Bank of Ireland in Dublin and Charles would give her a lift to Cork for the train on his Honda 50.
The couple got married on September 11th, 1976 in St John the Baptist Church and the reception was in Innishannon House Hotel. ‘We had to leave at 5pm that day and we first stayed at what was then the Grand Hotel, Crosshaven which was run by Michael Doran, later to become a fellow Kinsale town councillor who upgraded us!’ The honeymoon was in Spain.
The couple have two sons and two daughters and seven grandchildren. Cathal, married to Evelyn Kelleher from Midleton, whose children are Matt, Cathal, Fiadh and Ruairi; Brian, married to Kate Ronayne whose children are Sam, Leo and Lucy and reside in Harbour Heights, Kinsale; Jane and Niamh Henderson, both Kinsale.
Mention has already been made of Charles’s involvement in the Temperance Hall. It’s worth noting that in later years, Charles used his skills as a carpenter along with Ted McNamara and others to restore install an upstairs room, mainly for the benefit of youth, as part of a renovation of the Temperance Hall.
Kinsale Regatta
Just talking to Charles, one realises that his record of active service in so many organisations in Kinsale cannot be surpassed.
His longest is with Kinsale Regatta which he joined as a teenager around 60 years ago. The precursor to this, he pointed out, was going to Vincy Fitzgerald’s cinema, which he enjoyed, and being persuaded by him to join the Kinsale Fife and Drum Band which performed at the Regatta. Nicky Searls, a former councillor, was a drummer and Charles played the fife (flute). Through his involvement with the band he went on to join the Regatta committee.
During the Regatta August bank holiday weekend, Charles and others mainly worked behind the scenes, setting up stages, organising the band recitals (Blarney Brass and Reed, Cobh Confraternity etc), dances, road races and the water carnival events such as the pig and pole and pillow fights which used to be held on a fisherman’s boat.
One of the festivals Charles really enjoys is Kinsale Gourmet run by the Good Food Circle and Chamber of Tourism. He is the official ‘Mad Hatter’ (prior to that the Door mouse) in the ever popular Mad Hatter’s tour of the town and restaurants every October. There were also the Food Forums.
Fire Brigade
Charles gave outstanding service to Kinsale Fire Brigade starting when Mossie Hayes was chief. He trained as a fireman from the age of 32. One had to leave work the moment the call was made initially by the sound of a hooter and then via an alerter. Thankfully, he didn’t witness any fatalities but was involved in tackling some big fires in towns and farms as well accidents and numerous chimney fires.
Bobbie Wright was station officer. ‘There was training every second Tuesday and several courses including going through a concrete pipe to see if you were claustrophobic. It was 24/7 and could impact on family life but you got every second week off’. A major advance was the move from the Glen with one appliance to a purpose built station at New Road. Charles retired from the service aged 58 as sub-officer after 26 years’ service.
Tidy Towns
‘When I was growing up, Kinsale was most certainly not a tourist town. Many buildings were derelict,’ said Charles, a long serving member and many years chairperson of Tidy Towns which this year won gold in its population category for the 4th year running.
Great stalwarts that came to mind were Brian Graham, Mary Nagle, Mags Lynch, Colette Boland, Ted McNamara, Phil Devitt, Mary Coughlan and Billy Lynch but there were and are many more, said Charles who proudly recalled Kinsale coming from last place in the late 1970s to national winners in 1986 and winning countless awards since.
A major honour for Charles was winning the national overall Super Valu Tidy Towns Hero Award in 2015 for ‘outstanding dedication to his local community.’ That same year, he was grand marshal in St Patrick’s Day Parade in Kinsale. Three years later he was recognised with a Southern Star West Cork Hero Award.
However, Charles stressed, it was the teamwork, camaraderie and pride of place that always spurred him on in Tidy Towns, as indeed in volunteering with other groups, adding that it involved many hours of mostly unseen work. The background work of council officials and social employment schemes were vital as was the great work of town clerk Hugh Peacocke in pursuing owners of derelict sites.
Kinsale’s twinnings mean a great deal to Charles Henderson, who first got involved at a public meeting in Acton’s Hotel. As mayor, he visited Antibes Juan-les-Pins in France and Mumbles in Wales and several times Newport, Rhode Island, USA, which continues to be a very successful twinning since 1999. He also visited Barry in Wales which had a friendship pact with Kinsale Harbour Board and many seafaring family links.
‘We’ve had great times on both side of the Atlantic and made great friends with Paul Crowley (RIP), Rick O’Neill, Kathy Farrington, Paul Shea, Joe Brady, Cathy Morrison, Steve Waluk and many more. The St Patrick’s parades were fantastic and the hospitality in Newport and its Visitors’ Bureau second to none,’ said Charles who, back home in Kinsale, would greet American visitors at Shannon and be involved in various events in the town including a visit by Newport firemen to the 9/11 memorial tree garden at Ringfinnan just outside Kinsale.
Credit Union
Charles worked for 40 years on a voluntary basis with Kinsale Credit Union and decided to step down in 2016 around the time it was amalgamated to become First South CU. He cut the tape to officially open the refurbished premises in Market Place in 2003. Colleagues included Joe Gimblett, Sheila Gimblett, Eoin O’Neill, Pat Hanrahan John McCarthy, John O’Connell and Margaret Canty.
His commitment to the movement was based on personal experience as he once wrote: ‘As an apprentice, I needed a loan for a Honda 50 to get to work. I remember thinking that the credit union was a special organisation because it trusted me with that loan when I had very little, so after a couple of years I volunteered.
‘At the beginning of every meeting, we said the prayer to St Francis. It was something we always did. There were at least three of us on the loans committee. They said I was always too soft, that I gave out money too easily but I was bringing in my own experience. The people were honest, that is what you were looking for. Credit union was a great asset to Kinsale’.
Charles took over from his father in helping to organise the annual Corpus Christi Eucharistic Procession in Kinsale. It included building the altar in front of the post office where there was also help from old pals Timmy O’Donovan and Ted McNamara. He is also a Minister of the Eucharist in the parish and Carmelite churches and registrar of St Eltin’s Cemetery.
Charles served for 21 years with the Kinsale Forsa Cosanta Aitiuil (FCA), rising to the rank of sergeant Amongst his colleagues were Jerry Hurley, Denis Gimblett, Michael Ahern and Flor Lovell.
The list of voluntary service goes on. Charles was a blood donor for 50 years but could not continue after a heart attack in 2012. He is on the board of management of Kinsale Community School and previously served on the boards of St John’s NS and the Convent of Mercy Secondary School.
Charles was a member of Kinsale Lions Clubs in its early years. On a lighter note, he was co-founder with Ted McNamara of the Lotto Ladz based at Michael and Rose Frawley’s White House, a social group which from time to time raises money for several deserving causes.
Reflecting on decades of active service to the town he loves so well, 74 years young Charles Henderson recalled something he once said about working for his local credit union. ‘Volunteerism gets in your blood. I got involved in numerous local organisations and am still involved. I gained nothing financially but gained so much from giving back to the community’.
Recalling his heart attack in In 2012, Charles said. ‘I remember being in my sister Mary’s house when all of a sudden I got an almighty pain in my chest and sweating heavily. I still went to work in the credit union but felt unwell, was ordered to go to the doctor across the street from where I was taken to ambulance to Cork University Hospital’. Thankfully, he recovered and went on a healthy regime and spoke of the great support he got from his wife Theresa and family not only then but throughout his married life.
Today, Charles has taken a step back from some activities but continues to be very active in Tidy Towns and some of the above mentioned groups and remains passionate about seeing Kinsale prosper. In doing so, he stressed the need for more community volunteers, adding that he was honoured and proud to work for the people of Kinsale as a councillor and mayor. It’s a place which, during his life he has witnessed its renaissance to become the ‘town for all seasons’ and he has contributed significantly to that.
Apologising in advance for unintentionally leaving out any names from organisations he served in, Charles concluded with his motto: ‘Life is for living. We are not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time !’.
Thanks to photographer Adrian O’Herlihy
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