Town of Monaghan Co-op’s 125-year legacy celebrated

Former employees, farmers, suppliers and friends gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel last Wednesday, November 4, to celebrate Town of Monaghan Co-op’s history. Organised by Joe Leonard and billed as an Irish wake, the evening remembered the people behind a business that began in 1901 and closed in 2025.

MC and former employee Jim Kennedy set the tone: “Like any wake that involves somebody 125 years old, we won’t be talking about the demise … (rather) the celebration of the last 124 years.”

Inspired by Horace Plunkett’s lofty co-operative ideals of improving the status and livlihoods

of local farming families’ through shared enterprise, the co-op entered a new chapter in 1947 with the appointment of 25-year-old manager John O’Donnell.

Author Mary O’Donnell, John’s daughter, described the evening as “a bit like unpicking the tapestry of the past”, recalling “the sound of those iron milk churns” reaching the family home.

She recalled John’s role in introducing new milk and butter packaging and Tetra Pak technology. “My father was the youngest manager when he started and the oldest when he left,” she said, also paying tribute

to his successor, Vincent Gilhawley.

“I think it was a glorious period in agriculture and farming in North Monaghan and all along the borderlands,” she said.

Reading Joe Leonard’s Heritage Destruction – The Death of a Co-op, which chronicles its final years, proved upsetting: “I read the first half of it when I had to put it down, it was making me so angry,” she recalled.

Business philosophy

Aidan McCabe, who liaised with farmers for the co-op, recalled Vincent Gilhawley’s business philosophy: “Vincent had a slogan: ‘Do what you say and say what you do’.”

He remembered the camaraderie among staff and suppliers, especially in difficult times: “There was a real community feel to the creamery, unfortunately as things get bigger, you lose that.”

Dealing with farmers had been a pleasure, he added.

Thomas McVey traced the co-op’s expansion into Northern Ireland, initially competing with the Milk Marketing Board. By March 1995, it was Northern Ireland’s second-largest milk purchaser. In 1990, its extra penny per litre on the base price meant £50 annually for a cow yielding about 5,000 litres.

Following the acquisition of Northern Ireland processing facilities in 2002, it collected approximately 350 million litres from around 650 farmers. Competition benefited farmers and generated employment across the region, he said.

During the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis, restrictions threatened cross-border collections. Yet he recalled: “Every litre of milk was collected, every litre of milk was delivered, and every litre of milk was paid for.”

His conclusion: “Town of Monaghan might be gone as a business entity, but still not forgotten.”

A supplier’s memories

Lifelong supplier David Boyd’s family connection began in the early 1950s, when his father supplied milk in cans. He remembered the transition to electric milking machines and bulk tanks, and familiar faces throughout the creamery.

“Monaghan Co-op was like a big family. It always felt like a second home,” he said.

Mickey Eoin McMahon of McMahon’s, Scotstown, explained what the co-op meant to independent retailers.

For his family business, established in 1956, it provided local brands and brought customers into the village. Closure meant longer distribution chains, higher transport costs and less business from farmers and former employees.

The delivery drivers were a vital link between the co-op, village shops and farming communities, knowing shopkeepers by name. “They didn’t just drop weights and leave. They brought the news to the country,” he recalled. The loss was social as well as commercial.

Stories from a lifetime

Peter Clerkin brought laughter with memories of tractors arriving with milk cans, farmers competing for unloading space, drivers and characters. Kennedy’s humorous interventions and recollections of former colleagues kept the evening true to its Irish-wake spirit.

The Monaghan Town site closed permanently on March 31, 2025, following Lakeland Dairies’ November 2023 announcement that operations would cease at three facilities, including Monaghan.

Kennedy lamented the loss of experienced personnel and, though painful, he felt the final chapter belonged in the co-op’s history. He also recalled his own 12 years there and the people who made them special.

Joe Leonard thanked the capacity crowd, recalling how his father Jimmy first brought him to the co-op more than 50 years ago. Jimmy spent 30 years there, leaving as Agri Store Manager in 1973. Thirty-one years later, Joe took up the same position.

“We’ve all been part of the co-op family. Thanks for the memories and it’s been a pleasure working with you all,” he said, his voice laden with emotion.

His archive of approximately 550 photographs, on the Town of Monaghan Co-op Facebook page, has drawn continuing interest, recording more than three million views.

Guests could take home Jack Charlton-autographed TMC caps and browse memorabilia, including Barry McGuigan’s Monaghan Milk ‘The Choice of Champions’ poster.

The doors may be closed but The Town of Monaghan Co-op family and its memories remain very much alive.