Urney Chocolates and Motor Racing

Earlier today I accidently deleted a telephone voice message left by a gentleman enquiring about my grandfather, Redmond Gallagher, and his contribution to Irish motor racing. So, if by any chance you are reading this, I'm really sorry but I haven't got a contact number for you. Maybe you could call again? Or maybe this will help...

Redmond Gallagher took over from his father as MD of Urney Chocolates in 1950 on the condition that he would concentrate solely on the factory and give up his lifelong passion for motor racing. His very first racing car was a H.E. 2 litre bought for £8 in the 1930s for a race in the Phoenix. Park. This was replaced with a 3 litre Sunbeam that been driven by Sir Malcolm Campbell in the Irish Grand Prix. Redmond never raced the Sunbeam and for some reason eventually sold it on. His next car was a supercharged Austin 7 that he was not entirely taken with. Maybe because it cost him a broken neck which was only discovered years later. Deciding to take things up a notch, Redmond next purchased an engineless Bugatti. With help from his brother in law, Dermot O'Clery, he fitted it with an early Ford V8 engine and called the car the USR- Urney Special Racer. As WW2 approached Redmond put his racing on hold until after the war when engineer and racing associate Nick Flynn helped build "Leprechaun I". It was a 500 cc car with a J.A.P. engine, especially adept at hill climbs. This was later adapted with a Norton engine and chassis redesign to become "Leprechaun II". Then came "Leprechaun III", an entirely new car with a 1000 cc supercharged engine. It did very well in speed events. His final racing car was a 1.5 litre Gordini that Redmond raced extensively at home and abroad. It had 2 wins in the international tourist trophy at Dundrod and another in the Wakefield trophy at the Curragh. 
In 1959 Stan Ryan bought Leprechaun III. Stan had a garage at 152, North King St. and raced the car for two years in several events around the country before eventually selling it on to Robin Rennicks. It was destroyed by fire while Mr.Rennicks owned it.

Above photo courtesy of the 500 Owners Association.

Exhibition news- Change of date!

Remember I was getting all geared up for an "Urney" exhibition at Tallaght Library in May? Well there's been a change of plan. We've unanimously decided that National Heritage Week would be a more suitable time to show off our wares. The Urney Chocolates factory was such a major part of the Tallaght community. Afterall, it was there from the beginning. And as the business grew so the village prospered around it.
Heritage Week runs from 21st - 29th August. The "Sweet memories" exhibition will be launched in Tallaght Library that week and will remain up for a month. A date to mark in your diaries....

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a well deserved break over the Christmas holidays. It's hard to get back into the pace of normal life. First there's the sugar addiction to get over and then there's the effort of getting up early for a hard days slog to get re-accustomed to.... Especially hard these arctic mornings. Brrrrr...

I'm guessing most of you had a traditional turkey dinner for Christmas. Well, an interesting fact about Eileen Gallagher, founder of Urney Chocolates; she introduced the first White Holland turkey into Ireland in 1956. Eileen, a keen fowl fancier, acquired some fertilized turkey eggs on a trip to the USA and managed to smuggle them back to Dublin. She bred White Holland turkeys successfully for many years in Tallaght, producing up to 3,000 birds annually. Before that, the Bronze turkey would have been the predominant turkey breed in Ireland and goose would have been commonly eaten at Christmas. The White Holland is a smaller breed than the Bronze but matures earlier. There's much debate about how Eileen managed to get the eggs home though it is commonly agreed that the means weren't entirely legal... My preferred family myth claims she hid them in the lining of her fur hat.

Urney Planet Man

In the mid ‘50s, Joe Lynch compered an Urney sponsored radio programme in front of a live audience. When resident commercial reader, actor Pat Layde, went touring with the Abbey theatre, Gay Byrne was asked to temporarily fill in. This graduated to a more permanent position that would last nine years.

One of those programmes was juvenile science ficton series The Planet Man. Dantro, aka The Planet Man, was a troubleshooter for the League of Planets organization, the law enforcement body for peace and justice in the celestial world - whose headquarters and center of operations are situated on the capital of all planets, Planteria Rex. "From Mercury to Pluto, where ever danger threatens the universe, you will find Dantro the Planet Man fighting for fair play." The Planet Man was transcribed and syndicated by Palladium Radio Productions. Urney must have run a number of promotions for the programme as seen by this badge, property of avid badge collector Frank Setchfield who kindly sent me this image. You can listen to an episode of The Planet Man series here. Enjoy!

Brendan Grace - yearning for Urney!

Yesterday the comedian Brendan Grace was chatting to Pat Kenny on RTE 1. Speaking from his hospital bed where he was recovering from surgery he explained to Kenny that his Diabetes had complicated an infection in his foot. But, he joked, rumours of the demise of his leg are greatly exaggerated. During the interview Grace talked about the huge lifestyle changes he had to make when he was diagnosed with Diabetes type II, fifteen years ago. The dedicated sweet tooth had to give up the chocolates, sweets and biscuits he so loved. His new book Amusing Grace dedicates 7 or 8 pages to all the sweet stuff of his childhood. "Are you old enough to remember Urneys?" he asked Pat as he went on to reminisce about Urney's Milk Tray, Regal Milk and Two and Two bars. It was clearly a struggle to give up his sugary fix, you could still hear the longing in his voice.

Well I hope you get well very soon Brendan and thanks for the memories.

The Legend of the Urney Leprechaun

Earlier this week I received an email from Julie in Montana, USA. She recently acquired an Urney Chocolates tin and was trying to put a value on it. I couldn't say how much it is worth but I can give a little background information on it. It was produced as part of an advertising campaign to encourage sales of the Urney threepence bars. The rhyme on the tin forms part of a longer ballad "The Legend of the Urney Leprechaun" written by author Bernard Share in 1954, while working for the O'Kennedy Brindley Advertising Agency. All eight verses, illustrated by Neil O'Kennedy, were then translated to screen to become Ireland's first full-colour commercial to be shown in cinemas nationwide. I don't know how many of these leprechaun tins are in circulation today but I imagine there aren't too many in such good condition. Cute.

Last day at The Irish Agricultural Museum

Today "Sweet Memories, the Story of Urney Chocolates" an exhibition in The Irish Agricultural Museum has officially finished. Phase one, is over. I took down the series of history panels that I designed and researched. The limited edition prints of illustrations I had done for the project also came off the wall. The reason behind the display was to create interest and try make contact with anyone who might have any personal memories of the Tallaght chocolate factory. The sale of prints helped me to cover some of the printing costs. Special thanks to all who supported me! I had asked visitors to share their personal Urney stories and a surprising number of people have left comments in the visitors book. Some people had actually worked in the factory or had commercial connections with it while others have singled out favourite childhood products. I am so looking forward to going through the comments and cannot wait to get in touch with some of the visitors who have left contact details. So many Urney stories to be unravelled!!!