Lifestyle – It’s been 14 years since Dubliner Michael Hurley settled in Lackagh, drawing on his love of history and nature to record the stories and wildlife of his new home. His latest book is a compilation of folklore essays written in the 1930s by local children, as DARRAGH McDONAGH learns.

George Bernard Shaw famously observed that “youth is wasted on the young”, but Michael J Hurley’s prolific and passionate pursuit of his interests into his 70s recently prompted his daughter to remark that “retirement is wasted on the old”.

The Lackagh resident finished working with Cadbury after 40 years in 2008 but, as Willy Wonka said to Charlie at the end of another tale involving a chocolate factory, that was only the beginning.

Some 14 years later, Michael has authored more than 25 books, produced two DVDs, performed in a choir, and tread the boards in a wide range of roles in plays and pantomimes.

The level of activity and achievement in his retirement has been matched only by the diversity of the interests he has pursued since closing the chocolatey chapter of his career with Cadbury in Coolock.

The Dublin native’s books brim with enthusiasm and expertise in areas including transport, heritage, folklore, history, botany, and wildlife; while his interest in drama and music has also found productive outlets.

And Michael’s decision to rev up at a time of life when many others are winding down is attributable entirely to passion, as he proudly declares that he’s “never made a penny from writing a book” – electing instead to divert proceeds to charity, where they arise.

He was born in the coastal suburb of Baldoyle on Dublin’s northside, but says it was a place that had more in common with Lackagh as a rural community back then.  Large-scale development in Baldoyle didn’t take place until after 1966.

It was there that Michael’s interest in local history and heritage was ignited at a young age, when he attended an event to raise funds for a local children’s hospital. He happened upon a single sheet of information at the fundraiser, which outlined the history of nuns in the area. He was shocked by how much he didn’t know about his own locality, and it gave him an insatiable hunger to find out more.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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