My father was Jeremiah Reen. He was married to Hannah Herlihy from Coolea. They had two children, Catherine and I. My father was the station master at Peake on the 'Hook and Eye Line' [Cork-Muskerry Tram] for many years. He was able to organise goods to be sent for the pub on the train to Gurteen or the Peake stops. He worked in the railways for 35- 40 years.

As a teenager he worked at Eustice's Timber and Slate merchants on Leitrim Street opposite Murphy's Brewery for a year [building there till early 1960s]. At the age of 16 he got a job as station master at the Cork-Muskerry terminus, now Jury's Hotel on Western Road. He lived in a lodge in nearby Wood Street. He got up at 5a.m. each morning and opened the gates. He had a narrow escape during the Irish Troubles. He was arrested and thought to be a man on the run from the British authorities who worked on the train. My father was lucky as the man on the run had his wages awaiting collection. Security was tight as ammunition was being transported illegally on the rail lines in County Cork providing arms to the Irish Republican Army. After the closure of the Cork Muskerry Tram, my dad Jeremiah worked in Wexford for a time but eventually came back to Berrings to run the pub-store-post office.

I [Pat] was born in 1953. I went to Berrings National School in 1958 (till 1966). My teachers were Pat Carroll, Mrs. Herlihy and Madge Collins. It was a two roomed building with boys taught on one side and the girls on the other. My father died in 1965 and I was sent to boarding school first in Trabolgan in East Cork and then to Colaiste åosagain in Ballyvourney. I went on to study at Coláiste An Spioraid Naoimh in Bishopstown. I went to technical school in Coachford and for a time attended the Radio and Electronic Institute in Tivoli.

In the 1970s, I came back to the family post office and bar to tend to it with my mother. But in the 1980s, rural life was heavily affected by the economic downturn, which resulted in the pub being closed in 1985. The pub was re-opened and refurbished in 1994. It closed shortly afterwards and I remain its owner. There are enormous long family ties with the pub".

To be continued…

My thanks to Pat Reen for his time and insights.

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