I’m from Grange in County Sligo, the second eldest of a family of five girls. My father owned a grocery shop and from a very young age, I gained experience dealing with the public and this helped me to develop my people skills.

My aunt, who lived a short distance away, was an expert cook and during the summer months exhibited cakes and preserves at the local shows. I helped her out too as a child, which gave me a flair for baking.

Home economics, as it was known then, was one of the subjects I studied at the Convent of Mercy secondary school in Sligo. Back then, the nuns had very strict rules and as a new pupil I was a bit wary of them. Home economics class was the first item on Monday morning’s timetable overseen by Sr Mary. Not being my favourite teacher in the school, she soon dampened my spirits for cooking! Monday morning school blues stuck with me for quite some time.

After school, I started my first job as a telephonist with the-then Department of Posts and Telegraphs. During my late teens cooking and baking was put on the back burner as my work colleagues and myself took to the social scene and the craic was mighty!

In those days, it was important to get a man with a car, as transport was scarce. Fortunately or unfortunately, I met a carpenter with a car in the next parish that surely put paid to my interest in cooking. Hugh was steeped in the GAA, playing football was a big part of his life and that took me on that pathway.

We got married in 1976 and built our home back in Grange. I retired from my job in 1979 and while rearing my family I rekindled my love for cooking. That’s when I started competing at the local agricultural shows and then joined my local show committee - North Sligo Grange – where I was the treasurer and now chair.

I was invited to join the Irish Country Women’s Association in the mid 1980s. During my time with the Association, I competed in numerous cookery and baking competitions and won a national final in 1999 with a fish dish. Competing at the agricultural shows every summer was something I enjoyed and was a great family day out. I won numerous prizes for my baking and preserves.

My first visit to Tullamore Show was in 1993 when my daughter Orla qualified for the Homestead All Ireland Baking Championship. It was a wonderful spectacle as there was so much to see and do at the show and the exhibits were of a very high standard. Orla had a successful day out winning a prize in her competition and that gave me the appetite to enter the following year and to my surprise, I had a fruitful day out winning many prizes.

Annual outing

That took me on an annual outing to Tullamore show until 2007 when the show was cancelled at the last minute due to torrential rain and bad ground conditions. I continued my journey to visit friends in Offaly with the car full with enough cakes to feed three parishes. Like the Late Late Show, there was one for everyone in the audience!

Joining the Home Industries judging panel was how I first got involved with the ISA. This has since taken me to the four provinces of Ireland and I’ve made many good friends on my journey.

En-route, I encountered numerous challenges too, for example, on one occasion, a lady claimed she should have won a prize for her blackcurrant jam. While there were only four pots entered in the class, all were of high standard and my reply to her was: “A knob of butter was added to the boiling process.” She agreed with my answer and later complimented me on my judging.

Back to work

I returned to the workforce in 1993 and continued exhibiting and judging at the shows at weekends. A number of people encouraged me to put my name forward for the ISA western region board as the feeling was that I would make a worthwhile contribution. After giving it some thought, I decided to give it a go. I was successful and joined the ISA national board in 2010, representing the western region.

One of the first people I became familiar with after joining the board was Paddy Joe Foy, the western region chair whom I found to be articulate and capable of advancing his point of view. Regrettably, Paddy Joe retired from the board this year, and I wish him well in his retirement. During my time as board member I have stewarded at national championships, gone to the ringside and collected the qualifying cards for the national competitions and met numerous characters along the way.

President

Normally at this time of year, we are preparing for our annual gathering of show committee members. It was a great honour at our AGM in Newry last November when I was elected the national president of the ISA, this is a great honour for both myself and my family. I’m the first Sligo person in the role and to my surprise, Sligo County Council accorded me a civic reception back in early March, which I was delighted with.

Having attended a number of regional meetings during the winter and being so enthusiastic about the showing season ahead, the world took a drastic turn for the worst due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has stopped us all in our tracks.

Via a Zoom meeting of the ISA board on 14 April, a recommendation was made to cancel all shows for 2020 in the interest of health and safety. Although a difficult and disappointing decision to have to make, it has proved prudent. The ISA board was forced with the daunting task of how to manage this difficult situation and with the assistance of our PRO, Catherine Cotter, we embraced modern technology and have conducted Zoom board meetings since.

From that, we sowed the seed to produce our first-ever Virtual Show. This certainly has served the purpose of keeping our Association connected with our exhibitors and I’m delighted to say it has been a great success, reaching beyond our shores to an international audience. We now embark on holding our regional meetings and a national AGM this month by Zoom webinar.

My only exhibits for 2020 are Christmas baking which my family and myself will enjoy. We’re looking forward to leaving the memories of this year behind and look towards 2021 with optimism.

Catherine Gallagher was in conversation with Susan Finnerty.