My Greystones: Margaret Byrne

2FEB17

nother one of our important rescues from The Great GG Fire of 2014 – where we lost eight months of posts – we’re lucky enough to be neighbours with the very wonderful Margaret Byrne.

In fact, if it wasn’t for her constant all-night parties, the woman would be pretty much the perfect neighbour.

Even though we’ve lived beside Margaret for over 20 years, there’s a lot we don’t know about this local dynamo. What we do know is that, after hooking up with the late, great Vincent Byrne, Mary gave Greystones a whole lotta wonderful kids, including the much-loved firefighting heroes Willie and Anto.

Today, Margaret is a grandmother to, on last count, 427 grandchildren. Give or take.

The one thing all of Vincent and Mary’s kids seem to share is a strong desire to help their community. These are kids, after all, who would have grown up watching their dad served as a steward at our local Dr. John Hickey Rugby Club for over 30 years – a job that drew the man over Windgates from Bray to settle in sunny Greystones back in 1974.

As for the bould Margaret, all you really need to know about this remarkable woman is that she spends many of her late evenings walking her dog whilst picking up any stray litter around Kindlestown Park. Quietly, undercover of darkness, and without fanfare, Margaret once again makes this town a better place to live in…

Is there any way we can make this woman Honorary Mayoress of Greystones? For life.

You can check out our farewell to Vincent Byrne here, and our chat with Margaret’s son Anto – the good-looking one – upon his retirement from the Greystones Fire Brigade after 20 years of loyal service here.