Headford News and Community Spotlight - Rematch for the Thatch

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COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

No Place Like Home

Rematch for the Thatch 
According to the U.S. Library of Congress, The Wizard of Oz (from 1939) is the most watched film ever. Part of the reason for this might be the universal significance of the central message of the movie. Dorothy’s immortal line sums it up: ‘If you ever go looking for your heart's desire, you don't have to look any further than your own back yard.’ In other words: your roots are important. Although this lesson is played up in the final scene of the film, the bulk of the story is instead about the dream of escaping, the desire to leave the here and now to find a better place.

That’s exactly what Therese Greaney did back in 1989. She and her husband and three small children left Headford for a better life in Oz (or Aus). Last July, nearly a quarter of a century later, Therese returned home and spent her life savings to buy the Thatch Pub and give it a face lift.

At 11:00 am on a weekday, the Thatch is bathed in warm sunlight. Inside, a couple is enjoying a leisurely breakfast in one of the booths and natural light bounces off the creamy white walls. As I sit at the bar waiting for Therese to finish what she’s cooking in the kitchen, Tie A Yellow Ribbon, wafts from the sound system. That’s followed by Rhianna telling us to Shut Up And Drive, in turn followed by the Irish Rovers waxing patriotic with The Orange and The Green. At the same time, a soundless cookery show plays on a large screen TV. Right away, you get the feeling this place is aiming to please all types.

When Therese (she prefers the pronunciation ‘Treys’) appears, she brings two plates of pancakes and steaming hot coffee. As a result, I can truthfully testify that the food at the Thatch is as yummy as the new décor. 

‘I want this to be a family pub and café,’ Therese says, ‘not just a place for old drunk men.’

Toward that end, gone is the sagging thatched roof with green weeds sprouting out of it. It’s been replaced with pristine new thatch. Therese and her friends and family scrubbed the inside of the place, repainted it, and made the adjoining café room as cosy as ‘someone’s parlour,’ as she puts it. Next, she plans to have Irish sayings painted on the pub walls, to make sure the place keeps its heritage, and she’s planning a small garden in back for outdoor dining.

When I ask her what she misses most about Oz, she says the weather, of course, but also the life style. ‘I really miss the huge shopping centres there,’ she says with an mischievous smile. ‘Most of all, I miss my family.’ Her children, all grown now, are still in Sydney. She proudly tells me one’s a forensic biologist, another is a detective, and the third is an electrician. ‘I hated leaving them behind.’ But they all managed to come home to Headford as a surprise for her 50^th birthday last year.

Therese says she’s always been a people person and ‘looking after everyone . . . that’s the way I was brought up. Mammy and Daddy had a ten-bed B&B in Headford called Mount Carmel. It was the best training I could’ve had.’

Back when Therese and her young family emigrated, there were very few jobs or opportunities here. ‘I set goals,’ she says. And this was a big one. ‘Every five years I re-evaluate. That’s giving you something to work for all your life.’

‘Moving to Australia made us very independent. It taught us as a young couple to stand on our own two feet. The worst part was that our kids didn’t have grandparents like everyone else did. But, now, we have life-long friends there.’

While in Australia, she got additional training in Hospitality Management and Commercial Cookery, and managed a restaurant there.

Therese Greaney, Proprietor

I ask Therese if there’s anything she’d like people to know. ‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I’d like people to know that everyone who walks through the door is welcome here, no matter what they’re wearing.’

That makes me laugh and I have to ask, ‘No matter what they’re wearing?

‘That’s right,’ she says. And then she explains that someone came by the pub asking for a job, but all the jobs were filled. She didn’t have one to offer them. So that person retaliated by starting a rumour that farmers and anyone wearing wellies were not allowed in the Thatch Pub. As a result, Therese is taking this opportunity to let the world know—whether you’re wearing wellies, walking shoes, stilettos, or anything in between—you’re welcome in the Thatch.

The Thatch Pub is open Tuesday through Sunday for food and drinks, and the café serves meals in the evenings. On Thursday nights, there will be trad music starting at 9 pm.

Therese says the best thing about moving home is being with family and friends again. ‘We’d be lost without them.’ She lists sisters, nieces, nephews and in-laws who have all helped, not only with renovating the Thatch, but also with looking after it. ‘And we have a brilliant staff.’ It seems pretty clear, Therese is glad to be back home in Headford.

At the end of The Wizard of Oz, Glinda tells Dorothy that she’s had the power to return herself home all along, she just didn’t know it. Overall, the film affirms that we each have the ability to get what we want. Like Dorothy, Therese Greaney went on a far-away adventure to Oz, but got herself back to the home she loves.