Killasser familys fond memories of corrie star
AWAY from the Coronation Street cameras, the late Ann Kirkbride (Deirdre Barlow) was a million miles from her screen character. So vouched Tom Hennigan of Hennigan’s Heritage Farm, Killasser, Swinford, last week as he recalled an actor who played one of the great Coronation Street roles for 42 years, writes Tom Shiel.
In the late 1990s, while still in remission from cancer, Kirkbride, whose grandfather was a native of east Galway, visited the Hennigan holding for the filming of the BBC TV genealogy series, Who Do You Think You Are?
Tom Hennigan and his wife, Catherine, found the husky voiced TV actress on their doorstep at 7 a.m. one morning and by the time she had left 12 hours later the trio’s friendship was cemented.
He revealed: “I was a bit nervous beforehand. How would we get on with a TV character watched by millions a few times a week?
“We need not have worried. Ann breezed past me like she was a lifelong neighbour and asked Catherine to put the kettle on and make a brew.”
Settling herself into a chair, she confided in her Mayo hosts: “I never want to see a horse or a plough again.” This was a reference to the previous hard day’s filming in Co. Galway for the genealogy programme.
Kirkbride, who was recovering from throat cancer at the time, spent a hard but hugely enjoyable day in Killasser participating in such farm tasks as feeding pigs and geese, cutting turf and slicing heads off cabbage, just as her granddad would have done pre-exile.
Kirkbride, who made her TV debut as a 17-year-old, was a reassuring presence beside Tom Hennigan just before the cameras rolled. “Don’t worry about it,” she advised Tom. “Just be yourself. Imagine we are walking in the footsteps of my grandfather.”
After Catherine had served tea and toast Ann went out in the yard where she had her first close up and personal encounter with a pig and scattered feed to a gaggle of hungry geese. Afterwards, Tom and Ann, the two ‘new best friends’, repaired to the bog where the actress cut her first ever squelchy sod of turf, her squeals of delight echoing across the local countryside.
After the sun had set, the pair repaired to the heritage cottage (Tom’s parents and grandparents home) where, by the light of a roaring turf fire, they enjoyed two cups of steaming hot tea.
For a moment, Tom recalled, Ann became introspective asking: “Tom, do you think I am in the right place? My mind is in conflict with my body?” Intuitively Tom enquired: ‘What’s bothering you?” She replied: “I buried my father only a week ago. I wonder should I be here at all.” Reassuringly Tom told his upset guest: “You are here because your father wanted to be here. You are at home.” With that, Ann burst into tears.
A few weeks after the BBC team filmed in Killasser, Tom Hennigan was invited to Manchester for further filming and the pair further cemented their friendship.
Ann kept in touch via email with the Hennigans over the years and Tom says he will always treasure his friendship with her.
“That moment by the fireside in the cottage is one I will always treasure,” he confided.