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Telephonists reconnected in
Buncrana
19.04.10
by Caoimhinn Barr, Inishowen Independent
A REUNION with a difference saw more than forty
telephone operators gather for a special night in
Buncrana on Saturday.
The event, which saw telephonists reminisce at the
Lake of Shadows Hotel, was the brainchild of former
switchboard operator, Margaret McGinley.
After connecting phone calls in Buncrana for more
than twelve years, Margaret retired from An Post
when the role was no longer required with the advent
of automatic exchanges in 1981.
“I got to know the majority of people in Buncrana
after a few months in the job. My husband joked that
I knew more people in the town than he did,” she
said.
Margaret said she took the decision to host the
gathering after one of her ex-colleagues died last
year. |
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“We were always meeting
when someone died so we decided we should get
together on a happier occasion. Every time we met we
said we should do a reunion so I decided to get the
ball rolling last January,” she added.
Speaking of the great bond between the former phone
operators, Margaret said they were more than willing
to support a reunion.
When quizzed about what phone operators heard on the
line over the years, Margaret said they |
only listened in on
emergency calls because it was a legal requirement
to do so.
Of the forty operators who met in Buncrana at the
weekend, the vast majority were women but a few men
also joined the fray. Telephonists from all over
Donegal joined former colleagues from as far away as
Dublin and Galway at the unique Inishowen gathering.
See this week’s Inishowen Independent for full
coverage from the event. |
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