Celebrating mams: Cork women tell us what Mother's Day means to them

Mary Linehan Foley, who is spending time with her family and her grandchildren on Mother’s Day this Sunday, its she was something of a wild child.

“I am sure my adoptive parents, Paddy and Mary Linehan, were often challenged,” says Mary, who is an Independent councillor for Cork East.

“They probably thought that I would never achieve anything. I was a wild child!”

She was chosen.

“My mother chose me,” says Mary, who was born in the Mother and Baby Home in Bessborough.

“That is very special to know.”

Mary found her birth mother 29 years ago.

“I was pregnant with Gemma, and I wanted to access my health records,” says Mary.

“It took a few years for me to find my mother. It was a long process trying to work with the convent where I was born. Things were not forthcoming. It was a fighting process.”

With the help of a private investigator, Mary located her birth mother.

“She had to be willing to meet me,” says Mary.

“We met in a B&B, stayed in touch by phone and it worked out fine. For me it was a bit of a jigsaw that was filled. Things slotted in from there. Finding my birth mother was a tough road but it was a necessity and a right.”

Mary had a charmed life growing up in Sweet Youghal Bay in the Moby Dick pub her parents owned.

“My parents and I had a very good relationship,” says Mary.

“My mother and my dad were very good to me.”

Mary was a chip off the old block.

“My dad was involved in politics for 43 years. He loved people and he loved the bar.”

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

“My mam was a strong, independent woman,” says Mary.

“I have her traits. Mam was the type that never relied on anyone. She was a very capable woman. I miss her. Being elected Mayor in 2021 was a massive thing. She would have been so proud of me,” says Mary.

“When I was first elected in 1999, it was a proud day for me and for my parents.”

Mary says a mother’s love is a blessing.

“Always love your mam,” she says.

Mary is a proud mam of five.

“I am looking forward to Mother’s Day, spending it with my family, and with my grandchildren. It is a special day.”

Sheila Herlihy is a proud mum too.

She recalls her thoughts looking at her beautiful newborn daughter, Susan.

“I am looking at my newborn beautiful daughter hoping she will have a wonderful life, not thinking for a minute that I would be working with her in her fabulous business for 19 years and that she would introduce me into a wonderful world of art. It was something I thought I would never experience in my life.”

Susan, with crafty hands, introduced her husband Oliver to her world of art too.

“I am the maker; he is the fixer!”

Susan, making magic, sees the magic in her surroundings.

“As a youngster, I got my inspiration from Ballyannan Woods. I saw the magic in the trees and in the rippling water. I took my niece to show her the magic among the trees.”

Susan’s mum and granny were artistic.

“Mum is a painter, and my granny was very artistic,” says Susan.

Susan inherited the strong artistic gene.

“I did an apprenticeship in pottery, leading to my studying for a degree in Scotland.

“I lived in Scotland for 10 years and I managed to buy a house there,” says Susan.

“The first thing I did was to convert a room into an artist’s studio and I started teaching pottery. I shared my information in what I knew about art and pottery.

“My mum was so proud of me. When I went about buying the house, she encouraged me, and she pushed me along.”

When Susan was 34, she moved back to east Cork where the ‘magic’ was.

Her brothers did too.

“Mum said we all came home like cows grazing!”

Susan set up her studio in the Courtyard, Midleton 19 years ago, before she moved the studio to Coach Lane, Midleton, eight years ago.

“My work is very hands on,” says Susan. “I love working with children, being creative and giving them encouragement. Mum was always great to help me out in the shop and gift gallery when I was teaching.”

Susan shared ideas with her mother.

“She always listened to my ideas,” says Susan.

“If there was anyone to bounce ideas off, it was mum. When we were teens, she encouraged open conversation and challenging conversation.”

Sheila learned a lot too from her daughter.

“In the Courtyard, Mum was in my very first pottery class! She ed in to encourage me to make up numbers when I didn’t quite know the lie of the land.

“Like me, mum is free- spirited, and she always gave me the confidence to do my own thing.

“I am a creative being. I live a creative existence. It is the way I want to spend every day. Mum understands this. She understands the creative process.”

Sheila is good at multi-tasking.

“She’d man the shop, explaining and describing the paintings to people.

“She’d even bring in home-made healthy biscuits for the kids I was teaching!”

Sheila displays flair and individuality.

“She has purple hair!” says Susan laughing.

Sheila saw the ion and dedication in her daughter for the craft she loved so well.

“She always believed in me and in what I was doing,” says Susan.

Oliver always believed in his wife too.

“We created a home studio in Dungourney, where I do my making.”

Did Oliver, the fixer, make the studio?

Susan laughs.

“He did the ground- work, levelling the land for instance.”

Susan discovered the magic in her home studio.

“I spend two days there left to my own devices,” says Susan.

She can indulge herself in her own studio, making her own magic.

“It is where I create with my hands.”

Susan, like her husband, is good with her hands.

“There is a huge number of tools involved in creating my work,” says Susan.

“There is huge precision required. It is almost like carrying out surgery!”

Apart from her mother and her husband, Susan gets great from the Cork Potters.

“Cork Potters are a fabulous voluntary community group,” says Susan.

“We all each other, and we all respect each other. We can bounce ideas off each other.”

Good relations are important to all the family.

“Our Jack Russell is deaf and half blind,” says Susan. “When mum sees Lucy, she says, Hi Lucy. It’s Nanny!”

Mother’s Day this weekend for these crafty people will be a special day.

“We try and make every day a special day,” adds Susan.