WATCH: Video scenes from Athlone Apparel in its heyday

By David Flynn

Local memories were stirred this week with the release on Facebook and YouTube of footage from Athlone Apparel dating back to 1989. The video shows many of the workers displaying their skills to family and friends during the celebration day of the 21st Anniversary of the factory coming to Athlone.

The one-hour and twenty-two minute video was discovered last week by Athlone man Cyril Moriarty. It was recorded in the Athlone Apparel Company, which is now the site of the Radisson Blu Hotel, on Saturday, September 23, 1989.

Watch the video here:

The factory which employed around 170 people from all over the midlands made denim jeans, jackets, waistcoats and dungarees.

Athlone Apparel was originally opened in September 1968 and at the time of the 1989 celebrations was a subsidiary of a UK company, Lawtex PLC.

“Sadly a number of those present are no longer with us, including my own parents Mick and Kathleen Moriarty, but the video is a lovely record of a proud day for all involved,” said Cyril Moriarty, who is hosting the video on his YouTube channel, HamOnHill.

Over the years the company manufactured and supplied clothing to major retailers in the UK, Ireland and a number of other European countries. Among its bigger customers were BHS (UK) Cotton House (NL), High and Mighty (UK), Next (UK), H&M (Sweden), Evans (UK), Dunnes Stores (Ireland) and Marks and Spencer.

The factory was eventually taken over by Silverlea, and the company ceased operations in Athlone (and Athy-Kildare Manufacturing) around March 1995 with the loss of 220 jobs.

On the day of the 21st celebrations, there was a mass on the premises which was officiated by Fr. Frank Gray, (who also died earlier this year), who was in St. Mary’s Parish at the time, and Fr. Patrick Conlon, who was in St. Anthony’s Friary.

The video shows the faces of many from the past that are no longer with us including local couples Mick and Kathleen Moriarty, Railway View and Brendan and Rose Collins, Sarsfield Square. Photographer, Poncho Murray, who also died in 2022 is featured several times walking throughout the crowd taking photographs.

A choir at the mass featured the late Dermot Kilduff, who was synonymous with the life of the Apparel as one of its managing directors, and as one of the guides of their Tops of the Towns performances which were legendary in the late 1970s.

“I came across a copy of this video on a VHS tape many years ago in my parents’ house in Railway View, which is only a short walk from the Apparel,” said Cyril Moriarty. “I digitised it and kept it on a hard disk drive for many years. I discovered it in my archives recently. and uploaded it to my YouTube channel (HamOnHill), just a few days ahead of the 33rd anniversary of the making of the video. I hope it brings many happy memories to all who watch it.”

In the video, one of the other managing directors, Kevin Fahey called on Mary O’Rourke to address the gathering after the mass ended.

The Minister said that everyone at the factory celebration had a cause to be joyful, and she commented on the Athlone Apparel being on the same Northgate Street site as the old Athlone Woollen Mills. The Woollen Mills was destroyed in a fire in November 1940 – although it did come to life again.

“Out of it came a spirit of endeavour that would not let this factory, here on the banks of the Shannon die and we had the rebuilding process and 1968 saw the setting up of the Athlone Apparel,” said Mary O’Rourke. “It’s important and significant that the factory is in the middle of the town.”

She talked about some of the people in the factory being the children of the people who worked in the Gentex factory, which was situated at Ranelagh on the Connaught side of Athlone from the late 1930s to the early 1980s.

The Minister said she hoped the Apparel would still be in existence in Athlone in twenty one years from that date, but that wasn’t to be as Athlone Apparel closed in March 1995.

Kevin Fahey and Mary O’Rourke made presentations to a group of young people who were working in the factory in 1989, and who had been born in 1968.

There was also a fashion show on the factory floor featuring adults and children and people were using manual cameras (not digital, which definitely wasn’t in vogue) taking photographs.

The many skills and talents of the workers were on show on the day and viewed by the families and friends who walked through the factory watching the making of the clothing.

“The whole area of the Apparel is the same as the area of the Radisson Hotel and apartments now,” Kevin Fahey, told the Westmeath Independent.

“The Apparel had a great atmosphere and it was a happy place to work, but everyone worked very hard and the workers were very skilled.”