‘Singing has had a beneficial effect for me throughout life’ Navan - Navan resident Dermot Deegan on over 80 years involvement with choirs

When he is asked to sing a song - as he has been from time to time over the years - Dermot Deegan is very likely to delve into what you suspect is his extensive repertoire and give his version of an old classic - 'The Dublin Saunter' - which was a big hit back in the day for the late, great Noel Purcell.

Those of a certain generation will remember Mr Purcell, partly because of his distinctive mop of white hair and beard and the fact that he was something of a movie star who appeared in films such as Mutiny on the Bounty.

He could also turn out a decent tune, could Noel, and his greatest hit was undoubtedly 'The Dublin Saunter.'

"Oh Dublin can be heaven with coffee at eleven/And a stroll in Stephen's Green," is the opening line.

"There's no need to hurry/There is no need to worry/You're a king and the lady's a queen," goes the chorus.

"Grafton Street’s a wonderland/There’s magic in the air/There’s diamonds in the lady's eyes/And gold dust in her hair/And if you don't believe me come and meet me there/In Dublin on a sunny summer's morning."

The song might be around a while (it was recorded in the 1940s) but it conveys an eternal, timeless message - life can be busy but we all need to slow down a little and just enjoy what's going on around us.

Dermot Deegan likes the song partly, you suspect, for that reason but also because it is about his native Dublin (although he has lived in Navan for just over 50 years) and partly because his father Johnny was a good friend of the one and only Mr Purcell.

Dermot, who is a fit-looking 87-year-old, loves music and singing. Always has. Since he was seven years of age he has been a member of various choirs in both Dublin and Meath.

Eighty years in choirs, singing his heart out. That surely qualifies him as something of a world beater; the holder of a protracted and rare record of service. Someone who gives his commitment to something and sticks with it.

In the Royal County alone he has sang with the Navan Musical Society (for about 30 years) as well as a Bohermeen-based church choir. He has also performed with the Rathkenny Revels, as well as the St Mary's Church Choir and more recently the Navan Male Choir, under the leadership of highly accomplished musician Anne Cunningham, who also reviews books for this publication.

Dermot talks about how he made so many friends in choirs over the years and how he has derived so much enjoyment from singing all sorts of songs from Latin hymns to classic numbers turned out by two of his favourites, Dean Martin and old blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.

As he sat in the lounge of the Newgrange Hotel in Navan, recounting his life recently for this interview, Dermot outlined exactly how singing has greatly enhanced his own life in all sorts of ways.

"Music is obviously very important to me and so many other people," he added. "I don't play an instrument but singing has had a beneficial effect for me throughout my life," he says with meaning.

"When I was with the Navan Musical Society, for example, I would often come home from work exhausted, maybe after having a bad day, trouble with the bank or whatever. I would have my tea, go down to practice with the society. Sing the sings, have a laugh, and all the problems would simply fall away. I would come out rejuvenated and ready to take on the world the next day."

Singing, he suggests, is a powerful antidote to the slings and arrows of life. "These days I might be mooching about at home when I would start singing a song. Immediately it puts me in good humour." A song like The Dublin Saunter.

PHIBSBOROUGH

Dermot Deegan grew up just a lengthy free kick away from the once home of Irish soccer, Dalymount Park in Phibsborough and he came to love sport of all kinds. He attended numerous games over the years not only in Dayler but in Croke Park and other venues. He still loves to take out his golf clubs and go for a round.

As a youngster he and he and his friends would often wait until the last 15 minutes or so of a game so that the gates of Dalymount would be flung open and they could see at least some of the action free of charge.

One of the games that sticks in his mind is the momentous 1957 World Cup qualifier against mighty England. Young Deegan had a ringside view of one of the most famous, or should that be infamous, moments in Irish sporting history.

The Boys in Green took a shock early lead through Alf Ringstead. They manfully held on for what seemed would be a famous victory. A shock victory.

In the dying seconds the English wing wizard, Tom Finney (the Georgie Best of his day), embarked on a run down the flanks. He was chased by Ireland's very own tricky little winger Joe Haverty. It was England’s last shot at redemption.

"I always remember the packed crowd shouting at Haverty to put Finney over the sideline, into touch, to stop his run."

He didn't. Finney swept over a cross and England striker John Atyeo headed home the equaliser to make it 1-1. Next thing the full-time whistle blew. Ireland's heartbreak was expressed in silence. "There's wasn't a sound to be heard in the packed ground. It was amazing," Dermot recalls.

In his commentary RTE's Philip Greene famously observed how the silence could be heard as far as Nelson's Pillar in O'Connell Street, about half-a-mile away.

Music too filled Dermot's childhood and his family home. "My father Johnny was a good singer, very good actor, amateur actor and good friends with Noel Purcell. My mother Rosie was a very good violinist, she was trained classically but she loved to play cheilidh music.

"In our sitting room in Phibsborough you could walk in there would musicians and singers there. People would just come in, you never knew who they were. One fella might bring a fiddle and just start to play and he would be joined by others."

Dermot's two siblings were his sister Barbara or Babs as she was more widely known as, and brother Paul.

Babs was an accomplished amateur actress in her younger days, and Paul became professor of music at the Royal Irish Academy. Paul was well known in Irish musical circles as a highly respected voice coach, choir master and musical director.

During the Covid crisis Paul, sadly, became one of the first people in Ireland to die of the dreaded virus.

MOATVILLE

As a young man Dermot worked for brief spell as a clerk with Irish Shipping, before taking up a post as a sales representative with L'Oriel, supplying haircare and beauty products. He enjoyed the work, for the most part anyway, and made a lot of contacts.

In 1972 he took a momentous step. He decided to leave his steady, permanent full-time job with L'Oriel and set up his own business. By that stage he and his wife Bernadette, or Berry as she is more widely known, were deeply involved in the task of raising their family of four - Stephen, Alan, Jenny and Yvonne.

By that stage also the Deegans had moved to Navan, purchasing a house at Moatville, just outside Navan on the old road to Athboy. Navan was a small country town.

Dermot describes the decision to light out on his own as "crazy" because Ireland was deep in recession at the time. There were plenty of tough times but Dermot and his business made it through and today Deegan Hair & Beauty (based in Mullaghboy, Navan) is going strong with 13 employees.

"I survived yes, thank God. I put it all down to the Holy Spirit who looked after me. Certainly somebody looked after me," he adds, a reference to how faith in the Man Above has always been a central part of his life.

Another central part of Dermot's life is his wife Berry, her support and advice, major sources of comfort and guidance, he clearly greatly appreciates. They have been married, he points out, for 62 years. So what's the secret of a successful marriage?

For an answer to resorts to a piece of classic Dublin wit. He tells the story of how for one of their wedding anniversaries they held a Mass in their house. The Mass was conducted by the family's friend, Fr Declan Hurley.

Dermot recounts how afterwards Fr Hurley good humouredly asked those present what they felt made for a long, happy marriage?

One of Dermot's great friends, Ken Fitzpatrick, who was a member of the Paramount Choir in Dublin, put forward his own view.

"Yes dear," he simply said to much hilarity.

Berry, laughter, sport, family, faith, friends. Great pillars of Dermot Deegan's life. And, of course, singing. Always the singing.

Dermot Deegan On...

WHAT NAVAN WAS LIKE WHEN HE FIRST MOVED TO THE TOWN

"We moved to Navan in the early 1970s. It was then a small rural town, when everybody seemed to know everyone else. Tara Mines had just started so all that was new. There were no such thing as one-way streets. There weren't even that many cars around, parking was certainly easily to find. There might have been just one set of traffic lights in the town at the time, at Railway Street, although I'm not certain about that. Maybe even they hadn't been installed there at the time. Thursday was the half day, when the whole place closed down at lunch time. There was nothing open. Saturday evening was a busy time with people coming in from the country to do their shopping."

ON THE RISK INVOLVED IN SETTING UP BUSINESS IN NAVAN IN 1972

"There was a huge risk involved, crazy. We are talking about a time when there was a bank strike for seven or eight months. There was the oil crisis around then. It was a crazy time to set up a business. In one way I should never have done it but I did and I have no regrets. Things worked out although there were a lot of bleak times too, financially tight. Thankfully back then you could just walk into the bank off the street and talk to the bank manager. That was a huge help.

"That's certainly one of the things that has changed. I haven't spoken to anybody in the bank for over 20 years, thank God I didn't have to although recently I got in touch with the bank about something but they don't want to do anything for you. Everything has to be ticked online. Thankfully also I haven't had to look for an overdraft in years."

ON CHALLENGES FACING CHOIRS

"There's an awful lot more young people studying music in schools and colleges, universities. These young people are highly-qualified musicians and there's no outlet for them with their qualifications. They are forming choirs and groups but they are of professional standard, for the likes of ordinary people who might not be trained in singing in any way, there' not many openings for them. In groups such as the Navan Musical Society and Navan Male Voice Choir there have been brilliant, talented singers but many of them didn't have any formal training but there is only eight notes. If you have those you have everything you need."