This year marks a historic milestone as Mary Gaynor steps into the role of president, becoming the first woman to lead Virginia Show in its 80-year history.
Mary’s journey to this position began as secretary on the show’s committee for nine years before being voted show president earlier this year. As the position is a voluntary role, she has a full-time job outside the family farm, assisting the unemployed to gain work.
Calling herself a ‘townie’, Mary grew up in Drogheda, Co Louth, however she has been living in the countryside on a dairy farm for the last 40 years, since she married her husband, Patrick. “I used to come down to the village we live in Mullagh, Cavan and stay with friends and family, for the summer holidays,” says Mary.
Supporting upskilling
Initially, Mary went to University College Dublin where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree. At the end of her studies, she decided it wasn’t for her. “I was training to be a primary school teacher and when I got through college, then I decided no, that isn’t what I want at all,” she says.
For students receiving the Leaving Cert results next week, Mary says things like that don’t define you.
“If there’s something out there that you want to do, you’ll find a way to get through it. There are lots of different routes, especially for young people nowadays with PLC courses. College isn’t for everybody,” she says.
Mary worked in several different roles over the years in areas related to customer service. She also helped out with the calves and was involved on the home farm.
When she was a manager at an insurance company, it closed down and she took redundancy. After staying at home for a few years, she then participated in a Community Employment (CE) scheme.
Mary Gaynor with representatives of the IHFA, Tirlan and Diageo and Minister Charles McConalogue at the Launch of the 2024 Diageo Baileys Champion Cow.
As a result, Mary started working in the Virginia Show office because they always had somebody helping out. Training and upskilling has helped her improve her office skills over the years.
She then got the opportunity to take over the role of secretary of the show, which was a full-time position.
Now working as a community employment supervisor, she is helping others in long-term unemployment to upskill and re-enter the workforce.
“I moved from being in the system to helping people out,” she says. “I can empathise with people when they’ve been in a position and are left with nothing thinking where do I go from here?”
The scheme offers an opportunity to retrain in employment, to support people changing careers or upskilling and improving in areas that they are already in.
With Patrick showing cattle at the Virginia Show since he was 18, and a past president himself, the whole family were always heavily involved with the organisation of the show.
Mary’s four children – Nicola, Eimear, Edwin and Setanta – showed cattle when they were younger, with pedigree Holstein and Jersey cows on the farm.
“I got to know a lot of the breeders as they stayed with us during the show. Then we bought calves from different show people and built up our pedigree herd,” says Mary.
Difficult year
Unfortunately, it has been a very difficult year on the farm as they have been badly affected by bovine tuberculosis (TB). “We lost all our animals with TB earlier this year. It was a bad time but it made up our minds in ways that we would maybe move on and do something different.
"We always said, as long as it’s outside the house, we’re not too bad, are we? You know, there’s a lot of people worse off than us.”
Although Mary misses the cows on the farm, they are hoping to get going again – they were able to keep some of the maiden heifers as they were on a different farm. Sadly, some of them have now gone down with TB, with another test in a few weeks. The local community and showing circle have all been very supportive since they lost the herd.
In the lead-up to 21 August with 6,000 people expected to flock to Cavan, it’s all hands on deck. Some of the people working behind the scenes are the 200 show members and 100 volunteers.
“Our show would always be known for our white coats. It’s a big thing that when you come into Virginia Show the first thing you meet at the top of the street is a steward with their white coats directing you, it’s a tradition we have to keep going,” she says.
The planning starts the day after the previous show every year.
Community spirit
“The main thing from the office side of things is follow-up sponsorship because you can’t run the show without sponsorship. We’ve got long-established prestigious sponsorships and then I don’t mind if a local shop gives us €20 or €50 because that’s what they can afford,” she says.
There is also a lot of work involved with setting up classes and deciding what needs to be tweaked. Finding judges for the various number of classes and competitions can be a challenge as the Virginia Show, unlike others, takes place midweek, on a Wednesday.
Mary hasn’t stepped back completely from the secretary side of things and is still involved in the organisational side of the show, but her main role as president this year is to meet and greet on the day.
“The children’s classes are the most popular in the show they are always full. Every year we’re looking for more and more space to put the children’s wellies, decorated wooden spoons and things like that,” she says.
'Lovely honour'
Delighted to lead the show effort this year, Mary has great pride in becoming the first female president too.
“It’s a lovely honour to be the president of the show and the first female. My daughter would have been one of the first girls to show in the Bailey’s cow competition when she came on.
“It was 1995 before we had female members of the show committee – it’s not that long ago considering we are going over 80 years,” she says.
You can purchase tickets online at a reduced price of €15. Tickets at the door are €20 with family tickets, students and seniors also available.
For more information, visit https://virginiashow.com/
Read more
Celebrating a decade of supporting female entrepreneurs
Educational bodies join forces to provide more support for students and farmers
This year marks a historic milestone as Mary Gaynor steps into the role of president, becoming the first woman to lead Virginia Show in its 80-year history.
Mary’s journey to this position began as secretary on the show’s committee for nine years before being voted show president earlier this year. As the position is a voluntary role, she has a full-time job outside the family farm, assisting the unemployed to gain work.
Calling herself a ‘townie’, Mary grew up in Drogheda, Co Louth, however she has been living in the countryside on a dairy farm for the last 40 years, since she married her husband, Patrick. “I used to come down to the village we live in Mullagh, Cavan and stay with friends and family, for the summer holidays,” says Mary.
Supporting upskilling
Initially, Mary went to University College Dublin where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree. At the end of her studies, she decided it wasn’t for her. “I was training to be a primary school teacher and when I got through college, then I decided no, that isn’t what I want at all,” she says.
For students receiving the Leaving Cert results next week, Mary says things like that don’t define you.
“If there’s something out there that you want to do, you’ll find a way to get through it. There are lots of different routes, especially for young people nowadays with PLC courses. College isn’t for everybody,” she says.
Mary worked in several different roles over the years in areas related to customer service. She also helped out with the calves and was involved on the home farm.
When she was a manager at an insurance company, it closed down and she took redundancy. After staying at home for a few years, she then participated in a Community Employment (CE) scheme.
Mary Gaynor with representatives of the IHFA, Tirlan and Diageo and Minister Charles McConalogue at the Launch of the 2024 Diageo Baileys Champion Cow.
As a result, Mary started working in the Virginia Show office because they always had somebody helping out. Training and upskilling has helped her improve her office skills over the years.
She then got the opportunity to take over the role of secretary of the show, which was a full-time position.
Now working as a community employment supervisor, she is helping others in long-term unemployment to upskill and re-enter the workforce.
“I moved from being in the system to helping people out,” she says. “I can empathise with people when they’ve been in a position and are left with nothing thinking where do I go from here?”
The scheme offers an opportunity to retrain in employment, to support people changing careers or upskilling and improving in areas that they are already in.
With Patrick showing cattle at the Virginia Show since he was 18, and a past president himself, the whole family were always heavily involved with the organisation of the show.
Mary’s four children – Nicola, Eimear, Edwin and Setanta – showed cattle when they were younger, with pedigree Holstein and Jersey cows on the farm.
“I got to know a lot of the breeders as they stayed with us during the show. Then we bought calves from different show people and built up our pedigree herd,” says Mary.
Difficult year
Unfortunately, it has been a very difficult year on the farm as they have been badly affected by bovine tuberculosis (TB). “We lost all our animals with TB earlier this year. It was a bad time but it made up our minds in ways that we would maybe move on and do something different.
"We always said, as long as it’s outside the house, we’re not too bad, are we? You know, there’s a lot of people worse off than us.”
Although Mary misses the cows on the farm, they are hoping to get going again – they were able to keep some of the maiden heifers as they were on a different farm. Sadly, some of them have now gone down with TB, with another test in a few weeks. The local community and showing circle have all been very supportive since they lost the herd.
In the lead-up to 21 August with 6,000 people expected to flock to Cavan, it’s all hands on deck. Some of the people working behind the scenes are the 200 show members and 100 volunteers.
“Our show would always be known for our white coats. It’s a big thing that when you come into Virginia Show the first thing you meet at the top of the street is a steward with their white coats directing you, it’s a tradition we have to keep going,” she says.
The planning starts the day after the previous show every year.
Community spirit
“The main thing from the office side of things is follow-up sponsorship because you can’t run the show without sponsorship. We’ve got long-established prestigious sponsorships and then I don’t mind if a local shop gives us €20 or €50 because that’s what they can afford,” she says.
There is also a lot of work involved with setting up classes and deciding what needs to be tweaked. Finding judges for the various number of classes and competitions can be a challenge as the Virginia Show, unlike others, takes place midweek, on a Wednesday.
Mary hasn’t stepped back completely from the secretary side of things and is still involved in the organisational side of the show, but her main role as president this year is to meet and greet on the day.
“The children’s classes are the most popular in the show they are always full. Every year we’re looking for more and more space to put the children’s wellies, decorated wooden spoons and things like that,” she says.
'Lovely honour'
Delighted to lead the show effort this year, Mary has great pride in becoming the first female president too.
“It’s a lovely honour to be the president of the show and the first female. My daughter would have been one of the first girls to show in the Bailey’s cow competition when she came on.
“It was 1995 before we had female members of the show committee – it’s not that long ago considering we are going over 80 years,” she says.
You can purchase tickets online at a reduced price of €15. Tickets at the door are €20 with family tickets, students and seniors also available.
For more information, visit https://virginiashow.com/
Read more
Celebrating a decade of supporting female entrepreneurs
Educational bodies join forces to provide more support for students and farmers
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