The 2019 Women and Agriculture Conference is approaching and excitement is building.

I travelled to Athlone to meet two ladies that have attended the conference together for the last 10 years and are excited that their journey to the Raddison Blue Hotel in Sligo is a little nearer to them this year.

Patsy Beades from Lecarrow, Co Roscommon, and Mary McGreal from Westport, Co Mayo have always been strong advocates for women and rural communities.

Travelling all over the country to inform and represent their communities has been a pleasure for them.

They love the train. It was on the train to Dublin that they first met while they both journeyed to the Farm Centre in Dublin to participate in the National Farm Family Committee, Mary representing Mayo and Patsy representing Roscommon.

The venue for our meeting Athlone was chosen by them to reduce my time travelling. We sat down in the Sheraton Hotel for a cup of tea.

These ladies have lived through a lot of change, met challenges along the way and yet remain enthusiastic and content with their lives. Their strong friendship has sustained them well. They worked hard earlier in the year but both agree that finding time off for themselves was hugely important. They found that “space for me” in attending meetings.

Poverty in rural Ireland

Patsy is married to PJ and they farm cattle and sheep. They reared five children; Yvonne, Elaine, Michael, Anthony and Arthur. Michael and Arthur farm part time. Patsy has four grandchildren.

In the early years she participated in Tidy Towns and ICA. She had a serious interest in all the varied sporting interests of her children which took her to many places. In more recent times, Patsy is very involved with her own parish Benevolent Fund of Knockcroghery/Lecarrow.

She explained: “There’s plenty of poverty in rural Ireland and nobody plans on getting sick. We have a constitution and assure people of absolute confidentiality.

"Sometimes families are helped with food, heat or educational needs or indirectly by providing funds to the Vincent de Paul.” Patsy finds her work with the Benevolent Fund most rewarding.

‘A lonely road’

Mary is married to Gerard and they were dairy farming up to 2013. Now they are sheep and suckler farmers.

They have six adult children; Maura, John, Catherine, Noreen, Martin and Anne. Three of the girls married farmers – which delights Mary. She has 13 grandchildren ranging in age from five months to 19 years.

In the early years with young families, both women describe busy lives revolving around farming and in fact defined by it.

There were times when we struggled to make ends meet

Mary milked the cows regularly. Meanwhile, they reared their young families, acting as wives, mothers, taxi service, mentors, educators, nurturers and cooks. “There were times when we struggled to make ends meet but we still had a great lifestyle and we enjoyed it,” quips Mary.

Both women began their early participation with IFA at local branch level. Patsy admits that she might have been brought in for extra votes to her branch. But it peaked her interest. So she became a delegate to Co Roscommon IFA. National involvement followed from 2006 to 2012 and that’s when she began travelling with Mary.

Nobody talked about cancer then and it was a lonely road

“I’d have a seat kept for her when she’d get on in Roscommon and we’d chat all the way up and down,” said Mary, who also began her involvement with IFA at branch level in the 70s.

She served as county secretary to the Mayo executive of IFA in the 80s. Despite being diagnosed with breast cancer, Mary kept up her meetings, only missing one for treatment.

She said: “Nobody talked about cancer then and it was a lonely road.”

With her health restored she continued her trips to the national farm family committee and served as national chair from 2002 to 2006.This afforded her many opportunities to represent women, farm families and the west of Ireland during the preparation and submission of IFA’s annual budget for agriculture and various other policy inputs. She held a seat on the Department of Equality and Law Reform Commission during that time. She also attended COPA meetings in Brussels.

Farm safety

Both women are concerned about the number of deaths and farm accidents that are still occurring. They wish that the messages around safety would be taken seriously by farmers.

“Older farmers and young children are vulnerable and we must continue to highlight the need for farm safety,” said Mary.

Mary and Patsy are thrilled with their grandchildren and take the role of grandparent very seriously. They want them to learn and pass on the skills that older generations have. They love to garden and grow fruit with them. They bake with them and introduce them to chores.

They like to oblige their sons and daughters by looking after their children but both ladies said “not full time”. Their own lives are important too.

They love their annual visit to the Women and Agriculture Conference, always going home with more knowledge, renewed energy and a sense of belonging.