Limerick Leader June 24th, 2000

LIMERICKMAN, Michael O'Donnell, was conducting walking tours of the city before Angela's Ashes ever hit the bookstalls. Then, he saw the opening for walks tracing its characters around a Limerick that bears no resemblance to that of the book.

The former FCA company sergeant tells JIMMY WOULFE how he left the barrack square for a trip down memory lane.

THIRTY years ago, members of the 12th Battalion pounded the square at Sarsfield Barracks to the commands of Company Sergeant Michael O'Donnell.

These days his voice can still be heard in the precincts of the barracks, where his acquired gentle tones guide visitors through the boyhood neighbourhood of Frank McCourt.

The daily Angela's Ashes Tour which Michael conducts is a fast growing tourist feature of Limerick.

Says Michael: "About eight years ago after I had left the Army I saw an ad in the paper where St Mary's Action Centre was looking for a tour guide. I got the job doing historical walking tours. I was always interested in history and I knew I could do it.

"I started doing these historical walking tours around King's Island and St Mary's Parish as part of the St Mary's Integrated Development Programme, which is located at 44, Nicholas Street. The proceeds of the tours are used to the benefit of the local community."

Take-up for the tours, at first, was slow. Then came Angela's Ashes.

And Michael's shoes began to get a lot of more wear with the publication of Frank McCourt's blockbuster, which to date has sold more than four million copies.

"I read it when it came out first. What a book. I knew something was going to happen. The idea struck me to plan an Angela's Ashes walking tour. But by then I hadn't met Frank McCourt. I didn't event have an address. But he then he was announced as writer-in-residence at UL who gave me an address in New York for him."

Michael faxed him a letter setting out his plans for the Angela's Ashes tour of Limerick.

"The very next day we had a fax back from Frank saying: 'Every success with your new Angela's Ashes Tour'. So from that point in 1997 we put the tour together."

This wasn't a difficult task, given that the main perimeters of the book are encapsulated in one part of the city.

To fully acquaint himself with every aspect of the book and its characters, Michael read, and reread it, memorising certain passages which he felt would be suitable to complement the walking tour.

Says Michael: "This was easy, as Frank was writing about Limerick, places and events in Limerick, characters in Limerick. So I recall a lot of stories from the book."

Those taking part on the tour meet at the tourist office and then it's off up Henry Street on a walk back into the grim days of yore, as recalled in the book.

"All the important locations in the book are visited, starting at the Franciscan Church and on up Henry Street. It takes about two hours as I don't rush. I believe in doing it at a leisurely pace as I want visitors to enjoy the full benefit of a tour like this. And from feedback, it is very successful."

The Angela's Ashes tour, is one of a number offered by the St Mary's Development Programme Centre.

"We also have English Town, King's Island, Irish Town, Georgian Limerick, and general Limerick. I can do any one of these walking tours, but I now more or less concentrate on the Angela's Ashes tour such is the demand."

It's a seven-day week for Michael now with the tourism season moving on towards high season.

"I do the weekend tours by appointment."

Michael, indeed, has walked beyond the call of duty so that visitors don't go away disappointed.

He recalled a Spanish woman recently calling to the centre in Nicholas Street, after the day's tour was finished.

When he explained that the next tour would not take place until the following day, she said she had to leave for Cork that evening and would be unable to get to Limerick.

Michael continues: "I was very tired, as you can imagine. But I suggested that I could bring her on the Angela's Ashes Tour, provided we did it in my car, stopping at the important places. She agreed."

Michael set out in his Toyota Starlet on this special-request walking tour.

"We drove around and stopped where I give my talks, and she got out and took pictures. When we got back she was absolutely delighted.

"I was curious to find out why it was so important for her to do the tour. She explained with a tear in her eye that she ran a book store in Madrid and was married. She had read Angela's Ashes. Her husband, she told me, was a complete alcoholic and she came to Limerick to do the tour, to see if it would inspire her to continue with her marriage. Imagine that. She was crying at this point, telling me."

From day-to-day Michael can never predict how many he will have with him.

"On a quiet day you might only have four and some days you could have 40. It is £4 per person, but there are special rates of £30 for 10 and £40 for 20 and £50 for 30 and upwards. Given the length and scope of the tour it is very good value and people tell us this."

One man yet to do the Angela's Ashes Tour is Frank McCourt. "When I met Frank on his last visit home I said 'why don't you come on the tour. He said 'Mick, I wrote the book'. But he is very supportive and he did give us approval and he has even paid for advertising of the tour on planes coming into Ireland."

A small number still expect tumble down remnants from McCourt's Limerick.

"I explain at the start of each tour before we head off that Limerick today is a much different place, that it is now a vibrant cosmopolitan place and also a university city with 10,000 students on its great campus. I love this: to be able to tell them about the present-day Limerick."

He gets the greatest reaction on the tour at the Redemptorist Church.

"They recall the day when Frank and Malachy are pushing the pram, going to Roden Lane and look into the courtyard of the church where they see people gathered near a door. And Frank is very disappointed to see his mother in among these people, as he knew at this point that now he is among the poorer people of the parish as she is there to get food.

"Strangely enough, a lot of people ask me what the food was like, and was it the remnants of what was on priests' plates that was given out. Imagine that. I always explain, no way, that the food was of excellent quality.

"Once I did an interview with Frank with Ed Bradley of CBS television. I said it to Frank that people on the tour asked about the food being the remnants of what the priests ate. Frank said he never intended for that to happen. I said: 'Frank, the food they gave out wasn't bad', and he replied with a laugh: 'You too'."

Foreign tv crews are regulars on Michael's tours. Michael estimates that upwards of 4,000 visitors have taken part in the Angela's Ashes tour to date.

One group consisted of visiting young Mennonites, the Protestant sect which refuses military service, public office and the taking of oaths

"They were staying in Hartstonge Street and they did a historical tour the first day and they did an Angela's Ashes tour the next.

"The second day they were each given just a very small sum of money to get them through the next 24 hours for food, to give them an idea what it might have been like to endure on little money for a full day.

"They were rich people, but just wanted to get as much of the Angela's Ashes experience as possible.

"One girl told me on the tour she was starving by that hour and had £2.40 left and was holding on to it until after midnight when she planned to go to McDonalds.

"I had another lady recently, and she said had two hip replacements and wondered if she would be up to it. 'Come on' says I. Hang on to my elbow there'. And off we went. She was staying at Fitzpatricks in Bunratty and she wrote me a lovely letter from America."

Following the film, Michael gets a lot of questions about rain in Limerick.

"People are coming here because of the book, not necessarily the film. Some tell you they are disappointed that more of the film wasn't made on location in Limerick."

Michael did have something in common with the young Frank McCourt as he too worked as a messenger boy before emigrating to England.

Later he got a job in Ranks and then went into the Army as a full-time FCA member with the 12th Battalion for 10 years. During that time he and his wife, Rose, also ran a shop in Ballynanty.

Today he and Rose live in Ballynanty, and they have five children, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild.