‘I will miss the sound of the machines’: Retiring Mick Dempsey remembers 42 years at Kildare’s Newbridge Silverware

In March 1980, Kildare town native Mick Dempsey was newly married and suddenly found himself jobless and extremely worried for what the future might hold for himself and his new wife, Chris.

Then just 23, Mick had been working with the horse trainer, John Oxx, before moving on to work in the wallpaper factory in Kildare town. However, unfortunately for Mick, the factory was under pressure and was shut down leaving the workers with no employment or money.

Long-serving members of Newbridge Silverware’s staff: Martin Kennedy (41 years with the company), Mick Dempsey (42 years), CEO William Doyle (42 years), Paddy Barry (60 years), John Doran (41 years) and Tommy O’Reilly (45 years)

“It was 1980, no one had a bob, it was a really hard time for a lot of people and the prospect of me finding another job was very unlikely,” said Mick. “Soon after I was let go from the wallpaper factory myself and Chris were out for a walk in Newbridge. We were going past the Newbridge Cutlery factory on Cutlery Road and Chris said to me, ‘Go on, go in there and see if you can get a job’.

“So, I walked in, no appointment, no interview, nothing like that, and the first person I met in the yard was Dominic Doyle, the father of the current CEO William Doyle.

“ ‘Should you not be up in Oxx’s feeding the horses?’ says he, because he knew me to see. I told him no, and explained that I had gone on from Oxx’s yard to the wallpaper factory and told him about the unfortunate situation I found myself in. He just looked at me and without a second’s hesitation he said, ‘alright Mick, come into me on Monday morning at 8.30am and we will get you started’.”

That was the only interview Mick Dempsey did, and on that fateful day in March 1980, he found himself starting out on a career that would see him working for Newbridge Silverware (formally called Newbridge Cutlery) for 42 years. Having retired last Wednesday, Mick recalls his time at the factory and the craft he honed and the friends he made.

“We always called the factory ‘The Cutlery’, it was a great place to work. I was lucky, I was sent to the ‘Blanking Shop’ where I had two great men, Myles McCormack and Jim Barnwell to show me the ropes. They were experienced men, in their sixties, and they had great patience and took their time to teach me what was to become my craft.”

Soon after Mick started in the business, Newbridge Cutlery moved from the old Army Barracks on Cutlery Road to its current location and he recalled how all the staff came in over one weekend and moved the big pieces of machinery.

For 42 years Mick Dempsey worked in the Blanking Shop in Newbridge Silverware where he would expertly place thin sheets of metal into the blanking machine which cut out the shape of a knife, fork, or spoon. The process of crafting tableware is virtually unchanged since the company’s formation in 1934 and many of the original machines are still in use today including the famous blanking machine which Mick so skilfully operated for all those years.

“They used to call me Two Sheets Dempsey in the factory because I knew exactly how many sheets of metal would be required to cut out a certain pattern of cutlery. I knew my job so well and never got bored with the process.

Labour of love

“Making something beautiful is a real labour of love and every single piece of cutlery starts its life out with me in the Blanking Shop. I loved seeing that process, from a single sheet of metal right through to the finished, gleaming piece of cutlery.”

In 1993, the Newbridge Cutlery Factory was faced with a serious crisis. Style preferences had changed, and consumers were less interested in formal dining. Newbridge Cutlery’s products were now seen to be old fashioned, and demand fell to the point where the company faced the real possibility that it might close. There was a need to for a dramatic change.

Through research and development, a discovery was made. The craftsmen could make jewellery. They had the skills, and the equipment was available.

Scrap material left over from the blanking process could be recycled into jewellery.

“We discovered that after I cut out the shape of a piece of cutlery, like a fork for example, the bits that were left behind weren’t waste at all and could be made into something else. It was very exciting, and I remember the crafts people experimenting with various designs,” said Mick.

“The first pieces didn’t really work out, but the team worked hard and ended up creating the most beautiful pieces of jewellery. It makes me smile now when I think of how I was part of a process that meant that every single piece of metal could be used. The cutlery and now the jewellery started its life in my hands. That makes me very proud.”

William Doyle, the current CEO and son of Dominic Doyle who gave Mick Dempsey the job, also started working in the Newbridge Cutlery Factory in 1980. “William had just finished studying in Trinity and had started to work in the factory to get some experience. He was supposed to have gone off to America, but I suppose he just never got there and like myself he stayed at the factory because he loved it too.”

Speaking about William Doyle and the management Mick said, “we are around the same age, and we started out working in the factory together, so we know each other really well and get on great. William would often stop by the Blanking Shop and we would chat about sport, he has a good sense of humour, we would always have a laugh and in the 42 years I working there we never, ever, had a cross word between us”.

Over the years Mick has seen some famous people visit the factory and the showrooms including Charlie Haughey, Keith Wood and Princess Charlene of Monaco.

“The rugby players loved the factory and I remember when Peter Clohessy, The Claw, came to visit, he was mad for the machines he wanted to sit right up at them and operate them, he was really into it!”

In 2018 Newbridge Silverware opened its factory to the public and for the first time in its history people could tour the factory itself and see the products being made. Due to Covid-19, the Factory Tour hasn’t been running but the hope is that it will commence again soon.

Now, 42 years after Mick Dempsey first cut out his first fork the time has come for him to retire.

Work and craic

“I can’t really believe I worked at Newbridge Silverware for so long. The time has just flown, and I can honestly say that it was never a hardship or a chore going to work. We worked hard but we had the craic and I remember some great dances, days out at the races and just lovely camaraderie, there were great days and great times.

“I’m looking forward to doing my garden in Lakeside Park in Newbridge and hope Chris doesn’t give me too many jobs! I have to say though, I will miss the sound of the machines.”