Adventurous spirit: An interview with Dave Henshaw

In the 1980s, when Athlone man Dave Henshaw and his wife Pat decided to sell their pub in England, they came up with an unusual plan.

"My wife was a spiritualist. She always maintained that the pub was haunted, which was something she was quite happy with," explained Dave. 

As a result, he decided to put a notice in a newspaper advertising, "Ghosts for sale - with a pub thrown in."

This certainly caught people's attention, and before long the sale of the pub ('The Somer's Arms' in the Malvern Hills) was being featured in articles and on TV news reports.

"Once it was picked up on television, I had every nutter in the country coming to see the place! It certainly brought in a lot of ghost-seekers and people like that," he recalled.

This was just one of the many interesting tales recounted by Dave when he met with the Westmeath Independent at his home in Athlone's St Francis Terrace recently. 

Part of a well-known local family, and great-uncle of rugby star Robbie Henshaw, he recently moved back to his native town after decades living in England and then Athy in Kildare.

Dave always had an adventurous spirit, and at 79 years of age this is still very evident. In his younger days he "hitch-hiked through Africa" and climbed the continent's tallest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro.

He suffered a stroke and heart attack more than a decade ago, and his wife passed away in 2012, but his love of travel abides and he still has "a bucket list a mile long."

Earlier this month he returned from a holiday in Cyprus, where he has gone scuba diving and paragliding for many years, up until last year.

"Paragliding is a great sensation. I'd recommend it. I did the controls with my flyer, and the last one I had was an Australian named Crash. I thought, yeah, nice one!" he laughed.

Dave originally hailed from St Kieran's Terrace. "I had itchy feet and I got out (of Athlone) the very minute I was old enough. I was 17 when I went to England," he explained.

When he arrived there he decided to join the Royal Air Force. "I don't know why I joined, because I'm afraid of heights," he said.

After five years in the RAF, which included being based in Africa for a spell, he went to work in the construction trade as a carpenter.

His wife, Pat, was originally from Malta, and Dave first met her in England. Pat was a widower and had a son, Michael Winnett, who ended up marrying Dave's niece, Mary. They now live in The Pigeons, Athlone.

After working in construction Dave started to buy old pubs that had closed down and set about restoring them to their former glory. He had four pubs in England over the years, and would boost business by hosting local groups and clubs, such as folk clubs, jazz clubs, pony driving clubs, and side saddle clubs.

"People used to say that I had more clubs than Tommy Docherty!" he remarked, in reference to the former Manchester United manager.

He and Pat returned to Ireland in the latter part of the 80s and, after three years in Athlone, they moved to Athy, where they took over "a crap, plasticky pub" called Smugglers, turning it into a welcoming and award-winning hostelry.

Dave also became very active in the local community in Athy, helping set up Ireland's first 'Santa Wonder Village' which brought thousands of visitors into the town and was featured on the RTE news and Gerry Ryan's radio show.

In the 1990s, he was involved in organising a 'River of Light' event which took place annually for three years and saw thousands of lighted candles being floated on the river in Athy in a call for peace in Northern Ireland.

Dave was also active in Age Action Ireland (he is its former chairperson) and in recent years helped set up an 'Athy Care and Repair' programme which involves getting qualified, vetted tradespeople to carry out light repairs for senior citizens in the town.

His community work earned him a Kildare 'Person of the Year' award in 2013. A friend of his Athy, Robert Redmond, said he was "a big loss to Athy" as he had made "a hugely positive impact on the town for the past 27 years."

Dave and his wife were out volunteering for Age Action Ireland on the day she died, almost seven years ago. "We were collecting signatures for Age Action to present to the Minister just before a budget, but everybody kept crossing the road because they thought we were collecting money," he said.

"Being the brains of the organisation, Pat said, ‘I’m going home to do a poster saying: ‘we’re not collecting money, just signatures’. So she went home and I arrived there later. She had decided to have a lie down, and she was half in and out of the bed. It was a lovely way to go."

He said that when he dies he will be donating his body to the College of Surgeons, and he believes mandatory organ donation should be introduced. He is also in favour of "well-organised and well-policed" assisted suicide, to allow people who are terminally incapacitated to "die with some dignity".

Having just moved back to Athlone in the last few weeks, Dave is now living closer to his family and speaks with pride about the achievements of his great-nephew Robbie.

"Robbie is a great lad," he said. "He is who he is, and he has no airs or graces, not that any of the family would let him have airs or graces! He is a credit to the family, certainly, and a credit to his Mum and Dad. He’s had great success in the rugby world, and I hope he goes on to have more success."

Despite the fact that he's lived his life in inland areas, Dave always loved the sea. He and Pat used to take regular trips to the coast in a caravanette in years gone by.

"When we were in the pub, she would put bacon and eggs and booze into the caravanette on a Sunday night and, after closing on the Sunday, at about midnight or half twelve, I’d jump in and we’d drive down and make the sea, have a few drinks and go to bed.

"You were away from the business - you were on the seafront the next day - and you’d have all day Monday and all day Tuesday to enjoy it."

His next plan, after doing some work on his house in St Francis Terrace, is to buy a caravanette so that he can "take to the road again."

He also has international travel plans, mentioning Pakistan and Vietnam as destinations he has in mind.

We told him it was clear he was determined to see and do a lot more in the years to come. "Well, yeah," he replied, "Why not?"