For 40 odd years, Peter Henry drove his mobile shop up and down the narrow roads and byways of the Irish midlands. His mission was to bring food and farm supplies to the hearths of remote cottages where life hadn't changed in a hundred years.
Peter delivered more than goods. His presence was his customers' contact with the outside world; he brought news of weddings and wakes, funerals and football.
In One Last Bend; A personal history of Peter Henry's travelling shop, Peter's son Vincent, a former civil servant, school teacher and footballer, recounts the remarkable story of his family's enterprise. Henry charts the van's history from staple of rural life to a vestige of a bygone era.
Readers will also encounter the many colourful characters who populated these Irish hinterlands; including Razor Devine, the gifted footballer and unrepentant thief; Junior, the hapless bachelor farmer; and Nannie Stanton, famous for her legendary country butter.
Vincent's recollections accompanying his father in their travelling shop reminds us of the life and times of rural Ireland in a bygone age.
Mr. Brian Cowen - former Taoiseach of Ireland
With humor, poignancy , and monumental affection for the people of Clara and its environs, Vincent Henry delivers a throbbing travel memoir ...
As travel memoirs go , it does not aspire towards the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids or any of the world's seven wonders. Instead it reveals the world's eight wonder: the grit and charm of a vibrant community.
Mr. Ciarán O'Reilly - Actor, Playwright and Inductee of the 'Irish America Hall of Fame'
This lovely book brilliantly captures a world that no longer exists. The 'Van' passed along the High Road in Durrow where we lived and was an essential part of the life of the community. In One Last Bend, Vincent Henry has produced no mere work of nostalgia; it offers a vivid insight into the social history of the midlands in the decades after World War II, when everything began to change, and then continued to change very quickly.
Professor Paul Rouse - UCD School of History
