The special legacy of Desmonds factories in Omagh and Dungannon

A local historian has spoken about the legacy left behind by the Desmonds factories in Dungannon and Omagh.

For many years, the clothing firm, which was once the largest private sector company in the North, had two large facilities in Tyrone.

At its peak, Desmonds, which supplied clothes for the world-famous Marks & Spencer chain, had an annual turnover of £100m.

However, changes in the worldwide production of clothes had a massive impact on Desmonds and the company went into voluntary liquidation in 2004.

Despite its closure, and the many job losses that followed in Dungannon and Omagh, as well as the company’s other factories in Derry and Fermanagh, former Desmonds workers remember their time with the business fondly.

Johnny Hamill has written a book about the history of Desmonds and has taken part in several events at which former workers at the company have met up to speak about their memories.

The most recent ‘Remembering Desmonds’ event was held at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh earlier this month.

Speaking on the latest episode of the WAT’s The Story podcast, Mr Hamill said there was a sense of ‘camaraderie’ among the company’s staff.

“When the factories closed, the employees were of course concerned for the future, understandably,” he said.

“But they were also really upset at losing a way of life at losing friends, at losing that idea of, of social life.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to worked in Desmond’s and I’m very careful about this sort of thing because we can sometimes have rose tinted classes looking back fondly.

“Everyone says their time in Desmonds was hard. You know, they had to work hard. There was a lot of pressure, but they all look back on their times fondly.

“They said a lot of friendships were a lot of friendships and that legacy continues.”

Desmonds was set up in her home in 1885 by Donegal woman Bridget Desmond, who was living in Claudy, Co Derry at the time.

As the company grew, it opened its first factory in the village and went on to have a large number of factories west of the Bann.

According to Mr Hamill, the company purposely located its factories in smaller towns and villages to foster sense of community among workers.

This was evident, he said, in a weekly ritual at the Omagh factory.

“Desmonds worked a four and a half day week and staff got a half day on Fridays.

“In Omagh, it was known as Max Factor Friday. I’ve been told this was because the staff, who were mostly women, would have arrived into work, but they would have had their glad rags with them.

“They would have had the makeup with them and they would have had the party frock with them.

“And after finishing work, when they got paid, they didn’t go home and they didn’t go out with other friends. They all got changed in the factory and they went straight out in the town together.

“So the likes of Bridget Desmond, saying in the very early days about wanting people to come into her factory and see it as a community, that idea of the factory being one big family. That carried right the way through to the very end at Desmonds.”

You can listen to the podcast about Desmonds on the We Are Tyrone website.