Urney Planet Man

In the mid ‘50s, Joe Lynch compered an Urney sponsored radio programme in front of a live audience. When resident commercial reader, actor Pat Layde, went touring with the Abbey theatre, Gay Byrne was asked to temporarily fill in. This graduated to a more permanent position that would last nine years.

One of those programmes was juvenile science ficton series The Planet Man. Dantro, aka The Planet Man, was a troubleshooter for the League of Planets organization, the law enforcement body for peace and justice in the celestial world - whose headquarters and center of operations are situated on the capital of all planets, Planteria Rex. "From Mercury to Pluto, where ever danger threatens the universe, you will find Dantro the Planet Man fighting for fair play." The Planet Man was transcribed and syndicated by Palladium Radio Productions. Urney must have run a number of promotions for the programme as seen by this badge, property of avid badge collector Frank Setchfield who kindly sent me this image. You can listen to an episode of The Planet Man series here. Enjoy!

Brendan Grace - yearning for Urney!

Yesterday the comedian Brendan Grace was chatting to Pat Kenny on RTE 1. Speaking from his hospital bed where he was recovering from surgery he explained to Kenny that his Diabetes had complicated an infection in his foot. But, he joked, rumours of the demise of his leg are greatly exaggerated. During the interview Grace talked about the huge lifestyle changes he had to make when he was diagnosed with Diabetes type II, fifteen years ago. The dedicated sweet tooth had to give up the chocolates, sweets and biscuits he so loved. His new book Amusing Grace dedicates 7 or 8 pages to all the sweet stuff of his childhood. "Are you old enough to remember Urneys?" he asked Pat as he went on to reminisce about Urney's Milk Tray, Regal Milk and Two and Two bars. It was clearly a struggle to give up his sugary fix, you could still hear the longing in his voice.

Well I hope you get well very soon Brendan and thanks for the memories.

The Legend of the Urney Leprechaun

Earlier this week I received an email from Julie in Montana, USA. She recently acquired an Urney Chocolates tin and was trying to put a value on it. I couldn't say how much it is worth but I can give a little background information on it. It was produced as part of an advertising campaign to encourage sales of the Urney threepence bars. The rhyme on the tin forms part of a longer ballad "The Legend of the Urney Leprechaun" written by author Bernard Share in 1954, while working for the O'Kennedy Brindley Advertising Agency. All eight verses, illustrated by Neil O'Kennedy, were then translated to screen to become Ireland's first full-colour commercial to be shown in cinemas nationwide. I don't know how many of these leprechaun tins are in circulation today but I imagine there aren't too many in such good condition. Cute.

Last day at The Irish Agricultural Museum

Today "Sweet Memories, the Story of Urney Chocolates" an exhibition in The Irish Agricultural Museum has officially finished. Phase one, is over. I took down the series of history panels that I designed and researched. The limited edition prints of illustrations I had done for the project also came off the wall. The reason behind the display was to create interest and try make contact with anyone who might have any personal memories of the Tallaght chocolate factory. The sale of prints helped me to cover some of the printing costs. Special thanks to all who supported me! I had asked visitors to share their personal Urney stories and a surprising number of people have left comments in the visitors book. Some people had actually worked in the factory or had commercial connections with it while others have singled out favourite childhood products. I am so looking forward to going through the comments and cannot wait to get in touch with some of the visitors who have left contact details. So many Urney stories to be unravelled!!!

my very first blog post....

Well finally! Here I am in bloggerland. First off, thanks to my very clever big bruv who came up with the very catchy "yearning for Urney" phrase. Urney Chocolates was an Irish company set up in the early 1900s by my great grandparents. What started as a mild passing interest in family stuff soon ballooned into an all-consuming quest for the story of Urney Chocolates. Initially, I fancied the idea of illustrating my great grandmothers life (she was quite a lady!). But when I set to work on the modest little project I'd been tossing about in my head, it had grown into something a bit chunkier and, if I'm honest, scarier. But it is exciting. I'm about half-way through the venture and I'd love to share the story with you.