WILLIAM G. JAFFRAY (Part 1)

This recording was made in the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre. William Jaffrey’s father came from Aberdeen, Scotland in 1913, to work for the Williams Group, in charge of transport. William himself started work in 1944, following in his father’s footsteps in the transport department. He detailed for me the company’s huge transport organisation. The barge boat was an important lifeline during the war years and he spoke about the company’s activities during those years; the packing of tea, the bottling of Guinness, and the manufacture of soft drinks. The name ‘Tullamore Dew’ came from ‘D’ for Daniel, ‘E’ for Edmond and ‘W’ for Williams. While looking at a map of Tullamore, William pointed out the malting and distilling buildings, explaining to me the process of distilling, as well as the blending and the bottling, and the making of the wooden casks. This brought us to the end of part 1 of this two-part recording.