As we’re still in the Christmas period, I think this is an appropriate time to tell a story about a real Santa Claus who lived in Cork once upon a time. He lived in a time before the Internet, when getting requests to the North Pole was a bit trickier than it is now. Younger people can’t believe there was ever such a time but that was the way of it back in the dark ages.
In the early nineties, I was transferred from Blarney to Mayfield Garda Station in Cork city and I was new to the area when I first came across was a character by the name of Mattie Nodwell. That name might not ring a bell with some people, but many of you would certainly have had dealings with him, particularly around Christmas time.
He was known affectionately as Noddy and he had a toy shop in Cornmarket Street. He had every toy you could think of in that shop and some you hadn’t even heard of. At Christmas time, Noddy’s was one of the main places to go for presents for the kids. He was always tuned into the current trends and you could be sure that if the kids were talking about it, Noddy had it.
There were a couple of incidents that happened during my time in Mayfield that brought me into contact with him.
The first meeting came about as the result of a burglary that had occurred at a house on Christmas morning. The house was broken into in the early hours and the thieves took everything. Not only did they take the presents, but they took crackers and the lights off the tree as well. It was a traumatic experience for the family and they were devastated.
Apart from the fact that their home had been invaded, they had to face the prospect of explaining to the children that Santa had somehow missed their house even though he had managed to find everyone else. I was there that morning and it was impossible not to feel sorry for them.
I thought of Noddy and I got in touch with him. At a time when everybody else was enjoying the festivities at home with their families, he headed to his toy cave and gathered enough toys to ensure that Santa was able to make a special visit to that house, albeit a few days later.
Santa was escorted by a garda patrol car with flashing blue lights and siren to make a special delivery. I can still see the face of one of the kids looking out the window as we pulled up outside. His eyes wide open with excitement and it turned out to be a special Christmas for that family despite the earlier disappointment.
There was another occasion too when a family was left distraught at Christmas time. I can’t go into details without revealing the identity of the family concerned but I can say with certainty that Christmas would have been a complete disaster without the Mayfield Santa. Three kids would have been left devastated only for Noddy.
On another occasion, I had a personal request for him. I was looking for a toy called ‘Super Van City’ for one of my kids and I couldn’t get it anywhere. It was on the top of his wish list and I was getting desperate. This thing was in huge demand and every store had sold out of it. I contacted Mattie and he told me that the item was like gold dust, but he would do his best for me.
I had given up all hope of getting it and I was trying to figure out how to break it to my young lad that Santa couldn’t fill the order. My landline rang late on Christmas Eve and it was Mattie and he had sourced one of the toys for me and it was ready for collection. Once again, he had saved the day.
About a year after I retired, sometime in 2016, I was down in Youghal and I met a young garda. He recognised me from my community policing days in Mayfield and he had attended one of the schools that I used to visit.
We chatted for a bit and it turned out that he was Mattie Nodwells son, Brian. I asked him how his dad was keeping, and he told me that Mattie had died.
I got a bit of a shock and I couldn’t figure out how I had missed it. I left Mayfield in 2000 but I was still in contact with many people up there, but that piece of news just escaped me. His son told me that he became ill and died within a very short space of time, so it all happened very fast.
Mattie Nodwell was a guy who did things for his community without advertising the fact. He didn’t put it in neon lights in the city centre. He didn’t want any recognition or praise, he was just happy to help those in trouble. He stepped up to the mark when he didn’t have to and when there was nothing in it for himself. He was just a guy with a big heart.
It seems a bit strange writing about this now, so many years later but he regularly comes into my head over the Christmas period. He died around this time of the year as well and I just thought that it might be nice to remember his sense of community spirit.
We had no big relationship, we weren’t the best friends or anything, but he did stuff for others that generally went unnoticed. When people were in trouble, he was there and it’s only right that he should still be remembered.