Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- Finding a new way to shed Writers’ Tears in Galway - November 28, 2024
- A last red rose and a final farewell - November 22, 2024
- Writers’ Tears and Galway memories - November 21, 2024
I’m in Galway, Ireland, home to the other member of The Moodie Davitt Report leadership, Dermot Davitt.
It is 18 years since I flew here to convince Dermot – then a freelance journalist and former colleague working part-time for Duty-Free News International, which he had previously led after my departure – to join my then tiny but growing team.
Over multiple pints of Guinness topped off by some late-night Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, I told him of my plans for the by now four-year-old company.
I returned to London the next day with a terrible hangover but more importantly his near-agreement to join. The deal was duly sealed in the days that followed and the path of what was then The Moodie Report suddenly seemed a lot more traversable.
Dermot has been a tour de force within the company ever since, a fact that was recognised in 2015 when I rebranded our title as The Moodie Davitt Report.
Now I’m working away from my Interim Galway Bureau at the kitchen table chez Davitt, my business partner typing away on his keyboard at the other end.
We’re putting in an early morning shift before heading to Ennis for the funeral of our mutual friend Colm McLoughlin, the long-time executive leader of Dubai Duty Free and among the finest individuals I have met.
More than a friend. A mentor and a guardian. Someone I turned to in the darkest moments of my life and career as well as a man I enjoyed so many enriching personal and professional moments with.
Today will be about grieving but also celebrating this rare human individual who lit up so many lives. It seems so appropriate therefore that Dermot and I are tapping out our words together before we jointly head off to say goodbye.
Last night in the good company of Michelle Davitt and Jonathan Holland (who has flown all the way from Singapore to attend Colm’s funeral) we reminisced both about our last and fateful encounter in the Davitt household 18 years ago and our fallen friend. Talk of how an exciting story had begun and of how an unforgettable one has sadly ended. Our chosen tipple was Writers’ Tears Irish whiskey. More than a few of those will be shed today. ✈
