A New Life: Evelyn Madden tells Brian O'Connell how her teaching experience helped in her new career
The auction room of the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon, Co Clare is no place for the faint-hearted. Old and new money vie for attention, as valuable coastal properties on the western seaboard exchange hands.
For as far back as anyone could remember, the auctioneer guiding the bidding frenzy was predominately male. Yet all that was set to change.
North Clare native Evelyn Madden was about to take her first auction, a routine commercial building in the local area. Hands trembling she entered the arena as a brief hush came over the room. Paying little heed to her auctioneering competitors lining the back wall, Madden took a deep breath, grasped the hammer, and filled the podium. "Now folks, who'll start the bidding for this unique opportunity to acquire a valuable commercial property with undeniable potential?"
The transformation from teacher to auctioneer was complete, and the North Clare property industry suddenly found itself embracing the 21st century.
There was no going back now.
For Evelyn Madden, the decision to become a teacher had as much to do with the associated free time as any long-held ambition to impart knowledge.
"I got a maths and economics degree in 1987 and then did a higher diploma in Galway. If I'm honest, my decision to follow this route had more to do with the fact that my sister was a teacher than any long- held desire to teach.
"My main interest growing up were horses, and all throughout my youth, we either showjumped or went to the hunt and we always had horses about the place.
"So I knew if I went into teaching at least I'd have time to pursue my other interests and that pretty much made the decision for me."
This was the late 1980s, when a permanent job was something of an endangered species in Ireland and, like many of her contemporaries, Madden found herself beating a well-worn path to Shannon Airport and the uncertainties of emigration.
"After I first qualified I went to London, as was the thing to do at the time. Some of my college friends headed over also so it wasn't a leap into the great unknown without support.
"I managed to land a teaching post at Hill House, one of the most prestigious private schools in the UK. Many of the students had bodyguards with them all day long. They would hang around outside the door and leave with the kids at the end of the day.
"All the kids were chauffeur-driven to school and yet, despite their enormous wealth and privilege, they were a joy to teach. I guess the fact that class sizes were limited to about 10 pupils helped, plus they were keen to learn, so much so that many of them were in class from 8am till 6pm every day.
"I stayed there for two and a half years, mainly teaching maths up to aged 12. I loved the work, but have to admit didn't enjoy the London experience all that much."
Growing up in a rural environment close to the bustling town of Ennis, Madden longed for open spaces, and found in London an oppressive and confining landscape.
"Our house near Ennis is situated on 14 acres beside the golf course, so I was used to a certain amount of green fields, and found it hard to adjust to London.
"The result of it was I decided to head for Australia for a year, where I got work in a girls secondary Catholic school - the contrast couldn't have been more stark from what I had been doing in London.
"Careerwise, Australia was a much tougher prospect and I was finding the teaching difficult. I had planned to stay there a while longer and do some travelling, yet fate intervened.
"My sister applied for two teaching jobs in Ennistymon and Ennis. Without my knowledge she also sent my CV along with hers. In the meantime she was offered the job in Ennis, and I found myself landing in Shannon Airport at 6pm on a Friday evening with an interview for the vacant teaching post in Ennistymon scheduled for 8pm. Somehow, despite the jetlag, I got the job."
Madden settled into life as a teacher in a well-knit community, enjoying in particular higher-level maths and taking a keen interest in her students' sporting exploits.
Ten years on, she longed for a new challenge, and decided on a one-year career break to test the water.
"I'd always wanted to work for myself, and when I took the career break I had no particular direction in mind. I was offered a job with an auctioneer in North Clare and to my surprise I loved it. I began studying auctioneering by night in the University of Limerick, and that continued for two years.
"It was tough going, leaving Liscannor at 4pm after a day's work and not getting back till after midnight.
"But I enjoyed the work, especially the interaction with people and negotiating skills involved. The job mixes elements of accountancy, technology and a strong knowledge of business, and I find that a challenge."
When Madden decided to set up her own business, her past career as a teacher had its advantages, given that she was well known to practically every family in the community.
It's a decision she hasn't regretted, and in the past few weeks she opened her second auctioneering practice in Ennis.
"I decided to go out on my own, it was something of a risk as North Clare was very much a male-orientated industry.
"One of my close friends who had travelled with me in Australia had just taken a career break so we put our heads together and opened an auctioneering practice in Ennistymon called Open Door Property.
"It was a high-risk venture, but from the moment we opened the front door I knew we'd made the right choice. We had so many well-wishers that first week, it was amazing.
"A lot of them were parents of pupils I had taught, because the secondary school was the only one in a 20-mile radius, so I was well known.
"The office was tiny, barely enough room for both of us, and within six weeks, the business was such a success that we had to hire an extra person and within a year later we moved to bigger offices.
"My typical day begins at 8.30am, when usually I am doing a valuation or two before the office opens. Once we open the door the phones are usually hopping. The day can be quite varied, from walking a farm due for public auction to carrying out probates for banking institutions.
"During the summer months we usually don't close till eight in the evening. I think with any new business your personal life is compromised, but it's worth it. I haven't had much time for horseriding, but eventually I'll sort it out."