Firs still flying off Paul’s farm – 67 years after he sold first Christmas tree
PAUL SEXTON still remembers the first Christmas tree he sold in 1952 as a 20-year-old man, for just five shillings – less than €1 in today’s money.
“Times were tough, and five shillings was a lot back then,” he recalled.
Now aged 87, Mr Sexton’s enthusiasm for the festive season is as bright as ever and he claims to be Ireland’s oldest Christmas tree seller.
Although he semi-retired a few years ago, he still keeps some trees as “part of the pension plan”. The family business includes a garden centre in Foxrock in Dublin and another in the Glen of the Downs in Co Wicklow.
Over the years it has supplied Christmas trees to the British and American embassies as well as generations of families.
Mr Sexton has watched the industry change over the past number of years, with the introduction of artificial trees, but he said most Irish people still love a real tree.
“The trend now is to buy an Irish tree. I think people get fed-up with the plastic tree after a year or two. They like the smell of a real one.”
Around 40 years ago, most of the trees in Irish homes were imported as there wasn’t as much demand to grow Christmas trees in Ireland, he said.
“I know Denmark better than Ireland – I travelled up and down that country for the best trees. We used to sell up to 10,000 trees every year, back in the day.
“But in recent years it was easier to grow them here. We have some in Shankill, others in Foxrock.”
In 1985 the business faced a potential setback – Mr Sexton and his family were victims of an armed robbery at their home in Shankill.
“It was 3am and half-a-dozen men with guns came in, held us up and stole lots of money. It was a terrible experience. My family were so frightened they couldn’t live there any more,” he said.
“I thought I was having a nightmare. I always remember, they said to me ‘where is your f**king money?’” After their ordeal, the family “moved to a new house and kept going” and set up a support group for victims of crime in Ireland.
Despite this, Mr Sexton’s love of Christmas and selling trees continued – something he still enjoys today.
“We love the hustle and bustle. It’s a bit of fun, and people are always very nice at Christmas. Although some people are hard to please – we’ve seen many a row between husbands and wives,” he said.
“We used to get calls from time to time from husbands saying ‘my wife brought home this load of crap, can we exchange it?’ I always said ‘no problem’.
“I always told them to come back and we’d switch the tree at no extra cost – I think we saved a lot of marriages that way.”
‘Some people are hard to please – we’ve seen many a row between husbands and wives’