Model airplanes and wonderful chalices

DAMIEN Maguire sent me in a very interesting letter and I wonder can anyone add to the story.

‘In or about fifty years ago, when I was a schoolboy, I was taken to Drogheda to a man’s house, somewhere in an old established estate in the town, as far as I can remember, where my mother and her friend were to collect a vessel of some sort which the man of the house had manufactured for the Holy Ghost fathers on their African mission.

‘I remember seeing the monstrances, chalices and plates which he had turned out of brass, copper and silver. As an altar boy, I knew the value of these objects. However, I was completely absorbed in his collection of model airplanes of all types and sizes, hanging by gut from the ceiling.

‘My mother, now 94 years of age, remembers nothing of the event but this craftsman must have been well known in the town and I’m sure some of your readers should remember him.’