RIP Charles Hussey

Icon Barber takes his final bow,

Charles Husseys interest in barbering started from a very young age. As a

boy he used to visit a barber shop near his primary school. He found the

place fascinating ; the sweeping up, the cutting of hair, the beard

sculpturing, the singing of songs and listening to the chat. He decided then

and there that barbering was certainly the career path for him.

Initially Charles trained in Galway City with Christys in Eyre Square. The

Galway Races were the highlight of the local Barbering Calander; they were

very busy with hot towel shaves for punters, jockeys and trainers and

Charles loved every minute. For a new experience he moved to Dublin to

Mooreheads and then on to London to progress his career more.

He returned to Ireland for a short while and in 1964 won Irish Barber of the

Year at the National Championships in Dublin. He was so proud of his

achievement.

London called and he returned to work there again He got involved with

competition work and was a member of the English National Hair

Federation executive committee for a while and a member of the Barber

Squad. That prepared him for future competitions.

He moved further afield to France and finally on to Germany where he

stayed for many years and where he continued his interest in competitions

and went on to compete and win all over the continent.

In 1980 he returned to Ireland and in 1988 he joined the IHF executive

committee for over two decades. In 1993 he won the Irish Men's National

Championships Award. On the executive committee he fought relentlessly

for the plight of the barbers in Ireland, the conditions, pay, standards etc.

His Barbershop in Newcastlewest was one of his favourite places. A safe

haven for his favourite work, barbering, cutting, carving out shapes with clippers and razors, chatting with the locals, reading newspapers and

watching German TV!

Charles was the person who first introduced Ireland to the OMC - the World

Hairdressing Organisation in 1994 and Ireland then became a member. In

due course Charles got an Irish Mens Team together and became Manager

and Trainer of Team Ireland for the forthcoming Mens World

Championships. Irene Devereux joined him and went as Manager, Trainer

of a Ladies team on that occasion.

For Charles, being part of OMC was an exceptional opportunity and it

brought him all over the world as a jury member, to London, Washington,

Las Vegas, Berlin, Paris, Milan, Vienna, Dublin and Belfast. He was a very

good judge as he had a great eye for competition rule perfection. He was

a stickler for fairness on the competition floor, He was a super motivator

even with the Ladies Team Ireland which was managed and trained from

1999 by Maeve O Healy-Harte. Charles was always referred to as a

gentleman, You only have to look at social media under the posts of his

passing. He always encouraged both teams to progress and gave advice to

those who needed it. They were forever grateful to have people like him

believe in them and teach them to hone their skills and appreciated us

giving up our time free of charge to help them with every aspect of their

tests within the Championships. Team Ireland won over 200 medals Gold,

Silver, Bronze and many cups including the European Championship Cup.

Ireland were proud to be a host of the OMC International Championships in

Dublin also. This wouldnt have come to frusion if that first step to

contecting OMC by Charles many years before.

In 2000 in Berlin he was awarded the OMC Bronze World Medal of

Achievement from the OMC and in Moscow in 2006 he was awarded the

Gold World Medal of Achievement for his contribution to the Barbering

industry.

He completely left the IHF organisation with others and joined the

Hairdressing Council of Ireland as they were working on an Apprenticeship,

first for Hairdressing then Barbering. This has now happened which is

wonderful for the entire industry.

His health was not on his side and then after the death of his dear Marlena,

his health deaerated more and eventually Charles had to give up his love of

working in his safe haven in Newcastlewest and move to Milbrea Lodge in

Newport, Co Tipperary.

He still relied on all the Industry news from Maeve O Healy-Harte, Bernard

Breslin and Brian Hackett in the last few years which he always enjoyed.

There was plenty of stories and laughter when remembering things that

happened in the past and about present changes within the industry.

Charles will always be in the hearts of the people in the industry he loved

so much.

Rest in Peace now Charles