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Kathryn Timoney: Oakwood cafe owner talks moonwalking and childhood crushes
Oakwood café owner Kathryn Timoney talks about her Aussie roots, first childhood crush, and her ability to moonwalk.
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Kathryn Timoney, 37, was born in Leeds but was taken by her mother and father Tommy and Kathleen Mulchrone, to Sydney, Australia, when she was just 18 months old.
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Her parents left their native Ireland in the 1950s in search of a better life in England but only found happiness after making a family home down under.
Bizarrely the Mulchrones briefly moved back to Leeds when Kathryn was nine since they still had family connections in the city. But they only stayed for nine months.
She returned once more in 1988 after the death of her father, a bus conductor and later a transport supervisor, at the age of 44. It was during this trip she decided she wanted to live in the UK.
After taking a degree in marketing at Sydney University she came to London and became a suited-and-booted company sales director and moved from the capital to Manchester and Dublin.
Her tour of the British Isles eventually brought Kathryn back to Leeds and through the Irish community she met her husband Martin Timoney of Tinshill, who also works in finance.
Their fathers lived six miles apart in Ireland. This was only discovered when Martin's dad was introduced to his future daughter-in-law.
He instantly spotted the family resemblance and said: "Are you Tommy Mulchrone's girl?"
She's preparing to celebrate the third birthday of her caf/deli Timoney's, on Roundhay Road, Oakwood, a milestone which virtually coincides with Australia Day on January 26.
Kathryn now enjoys an idyllic existence after turning her back on the business world (and a much bigger income) in favour of pursuing her dream of running her own eaterie – with a little help from her 66-year-old mum and sister Celine, 32, of course.
So what makes the daughter of an Irish couple, raised in a tropical country, feel so much attachment to Leeds?
ROD MCPHEE found out..
"I love Leeds because the minute I came here I felt a connection somehow. I was born in Jimmy's, my parents met here and I have a lot of family here.
Although it's totally different to Sydney I like that difference because I was never really a sun-sea-sand type of person and, as strange as it sounds, I really like the cold weather. I actually enjoy wearing coats and hats and scarves.
"But above all else there's a very real sense of community here and that's the crucial thing.
"I think you have that in the UK because in most parts of the country you're never very far from everyone else so you find ways of getting along and that's particularly true in Leeds.
"The thing I'm most proud of is my parents, that they had the guts all those years ago to just get up and take themselves off to the other side of the world in search of a better life.
"The person I'd most like to meet I've already met actually – it's my father. Sadly I only knew him as a little girl and a teenager and I wish I could meet him now so he could see who I am and what I've done as an adult, I'd love to just go for a drink with him.
"Although I love Britain I don't think I could ever actually call myself a Brit. I'm very Australian in the fact that Aussies are very straight talking, outgoing, pioneering and quite relaxed at the same time, I think Brits, for all their good qualities are quite uptight in some ways and they put up with a lot of things an Australian wouldn't.
If an Australian had cold food put in front of them in a restaurant they'd complain straight away, and not many Brits would.
They'd probably eat it then grumble a bit at the end or something. I also get my sense of humour from my Irish side, although Aussies also have their own kind of humour.
And Irish people have an incredible tenacity and determination too.
"The one thing I couldn't live without is my humour and lipstick with matching glasses – I must have about ten pairs of glasses.
Whereas other women have an obsession with shoes mine is the flamboyant spectacles.
"My childhood was very happy and we always knew we were loved. It was very simple but a curious mix of cultures – Irish dancing and body surfing and eating Christmas dinner in the scorching heat.
"My first crush was when I was 11 years old and I adored this guy who lived along our street.
I thought he was so cool because he had a motorbike and one day he let me ride it with him. Amazing.
Sadly, nothing else happened though because he was about 10 years older than me.
"The best advice I ever received came from an elderly Irish gentleman I once met. He said: 'The person that never made a mistake, never made anything.'
"I think that's so true because you really do learn from your mistakes and if a day goes by that something doesn't go wrong then it's a day when you haven't gleaned something new.
"The other piece of advice I was given came from the priest who married me and it was simple: 'Be kind.'
"The thing that might surprise most people about me is that I can moonwalk. Ask no more.
"My philosophy on life can be summed up in two lines: What's meant to be won't pass you by and Only go back to where you came from."
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Monday 21 May 2012
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