Seamus Crimmins is the chairman and artistic director of the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year Competition, which takes place next week in Freemasons’ Hall on Dublin’s Molesworth Street. www.freemasonmusic.ie
Are you a saver or a spender?
I am not either/or, but more and/both. However, the balance has swung with the years – no points for guessing which way. Prudence has supplanted impulse, regrettably, although not entirely happily.
What was the first job you received money for, and how much were you paid?
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I loved summer jobs when at school. One summer, myself and a few friends worked as tea blenders in Quinn’s The Milestone in Newry. We got £5 a week or £1 a day. The conditions were dusty, masks weren’t thought of, and we didn’t care one iota. Our productivity was unsurpassed.
Do you shop around for better value?
I do now, mostly. I learned a lot from my parents, who worked incredibly hard to run a family shop, serve and support their customers and raise five children. Waste was out of the question, and our pursuits in music, sport and so on received unbounded encouragement.
What has been your most extravagant purchase, and how much did it cost?
When I stepped down as head of Lyric FM in 2003, I was seconded from RTÉ to the Arts Council and, serendipitously, I was invited to choose a few paintings from the council’s collection for my room. My eye has always been drawn to Irish modernists such as Mainie Jellett, Norah McGuinness and Evie Hone, so imagine my excitement when, at an auction in 2008, I secured an abstract composition by Evie Hone for €2,360. I hadn’t felt such excitement since winning the senior piano class in the Newry Feis.
What purchase have you made that you consider the best value for money?
Collectively, the best value for money items are those which I’ve retained, used, felt proud to own and share and valued endlessly at home throughout adulthood. I am thinking of everything from Le Creuset, quality pots, pans and bountiful serving bowls, vintage glasses and elegant crockery to paintings, books, furniture, sound systems and even my neglected cello. I take the long view when it comes to value measured against time.
Is there anything you regret spending money on?
I can’t think of any significant regrets in material terms. Then again, I have a tendency to blank out mistakes I’ve made. At one point, I was taken in by the allure of making unearned money through shares. Idiocy.
Do you haggle over prices?
Yes, if the circumstances are right and I’m in a carefree mood. It wasn’t always so but, having spent time in India and North Africa, I realised that it would be practically rude not to enter into the theatre of haggling.
Do you invest in shares and/or cryptocurrency?
I invested in shares on two separate occasions. The odd rush of blood resulted but, overall, these were follies, with the most notable disappointment experienced following the financial collapse of 2008/09. I take advice now.
Do you have a retirement or pension plan?
Luckily, I contributed to RTÉ’s superannuation scheme for many years.
What was the last thing you bought, and was it good value for money?
I had been thinking of buying a glasshouse for years and of sitting in it cosily in all sorts of weather. This year one was ordered and then assembled (flat-pack tension), and now it and we are settling into idyllic rural life in our tiny bolt-hole alongside the most welcoming of newfound neighbours. The glasshouse will keep giving so long as it isn’t blown away on the Cooley Peninsula.
Have you ever successfully saved up for a relatively big purchase?
When I was younger, saving was the only means to secure your heart’s desire. As a teenager, I worked all summer to buy a Bang & Olufsen sound system. My schoolfriends were blown away. Brahms’ 3rd Symphony was its first play. Later, having worked my first year as a full-time music teacher in Newry, I saved £600 as a deposit for a new green Citroen 2CV6. At just 600ccs, my friends dubbed it the Flymo GT. It was the talk of the town.
Have you ever lost money?
I don’t recall ever losing ‘real’ money.
Are you a gambler and, if so, have you ever had a big win?
I don’t gamble. My granny used to bet liberally on the Grand National. We would huddle around the newspaper and take a pin to randomly select our choices. That was the extent of our gambling ventures. No thinking required. Imaginatively named horses intrigued us.
What is your best habit when it comes to money?
To keep it warm in my pocket or account and, on occasions, imitate the cautionary wisdom of my partner.
And what is your worst?
Well, sometimes I just throw caution to the wind and go with whatever impulse takes me. My partner, Christophe, warns me to stay away from art auctions. Sometimes, I heed him.
How much money do you have on you now?
A lot, unusually. €68.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
