Danny Tim O’Sullivan wouldn’t change a single thing about the last 50 years of his life – and he said that with utmost certainty.
Danny Tim is a proud Kerry man both by birth and by choice – from modest beginnings in Gleesk, Kells, one could say that the modesty itself never left him. When asked how he feels two years on from receiving the Freedom of the City of London, he replied: “it is what it is – I’m very honoured and my family is very proud”.
For him, it is wealth to call not only Kerry, but also London his home – a place that welcomed him in the 1970s when he emigrated at the age of 16 with “£10 in my pocket” to work in the booming construction trade, he told Agriland.
He worked hard in the years that followed and started his own company – the Danny Sullivan Group – in 1986.
There have, naturally, been “low times” when it came to business, and Danny Tim himself experienced poor health a few years ago when he suffered a brain haemorrhage. But there have been many “great times” along the way too.
For Danny Tim, despite being someone who founded a leading UK construction company and has been named Kerry Person of the Year in both London and Ireland, he said what truly made the decades “fantastic” were the “great people” he has met along the way.
Danny Tim and his sheep to cross London Bridge
He will celebrate his success with not only his nearest and dearest people on September 26, but also his sheep – he will walk them across London Bridge on that day, an opportunity afforded to him as part of the honour of being awarded the Freedom of London.
This event was meant to take place last year but was postponed due to Covid-19. Danny Tim said the last year-and-a-half has been “very tough”, but it makes the celebrations later this month all the more special.
Many people speak of Danny Tim as being a very charitable man who does everything he can for others. They will also now be singing his praises:
“Singer P.J. Murrihy from Co. Clare will be coming over to London to play for us. He wrote a new song about me,” Danny Tim added.