‘Our lives at the moment are in limbo’ - Waterford business owners face aftermath of fire
Sisters Ellenor and Jean Upton, Waterford Centre of Music, speaking at the former Jute Factory after their premises was destroyed in the blaze. Photo: Joe Evans
Holding back tears, sisters Jean and Ellenor Upton spoke passionately about the pride they took in the Waterford Centre of Music, which had been their life and home at the Tycor Business Centre for 10 years.
The sisters lost everything that they invested in over the last 17 years in Saturday’s horrific fire that ripped through the Old Jute Factory building, with many kids now left wondering where they’ll learn music and dance over the coming days, weeks, and months. Nobody at the moment seems to have the answer to that simple question.
Speaking to the , the Upton sisters, Jean and Ellenor, said: “It’s devastating, and it’s a real loss. It’s not only us, but it’s every business that is here with us. To lose your life's work. We were here on Saturday night for five hours, and we watched everything that we worked for burn to the ground.
“As a music and stage school, there are hundreds of kids coming out through those doors every day. They practice for their shows, learn piano, drums, violin, and guitar, and now have nowhere to go.
“We do shows, and all our sets are gone. All our instruments are gone. We heard of the fire from a student's grandfather. I shot down the road, and the second I got here, I knew that it was serious."
Jean said: “I was parked on the other side, and they were shooting up our alley with hoses. I knew straight away. It just turned into an inferno. You see these things on telly, but not in real life.
“It’s so difficult to put into words. It’s been 17 years since we started the school, and we have been here for 10 years. We started in a little house from scratch. Our mother bought us two pianos, and we had a townhouse downtown.
“We started the school and built it from there into a music school. We have five staff. We built it from nothing, and everything that we accumulated from there is gone. Everything was in that building.”
Asked about supports, Jean added: “Not yet. We know that there is a meeting on Tuesday with the business owners to hear our voice and see what happens. You have your insurance companies and everything. Our lives at the moment are in limbo.
“We have no income now. My partner works in the school, and Ellenor’s husband works in the school. That’s our house out, and that’s our mortgage now in trouble. We have kids, and we have no income coming into the house at the moment.
“Being self-employed, you don’t know where you stand with social welfare; it’s scary.”
Ellenor added, “We need to see it. We can’t get in yet. Once we see it, we’ll have closure. The messages that we’re getting from parents about how much we mean to them and how much the school means to them is unreal.
“The thing is that they don’t know what they mean to us.”
As the clean-up continues at the site of Saturday’s catastrophe, the question now is what support will be in place for the Upton sisters, and those many more like them?
