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The Story of Bricky
Article courtesy of Irish Times.
Noel Marshall was born on 6th May 1975. He grew up on a small farm near Ballygarvan county Cork, Noel is the 2nd from a family of 5 children their childhood was a far cry from the play station age that has engulfed our current generation. From the age of 5 or 6 before school he would be out at 6am helping with the work around the farm these jobs included milking 3 cows by hand, rearing calves, pigs and hens. With everything done by 8am Noel his older brother and three younger sisters walked 2 miles to their local school. His father combined the farm work with holding down a full time job as a builder with the county council.
Noels creativity was evident from an early age often making his own toys from wood and always engrossed during construction work conducted on the farm. At school Noel could only engage on practical subjects but he excelled in these; woodwork, maths and science. From age 11 Noel worked during the summer holidays at a local concrete paving yard producing slabs and laying patios. He cycled 6 miles to and from each day starting work at 8am. His senior colleagues were astonished at the kid’s ability to work; Victor Kelly his boss as this time remarked.
“As a small kid he processed great strength speed and stamina and just always knew what to do. Each summer he’d bring an incredible energy to the place. Everyone adored him and we all had that sense he’d do great things. His inventions are testament to the guy’s practicality and drive they are so simple yet brilliant. All our wishes are behind him”
Victor Kelly – Ballygarvan Concrete Products
Noel Left School before his final year and joined the army as an apprentice carpenter, while naturally excelling at the practicality of the carpentry he struggled with conforming to the other facets of army life. Geared for productivity, spending days preparing for inspections and drills frustrated him to the point of utter boredom. This lead him to take up endurance running which he also excelled at, going on to represent Ireland at international level he trained hard with aspirations to qualify for the Olympic marathon however the combination of consistent injury and overtraining eventually ended this quest - PB’s include 24:58 for 5 miles and 51:32 for 10 miles.
“I entered the sport late and failed my ultimate goal not from a lack of effort; for six years I periodically trained flat out twice a day seven days a week. I became plagued with hip injury as I pushed to hit that exceptional Olympic standard. Competitive sport is a very grounding experience, you need to push yourself to the limits of human endeavour to reach a high level”
Noel Marshall.
Noel left the army 6 months after producing the first Bricky prototype. Initial funding of €650K for production and marketing was sought from 25 local investors, today the Bricky is by far and away the most successful hand tool invented since the turn of the century. The Masons Mate and Pro-pointer were later additions to Marshalls invention portfolio.
