The People���s Archive by The People���s Priest: Have your say on the future of Ireland: Se��n Keane: Walking with my Mother

 

ThePeople���s Archive by The People���s Priest

Fr.Des Wilson died in November 2019. I first met him in 1968. His long life wasdedicated to helping people.  During the years of conflict, he stood withthe Upper Springfield community against the aggression and violence of theBritish state forces.  He gave comfort and solidarity to those in need andwas hugely respected and loved.

Fr.Des was the people���s priest, a community activist, an educator, a defender ofpeople���s rights, an author, dramatist and writer. He was also a man ofgreat courage, a good neighbour, and a decent human being.

On amore personal note in 1971, after internment, Fr. Des married Colette and mewhile I was on the run.

Lastweek the St. Comgall���s/Ionad Eileen Howell hosted an event celebrating Fr.Des���s life. On show were some of the 10,000 individual artefacts and documentsthat Fr. Des accumulated over his lifetime. Ciaran Cahill of SpringhillCommunity House explained that the Lottery Heritage Fund has agreed to supportthe cataloguing of Fr. Des���s archive.

Thisis a wonderful initiative providing an invaluable insight into the story of thecommunity of Upper Springfield and west Belfast and in particular of thenationalist working class communities. The aim is to preserve and curate thisarchive for future generations and researchers and to provide experience andtraining in archival methodology.

              Fr. Des and Noelle Ryan

Fr.Des was a prolific writer, including a weekly column for this fine paper. Hewrote books and leaflets and pamphlets and collected posters, and photographsand locally produced community and political material.

As Iwandered around the tables where some of his material was laid out I wastransported back to the 1970s and 8o���s, to the trauma of internment and thetragedy of the H-Blocks and Armagh and of the hunger strikes. There wereposters and leaflets calling for the ban on plastic bullets and the end oftorture in RUC interrogation centres.

Fr.Des kept a regular diary. Part of which he recorded on a twin-track taperecorder. It was sitting in pride of place in the middle of a table with theaccumulated dust of the years on it alongside some of the original tapes andposters.  There was also a photograph of Fr. Des and Noelle Ryan whoworked closely with him over many years. Ciaran played for us a part of one ofDes���s diary recordings made shortly after the Ballymurphy Massacre in August1971 in which he spoke of his desire for a centre for reconciliation as amemorial to those who had been killed by the Parachute Regiment.

The IrishPost in Britain carried a report of Fr. Des celebrating the 50th anniversaryof his ordination as a priest in September 1999. It includes a little poem fromhis good friend Fr. Joe McVeigh:

He���s a Celtand a Catholic, a

Buddhist anda Jew,

Arepublican, a socialist, and an anarchist too,

He���s apriest and a prophet,

A fighter tothe end ���

But most ofall.

Des Wilsonis our friend.

Itis clear just from the couple of dozen examples available last week that ThePeople���s Archive will be an important addition to the story of west Belfast andto the strength and vision of its people. Well done Ciaran, Claire Hackett andTiarnan O���Muilleoir, the archivist, and all of those involved in this veryimportant project. The exhibition will be on show at various locations over therest of the year, including during F��ile an Phobail. It you get a chance go andsee it.

 

Have your say on the future of Ireland

The Commission on the Future of Ireland wasestablished by Sinn F��in in November 2021. Its remit is to undertake a grassrootsconsultation with the people of Ireland and internationally on the future ofour island. For people to have their say on what the future might be.

So far the Commission has held four People���sAssemblies in Belfast, Derry, Ballybofey in Co. Donegal and the CarrickdaleHotel covering Louth, South Down and South Armagh. Independent Chairpersons anda wide range of political, economic, cultural and community contributors haveparticipated.

All of the events have been very well attended andpublic reports have been published. Videos of the event are available onYouTube. For example a video of the Donegal People���s Assembly is availableat: https://youtu.be/OUmR_pPnVt8

In June the Commission will be holding a Women���sAssembly in Belfast and a Youth Assembly in Dublin and we are planning two morePeoples Assemblies to be held in the South later in the year including one inthe Galway Gaeltacht.

The Commission has received over 150 written contributions froma broad range of interested individuals and groups.

If you want to make a contribution ��� to give youropinion on the shape and format of the new Ireland why not email the Commissionat commission@sinnfein.ie or via thefollowing webpage www.sinnfein.ie/ futureofireland 

 

Walkingwith my Mother

Hereis another offering from a book of poetry - Poems for Hard Times ���I published a few years ago. This week I thought I would share this onewithyou.

Walking with my Mother

My mother died in 1992.

In 2007 I met her.

On the back road above Cashelnagore.

The August sunshine lit up

The scarlet fushia and the montbretia

And the white of her hair.

As I walked behind her

She picked wildflowers From the ditches.

Then at a gap in the hedge

She turned and smiled at me.

���L�� deas ata ann��� she said. 

���It���s a nice day���.

I walked on.

Alone.

Wondering how this could be.

 

Se��nKeane.

Regular readers will know that this column is alover of music. My tastes are wide ranging and eclectic. But mostly I come backto folk music and invariably to Irish traditional music. And always when I���m inthat mood it���s The Chieftains for me. Last week I purchased Chronicles: 60Years Of The Chieftains on line from Claddagh Records. 

I have been playing it constantly since then.Appropriately Paddy Maloney and his friends were belting out The MorningDew when I got the sad news of the death of Se��n Keane. Se��n died suddenly athome in Dublin. He was one of our foremost fiddle players and a constant part ofThe Chieftains since 1968. I have been one of his fans since then.

Se��n was the quiet, tall understated musical magicianwho brought old airs and traditional tunes alive. He was true to the traditionbut expert at weaving it into his own unique style. He was a musician���smusician.  He has three solo albums Gusty���s Frolics, Se��nKeane  and Jig it in Style. He and Matt Malloy, another genius,flute player  and a  Chieftain also, recorded Contentmentis Wealth. If you want Irish music at its best it���s worth a listen. So too areSe��n���s recordings with piper Liam O Flynn. He won many awards for hiswonderful music. 

He was always delighted to be part of TheChieftains. They brought traditional music across the world. With them,Se��n also  played alongside Mick Jagger, Kate Bush, Ry Cooder,Sting, Sinead O Connor and many other great performers. 

His last public performance was the gig forPresident Biden down in Mayo weeks ago. I watched it on TV and I recall hishuge smile as they finished up one particularly boisterous set. I bumped intohim in the restaurant in Leinster House around the same time. I thanked him forhis service to our culture. I���m glad I did. He told me he was still playingwith Matt Malloy.   

Paddy Glackin another wonderful fiddle player, in atribute to Se��n said that Se��n  understood the ���emotional,spiritual  and lonely quality in Irish traditional music.��� 

Se��n will be missed by everyone who appreciatestraditional music. Thankfully, because of his many recording, we canstill listen to him.

B�� mhaith liom mo comh bhr��n a dheanamh leis ateaghlach agus a cairde, go h���airithe na ceolteoir�� eile.