Three, six, nine,
Weather stayed fine
People queuing up to sign;
Banner on a rope,
Talking to folk,
Authorities and Hammerson stroke.
Clap, clap! Clap, clap!
PEOPLE & STORIES
Bróna, Mary, Daniel, Seán and Diarmuid were the team today on the cobbles under grey skies …. ach ní raibh aon bháisteach.
We had visits today from a number of people: Deirdre Colgan and Steve Mackey, later joined by Meadhbh O’Carroll. A relative of Meadhbh was Cnclr. Richard O’Carroll, who was murdered by Captain Bowen Colthurst in 1916; he shot him in the stomach and left him to die slowly in the street.
Then later, Coleen Nugent Spoden and a friend of hers dropped by too. Coleen had two uncles and their father, all Nugents, in the GPO in 1916, so they probably ended up in Moore Street too, with the majority of the GPO garrison.
Steve’s grandfather Joseph (christened Matthew) Mackey worked on the trains and transferred from Co. Kildare to the Kingsbridge (now Sean Heuston) Station, at which time he lived not far away in Blackhall Parade. Mackey did jail time during the War of Independence for the alleged killing of Leslie Frazer, who was reported to be a Dublin Metropolitan Policeman but there was a belief that he was British Army (which makes it sound like he might’ve been Military Intelligence). This Frazer was drinking in Walsh’s pub in Stoneybatter in Dublin when Volunteers took him outside and shot him.
This was tidier than the shooting of Shanker Ryan, a British soldier believed to have followed Breen and Tracey and having identified the safe house in which they were staying in Drumcondra. A British Army raid and gunfight followed; Breen and Treacey got away but shooting a number of soldiers dead but the house owner, a professor in the nearby St. Patrick’s, was killed, presumably by the British. After Treacey was killed in Talbot Street a few days later, Ryan was accosted in the Gloucester Diamond pub by a few IRA men and shot dead there and then.
Errol dropped in on us with his fresh fruit offer, as in the past; it was good to see him again after an absence of weeks. He takes interesting photos and he had an amazing one of a sparrowhawk on his balcony, with a dead sparrow in its talons.
We were visited by one of the anti-vaxxers that were later having a small march from the Garden of Remembrance; she knew the other flags but had never heard of the Starry Plough, the flag of the ITGWU and the Irish Citizen Army.
Later during the week we’re going to post the video of Ken Murphy doing a short performance for us the week before last. We had technical problems to overcome first and last week we were interviewed by Rebel Telly so Ken’s show has had to wait.
We used up all the leaflets we had with us but they lasted right to the end. We’ll have to order more printed for collection next week.
So, slán go fóill and don’t forget, you can reach people that we can’t through your social media.
