PROLOGUE

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME!

'If we understood the world, we would realise that there is a logic of harmony underlying its manifold apparent dissonances'

Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer

• My earliest recollection of Belfast - as a five year old visiting an uncle in Crumlin Road Prison, where he was a guest of Her Majesty... for involvement in the IRA’s “50’s Campaign”

• Took part in the march on the British Embassy following the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972

• Played music at (one of...!) Frank Stagg’s memorials (hunger-striker who died in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight) in 1976

• Played support to Planxty with Manx harp player Charles Guard

• Drove my uncle around from Garda station to Garda station at the time of the Heavy Gang, as he collected information for Amnesty International

• Marched for the preservation of Wood Quay in 1978

• Marched in solidarity of the Hunger Strikers in 1981 and wore a black arm-band at work for the duration of the strikes, which caused some friction...

ach sin scéal eile...

Next: A New Life