A Belfast man who took a street sign from a skip while here as a student over 25 years ago has gifted it to the Museum of Free Derry.
Ronan O’Boyle was just 23-years-old when he was in Derry as a student and discovered the old sign for Glenfada Park jutting out amid debris in a skip.
The 49-year-old, who now lives in County Clare, said he tucked it under his arm having bagged it as a typical student memento, and intended to hang on the wall of his student digs.
However, he changed his mind about that when he found out about the history behind the area.
He told the Derry News how he happened upon the sign.
“I’m originally from Belfast and I was in Derry at the time doing a Masters in Computing and Design in Magee University around 1992 to 1993,” he said.
“I was walking up Shipquay Street with my buddy carrying bags; we had been out doing our shopping, then up at the back of the Diamond I saw a street sign sticking out of this skip full of rubble.
“As a student, of course, I thought it would be cool to grab it to put the sign on the wall of my bedroom so I just put it under my arm and kept going.”
Ronan said that he had not yet gotten round to hanging the sign up when, the next day, he asked a fellow student from Derry where the street was in the city.
“The next day when I was in Magee, I asked a fella who was a native of Derry where Glenfada Park was. He said, ‘Do you not know? That’s where a lot of the people on Bloody Sunday were shot’.
“I was taken aback.”
Ronan added: “I didn’t put it up on the wall when I heard that; I felt it deserved more respect.”
Ronan never hung the sign on a wall after learning its association with the events of Bloody Sunday when a march for civil rights ended in the deaths of 14 people at the hands of British soldiers.
Ronan said that he met his wife, Ann, who is from County Clare, around the same time he found the sign.
He said there were ‘a few moves’ over the years but that he had never parted with the sign, however, he wasn’t quite sure how to give it the home he believed it deserved.
It was by chance that Ronan met Seamus Heaney, from Derry’s Old Library Trust, and told him about the Derry sign he had been keeping safely for 26 years.
“Knowing its history and significance, I didn’t want to hang it on the wall because I thought it deserved more respect so it was stored in the roof-space or on top of cupboards over the years,” he said.
“It was suggested to me that I should put it on eBay but there was no chance of that ever happening. So, fast forward to last year, I met Seamus Heaney who is the brother-in-law of a friend of mine from County Clare. Seamus suggested that I should really donate it to the Museum of Free Derry.”
Surreal
Ronan was given a guided tour of the Museum of Free Derry by Jean Hegarty, whose 17-year-old brother, Kevin McElhinney, was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972.
He said this brought the gravity of what had taken place on Derry’s streets home to him in a very moving way.
“It was really surreal walking around the museum; I actually found learning about the events that took place in Derry very difficult,” he said.
“It was fascinating hearing this information first-hand from Jean, who had been so affected by it.
“However, the museum is a great example of what happens to things when there’s a peace process and reconciliation, we can look back and we can learn from it. It makes it so real and, as Seamus had said to me, the museum brings it back into the consciousness of people. It’s incredible.”
Ronan presented the sign for Glenfada Park to the museum, where it will now be displayed.
He added: “The Museum of Free Derry is the perfect resting place to finally bring it home.”
Adrian Kerr, manager of the Museum of Free Derry, plans to display the street signage within the new museum.
“We’re delighted that Ronan decided to gift this sign to the museum,” he said.
“It’s great to have a piece of the old Glenfada Park brought into the newest building in the street.
“It’s also a very direct connection with the Glenfada Park of 1972, which is clearly the reason why we’re here in the first place.”
Pictured above: Ronan O'Boyle (left) pictured handing over the Glenfada Park street sign he found in a skip in Derry in the early 90s to Museum of Free Derry staff Jean Hegarty and Julieann Campbell. Also pictured is Seamus Heaney, who suggested gifting the sign to the museum.
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