It Occurs to Me: Bringing them all back home

When I spoke with Colin Bell last week, the Newry man was looking forward to the game with Donegal in Páirc Esler. He was the happier of the two of us on Sunday evening!

I first met him along with his wife Eithne at the Cumann na mBunscol annual conference in Letterkenny in early March. Like many people, I was aware of the wonderful work done by the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust over the past ten years, and when the Trust was instrumental in bringing a Cavan cousin home from the UK after his sudden death in 2021, it literally brought it all back home. Kevin Bell was killed by a hit-and-run driver in New York in 2013. The 26-year-old dancing champion and talented Gaelic player was one of seven children, including a twin brother.

A fundraising campaign to help repatriate Kevin’s body got underway in the wake of his death, and after more money was raised than needed, Colin and Eithne decided to use the extra funds to help other families facing the pain and cost of bringing deceased loved ones home to Ireland.

As Colin explained to me: “At that time, it was going to cost some £5000 to take Kevin home, but we raised some £150,000 and so the Trust was born. Now the average to take someone from Europe is £5000, £7-8000 from Australia and so on. Costs per repatriation can cost up to $12,000 depending on the circumstances of the death, local charges and hospital release costs.
The Trust operates on a 32 counties basis for all sides of the community, creed, colour and circumstances of death.

KBRT have now repatriated 1533 loved ones to their families in Ireland from countries worldwide such as Australia, Argentina, South Korea, USA, Canada, Ecuador, Cambodia, India, Uganda to name just a few. The Trust repatriates approximately 15-20 loved ones back to Ireland per month and as Kevin told me in Letterkenny (as his phone and emails were ongoing), “We get six or seven calls per week.”

Donegal is a second home for Colin and Eithne, as they have a house in Gortahork, and they are frequent visitors to the county. Last year, Colin and Eithne walked the railway line in Loughanure with local woman Bríd ‘Winnie’ Sweeney who had undertaken a 365 day walking challenge this year to raise money for the Trust. A mother of two grown-up children, Winnie lost two nephews and a Godson in tragic circumstances over the past six years.

To date, the Trust has repatriated 44 loved ones to Donegal since 2013…the Ulster total is an incredible 583.
Colin retired as a teacher in Abbey CBS in Newry in 2014, and has been “full on” since, with Eithne and a part-time girl in the office.

Awards include the 2019 Dublin Lord Mayor’s Award and the UK Prime Minister’s Point of Light Award recognising outstanding volunteers in 2018. In 2016/17 KBRT were the GAA’s official charity and also the official charity for Cork International Airport and Belfast International Airport. Other awards have included Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards – Overcoming Adversity
in June 2016, the GAA’s President Award in February 2015, and the Ulster Tatler Charity of the
Year in September 2015.

They are the only such Trust in the world and the work will continue after Colin and Eithne. “There are succession plans,” he confirmed. Every time a loved one is returned, Colin and Eithne thank God for Kevin’s time on earth and his enduring legacy. It was a privilege to meet this most humble of couples, and if they were cheering wildly in Páirc Esler last Sunday, sure even a Donegal supporter couldn’t begrudge them.

REMEMBERING SEAN CHON JOHNNY

The late Seán Ó Beirne, known locally as Seán Chon Johnny, from Teileann, who passed away suddenly on Saturday. His Funeral Mass will take place this Friday. PHOTO: AOIFE FEENEY

It’s only some six months ago since I wrote the following paragraph: “The last time I frequented The Rusty Mackerel was a few months ago. I sat beside an old friend and great musician, Seán Chon Johnny, along with my sister Bernie, cousins Carmel and Pascal Byrne, and it was a night of super music and craic. Thomas Cunningham came over to say hello and we had a brief chat, so I was shocked and saddened to hear of his death last week.”

I was equally shocked to hear of the death of Seán Chon Johnny Byrne last weekend. Seán was a warm, generous and very talented musician, whose knowledge of music was second to none.

On that aforementioned visit to the Rusty Mackerel in Teelin, he looked at me with a big smile and said: “How about some Bob Dylan?”

His repertoire was extensive and I recall him coming to me one night in Tom Carr’s in the early 70s and wondering if I was heading back to Dublin on Sunday. I said I was and he asked me to look out for an LP of Django Reinhardt, the legendary Romani-Belgian jazz guitarist and composer.

After a fire engulfed his caravan in 1929, the fourth finger (ring finger) and fifth finger (little) of Reinhardt's left hand were badly burned. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again but Reinhardt applied himself intensely to relearning his craft, however, making use of a new guitar bought for him by his brother, Joseph Reinhardt, who was also an accomplished guitarist.

While he never regained the use of those two fingers, Reinhardt regained his musical mastery by focusing on his left index and middle fingers, using the two injured fingers only for chord work.

Over the years, thanks to the wonderful Dandelion Market off Stephen’s Green, I sourced a few LPs, including a classic which had Django playing with another legend, French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.
Seán Chon Johnny was delighted and our musical friendship endured.

On another occasion in Tom’s, when the Teelin lads were playing a great trad session, I remarked to Sean how Django was such a remarkable musician, considering he only had the use of eight fingers. “Arrah Frank” he responded. “I know bucks that have twenty fingers and they can’t even play the spoons!” Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

I see you, head down and anchored in the strings,
Giving ‘her lilty’ in The Rusty,
The ghosts of Cití Seain and Thomas Cunningham

Hovering in the rising rafters.

Know this, Sean Chon Johnny Byrne,
You put heads on fading pints
And smiles on the weekend faces
Of those in search of diversion.

And boys, but you could divert…
Con Cassidy and Django Reinhardt,
Or “Would you like some Dylan?”
But you were never Bob’s Rolling Stone,

No…your anchor was nailed tight,
In the melodic waters of Teelin Bay,
Or the wee dander with guitar in hand,
Heading ‘as far’ as the Mackerel.

When you meet up with Django,
Tell him he was well got in Tom Carr’s,
And that, God forbid, you might even have
Let him play the spoons there.