Honouring Brendan McGloin’s Bundoran life and sculptures on his first anniversary

As the mallet strikes the chisel and the chisel strikes the stone – April 4 marks the first anniversary of one of Ireland’s greatest stone-carvers, Bundoran’s own, Brendan “Benny” McGloin.

Although one year has passed for Brendan’s beloved family and friends in the Bundoran and Kinlough communities, words are still hard to mine, and sentences are still tough to quarry.

However, Brendan’s mighty Celtic spirit still inspires his family and friends to bravely shape the right words and to courageously sculpt the best sentences during this time of commemorating his life.

The son of Frankie and Claire McGloin, Brendan is the brother of Francis, Geraldine, Sandra, and Ciaran, the husband to Allie and father to Caelagh, Ruben, Jamie and Kyle. Named after Brendan the Navigator, the sixth-century Irish patron saint of sailors, Brendan still guides his family and friends to navigate the swell of emotions that naturally rise like the surf waves at The Peak in Bundoran.

His brother Ciaran shared that Brendan “had a great love of nature, the sea, music, surfing, having the craic, he adored his kids and family, always had time for the chats, always missed.” Ciaran also said that Brendan was a proud native son of Bundoran and a descendant of the historic Gaelic McGloin clan, who were “the boat keepers for MacClancy who had the castle on Lough Melvin” in County Leitrim.

Similar to Brendan’s legendary McGloin ancestors, his steady hand still keeps the boats of his family and friends safe and sound as they sail through life along the shores of Bundoran and Lough Melvin.

Behind one of Ireland’s greatest visionary artists is Brendan’s wife, Allie, who kindly shared some personal insight into Brendan’s bravery in the last years of his life. Allie said that “Brendan was very brave, the more I think about it, the more I realise it to be true. He had an inner strength.”

She said that “He was brave through his illness, having to face his own mortality. He was so resilient in his life, regardless of the condition and the ongoing chemo, regular hospital visits and stays. All the pain he endured.”

Even through that pain, Allie said he always brought “a smile and a joke to the day ward when he got his chemo. The nurses loved to see him coming. He brightened up their day.” In Brendan’s last few weeks in the Oncology Ward, Allie said: “I know he was a huge comfort to other cancer patients, making them laugh even though they too were dying.”

Brendan was never afraid to speak his Celtic truth through his art and life, Allie said: “he always said what he thought, even if it made people uncomfortable; he was direct and spoke his truth. Actually, it’s something I admired and loved about him. You knew where you stood and knew what he thought.”

Allie shared a memory from one of Brendan’s Bundoran friends, Charlie McQuillan. After Brendan passed, Charlie said on Facebook: “Brendan was the bravest boy he knew in Bundoran when they were growing up and he turned into the bravest man he knew.”

While Brendan’s sculptures were greatly appreciated in Bundoran over the years, Allie said he “always felt he needed more recognition for his work.” His brother Ciaran added that “most of the great artists don’t get recognition until they pass, unfortunately.”

Brendan’s family and friends hope that his first-year anniversary will mark the beginning of his beloved Bundoran community honouring his life by encouraging people to respectfully visit his Bundoran sculptures on April 4 and throughout his anniversary month.

Located in the historic heart of Bundoran, Brendan artistically told the ancient to modern seaside story of Bundoran’s history through what he and Allie call his “Sculpture Trail.” Carriage na nÉan (Rock of the Birds, 2000) symbolises Bundoran’s Celtic history, while Olchloch Punta (The Limestone Punt, 2002) is a Gaelic emblem for Bundoran’s rich fishing heritage.

His commemorative seat for the victims of The Central Hotel fire, featuring a Charlie Gracie poem carved into it, highlights the importance of remembering one of the town's modern tragedies, which occurred in 1980 when Brendan was a young lad.

Two of Brendan’s sculptures, An Triur Ceann (The Triskele Heads, 2002) and the statue of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh have also recently taken on new historical significance. The rediscovery of the Franciscan Louvain Papers record of “Bundrowes” establishes that Mícheál Ó Cléirigh’s Annals of the Four Masters, the greatest history book of Gaelic scholarship, was created in Magheracar, Bundoran.

Brendan’s visionary sculptures of Ó Cléirigh and his scribes are now a vital part of showing the Four Masters history in Bundoran.

One of the best ways to honour Brendan’s life on his anniversary is to explore his sculpture trail in his beloved Bundoran. Brendan’s sculptures will inspire your spirit to be shaped by the Celtic art of one of Ireland’s greatest stone-carvers and will also encourage your soul to be sculpted by the Celtic heart of one of Bundoran’s bravest men.