Important information contained in this article for Republicans from the Derry City area The Republican Movement has always held its honoured dead in the highest regard. Eleven years ago almost 2000 republicans gathered in Dublin for the TírGhrá event which honoured 364 Republican activists who made the ultimate sacrifice for Irish freedom. On the night, the families of those Volunteers received a specially commissioned sculpture by Robert Ballagh and a book dedicated to the memory of our honoured dead. Of course, many other republicans played a crucial role in our struggle alongside those who gave their lives. Following the event we wanted to honour their commitment also and we introduced a local Roll of Remembrance in an attempt to acknowledge those Republican activists from our city. Presently we have 37 names on that Roll and a sizeable number of requests for names to be included on it. We recognise that there are hundreds, indeed thousands, of republicans in this city who have made a valuable contribution to the our struggle dating back many generations. With this in mind we are proposing to replace the Roll of Remembrance with a Book of Remembrance which can be more inclusive. It will become an archive of Republican activism for generations to come. We are proposing to commission a specially designed Book which will be displayed in our Party offices in Ráth Mór, in the room that we have already dedicated to our Fallen Comrades. We also intend to display the Book at the Republican Monument in the cemetery during our Easter and June Commemorations (weather permitting). We hope that it will contain the names of as many of our late comrades as possible. It is our hope that people will provide us with names of those republicans from previous phases of struggle as well as those republicans who have made a contribution in the most recent phase of our struggle. The Book will reflect the long history of republican activism in Derry, and preserve that proud tradition. We are appealing to republicans to contact us with the name and date of death of any republican they feel should be included in the Book. We want to include the names of all republicans who made any contribution to the struggle dating back as far as possible up until the present day. We acknowledge the support we have received from the families of those presently listed on the Roll of Remembrance in helping us to make the transition to the Book of Remembrance. We intend to launch the Book on Saturday 29th June at 3pm, the day before our June Commemoration, in our Ráth Mór offices. So we would ask people to contact us with names and details as requested by Friday 14th June so those names can be included in the Book at its launch. It will then become an open, living archive which can be added to as people bring forward the names of republicans who made a contribution to the struggle. It is hoped that by the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising in 2016 that we will have archived as many names as possible in the Book. We would like to take this opportunity to invite all republicans to the launch of the Book in our Ráth Mór offices on Saturday 29th June at 3pm. As well as launching the Republican Book of Remembrance at this event we will also officially name our conference room “Seomra na nÓglach” “The Volunteers Room” in memory of all those republican activists, who are listed in the Book, who have given of their time over many generations to bring our struggle to where it is at today, the closest it has ever been to achieving the new Ireland to which we all aspire. The following day, Sunday 30th June, we will gather at Central Drive in Creggan at 2.30pm for our annual June Commemoration march at 3pm to the Republican Plot in the city cemetery to honour the dead Volunteers of Derry Brigade. Those who wish to provide names for inclusion in the Book of Remembrance should contact us on derrysinnfein@googlemail
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 19:30:11 +0000
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