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Thomas Dixie Elliot writing after returning from the resting place of INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch who died on hunger strike in the H-Blocks in 1981.

Earlier today our group Ex-POP went to Dungiven to lay a wreath on the grave of our brave comrade, INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch, on this his anniversary.

Image may contain: 10 people, including Hazel Brogan, people standing
On the hill above the graveyard a standing stone can be seen among the towering trees. The majestic Benbradagh Mountain, steeped in the folklore of Dungiven, with tales of Finvola, the Gem of the Roe, and the banshee Grainne Rua, changes colours with the shifting light.

Image may contain: 8 people, including Hazel Brogan, people standing and outdoor
These are the memories which surely lifted Kevin as he peered through the concrete bars of his filthy cell at the clouds drifting overhead. His hometown lay beyond the Sperrins but it was the walls and the wire which separated him from those he loved. His desire to free his country from the yoke of the tyrant burned in his heart as brightly as the fire in his mother's hearth.

At the graveside we were met by Kevin's family. His brother Gerald told us that, during an interview with Marian Finucane she told him she had read that Kevin's father had taken the stones from his grave and washed them before he put them back again.

The love of a father for the son he had lost.

Image may contain: one or more people, outdoor and food
Gerald also told us that Kevin had been buried facing the wrong way due to a mistake by the undertaker. This was something a priest had predicted many years before when he that said that someday someone would be buried in that cemetery facing the wrong way.

Kevin's family home can be seen from his grave, just beyond the road which passes through the Glenshane. His noble family invited us there for tea, coffee and sandwiches. The walls and cabinets hold many memories of a brave son, including a framed letter to his mother written on prison issue toilet paper.  

Image may contain: plant
This family had suffered greatly as they watched their son hunger and die for his comrades. They greatly lifted our souls today

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.

Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie    

At The Grave Of Kevin Lynch

Thomas Dixie Elliot writing after returning from the resting place of INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch who died on hunger strike in the H-Blocks in 1981.

Earlier today our group Ex-POP went to Dungiven to lay a wreath on the grave of our brave comrade, INLA Volunteer Kevin Lynch, on this his anniversary.

Image may contain: 10 people, including Hazel Brogan, people standing
On the hill above the graveyard a standing stone can be seen among the towering trees. The majestic Benbradagh Mountain, steeped in the folklore of Dungiven, with tales of Finvola, the Gem of the Roe, and the banshee Grainne Rua, changes colours with the shifting light.

Image may contain: 8 people, including Hazel Brogan, people standing and outdoor
These are the memories which surely lifted Kevin as he peered through the concrete bars of his filthy cell at the clouds drifting overhead. His hometown lay beyond the Sperrins but it was the walls and the wire which separated him from those he loved. His desire to free his country from the yoke of the tyrant burned in his heart as brightly as the fire in his mother's hearth.

At the graveside we were met by Kevin's family. His brother Gerald told us that, during an interview with Marian Finucane she told him she had read that Kevin's father had taken the stones from his grave and washed them before he put them back again.

The love of a father for the son he had lost.

Image may contain: one or more people, outdoor and food
Gerald also told us that Kevin had been buried facing the wrong way due to a mistake by the undertaker. This was something a priest had predicted many years before when he that said that someday someone would be buried in that cemetery facing the wrong way.

Kevin's family home can be seen from his grave, just beyond the road which passes through the Glenshane. His noble family invited us there for tea, coffee and sandwiches. The walls and cabinets hold many memories of a brave son, including a framed letter to his mother written on prison issue toilet paper.  

Image may contain: plant
This family had suffered greatly as they watched their son hunger and die for his comrades. They greatly lifted our souls today

Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.

Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie    

Dixie Elliot H Blocks Hunger strike Kevin Lynch

3 comments:

  1. Boyne Rover1:26 PM, August 04, 2020

    I once stood for a few minutes at a monument commerating all the hunger strikers in Ireland when a long time Sinn Feiner happened to be passing we exchanged views on weather and other common everyday happenings then he remarked about how brave those men must have been I agreed then said would they have been so willing to lay down their lives if they had known that the Provo's would be call a ceasefire and then do everything in their power to get Stormont up an running ,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AM7:32 PM, August 04, 2020

      quite a few political careers were built on the graves of dead volunteers

      Delete
  2. AM7:34 PM, August 04, 2020

    Good piece Dixie - I was at a commemoration for Kevin in the graveyard many years ago.

    ReplyDelete

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