FINAL SALUTE Members of the Roache family uncles, nieces and nephews at the graveside of Pte John Roache. Pic: Ken Wright
Family pride, military honour
County View
John Healy
It was a military ceremony, an extended family reunion, and a roll call of Castlebar’s oldest families all rolled into one. The formal dedication of the grave of Private John Roache took place at Castlebar old Cemetery on March 16.
John ‘Botha’ Roache, World War I hero, recipient of the DCM Medal for Bravery, had lain in an unmarked grave in Castlebar for over 32 years.
His final resting place, and that of his wife Ellen, who had predeceased him by 30 years, was known only to close family. The man who had gone away to war and returned a hero had died as he had lived, quietly and modestly and with no hint of what he had been through in that journey to hell that was the lot of the foot soldier in the Great War.
Thanks to the efforts of local man Ernie Sweeney, assisted by skilled mason John Basquill, the Roache grave was restored to its full glory. The long months of painstaking work were rewarded with an inspiring and moving ceremony with the extended Roache family and the people of the town gathered to pay tribute.
John Fallon of the Connaught Rangers Association led the formal speeches, and young Castlebar trumpeter Debbie Lester sounded the Last Post on a Connaught Ranger bugle dating back to 1840. In the quiet hush of a noon-day Sunday, the trumpet notes soared across the waters of Lough Lannagh on one side and, on the other, to the square of the Military Barracks where John Roache and his young comrades had taken the final salute before commencing their journey into the furnace of Europe.
Around the grave, 100 members of the Roache family, representing five generations, stood proudly as the achievements of their kinsman were honoured. The Roachees, Lynches, Gannons and Guthries, Cunninghams and McAlpines and Fitzgerarlds and Brinklows stood together for the first time, someone jocosely remarked, since 1918. They had gathered back then on the steps of Castlebar Courthouse to see John Roache presented with the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
Tony Lynch from Cork, grandnephew of John Roache, spoke eloquently on behalf of the family, remarking that “we walk among heroes every day, but we fail to recognise them.”
Then it was to the reception at the Traveller’s Friend Hotel, where presentations were made to Ernie Sweeney and John Basquill for their work. Historian and recorder of the Great War, Michael Feeney, spoke, as did Captain Donal Buckley, who was a most competent MC for the day.
It was a time for renewing old friendships and discovering fresh family links, since many of the younger generation were unaware of the family branches that had extended out from the Roache tree trunk.
Meanwhile, it was announced that John Roache’s military medals, including the DCM were to be mounted and put on permanent display at the County Library in Castlebar. As befitted the main catalyst behind the celebrations, Ernie Sweeney has been appointed keeper for the medals, a duty that he accepted with pride.
Not that the tireless Ernie will be resting on his laurels: His next project is the opening of the Mayo Peace Park, which is now nearing completion, with a planned opening date of October next.
The timeless “Country Boy”
They say good drama is timeless, a claim that was verified once again by St Patrick’s Drama Group of Westport, which staged ‘The Country Boy’, by Charlestown native John Murphy, over the past few weeks.
The sell-out runs the play achieved in both Wembley, London, and in Cushlough and Westport, were proof that good stage drama is not constrained by changes in time or fashion.
It was on April 7, 1959, that ‘The Country Boy’, was staged for the first time. The venue was Belfast, the company was the Ulster Group Theatre and the setting was a small farmhouse in the West of Ireland. Neither playwright, actors nor first-night audience could have foreseen the impact that the play would make on drama in Ireland.
Within two years, Murphy’s work had reached the pinnacle of success: A production by The Charlestown Players took the All–Ireland Drama Award at Athlone. For the next two decades, through the heyday of the amateur-drama movement in Ireland, there was never a season when, somewhere in the country, a local drama group was not staging ‘The Country Boy’.
While his play was still the big crowd-puller of the drama circuit, John Murphy himself took the emigrant route. An ironic twist given the play’s theme. He settled in Los Angeles, where he quickly found work in the film industry. However, he left down his creative pen and never wrote another play.
His death a decade ago in the US evoked warm memories, especially in his native Charlestown, but also among the countless thousands who had filled theatre seats – or who had treaded the boards – as part of the success of ‘The Country Boy’.
St Patrick’s Drama Group has done us a great service in reviving ‘The Country Boy’ and in reminding us of the talent of the late John Murphy.
Castlebar Gardaí: a force to be reckoned with
WARM tributes are being paid to local gardaí in Castlebar this week for their swift response to that vicious assault on a householder on Easter Sunday evening.
Within an hour of the unprovoked, brutal attack, the suspected perpetrator had been apprehended at a Garda checkpoint just outside the town.
The successful outcome is a vindication of the belief that local gardaí, who know the area and who are familiar with the community they serve, are best placed to recognise a situation where the facts don’t seem to add up.
The Castlebar community has been outraged that a popular local man should have been subjected to such an unwarranted assault within the privacy of his own home. It is a sense of outrage only ameliorated by the commendably swift and decisive action of the gardaí involved.
People are often quick to criticise the Gardaí when things go wrong. This time, it’s the other way round.
Gardaí – take a bow!
