Shane MacGowan celebration in North Tipperary village a massive hit

Hundreds flocked to the small countryside village of Kilbarron just outside of Borrisokane on Sunday afternoon for the Shane MacGowan celebration at the Broad Majestic Shannon festival.

Shane MacGowan’s sister Siobhán took to the microphone at 3pm to say a few words about the day and it’s significance to her brother and her family.

“Shane’s pride in this area was immense.
“Our great grandfather John Lynch was founding member and the first chairman of the local Shannon GAA club. You may have seen the special commemorative shirt, it has Shane, the Broad Majestic Shannon and it has our great grandfather on the sleeve.
“I wore this shirt especially for Shane today as I know how proud he’d be of it as this beautiful Lough Derg area of North Tipperary meant so much to him. So much so, that he wrote it a love song, ‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’.
“The Broad Majestic Shannon was also an ode to the Lynch family, our mother’s family whose homestead lay in this parish.
“Our mother and her brother were raised in that Carney home by their own mother and many many aunts and uncles. All great singers, musicians and storytellers, whose magical talent and way of life so inspired and influenced Shane.
“The song ‘Kitty’ that featured on The Pogues first album was sung in that house by our uncle Mikey and no other source for it is know. If Shane had not recorded it, it probably never would have been heard and it belonged to this area.
“The Lynch’s, almost legendary now, were actually legends in their own time. Famed throughout the neighbourhood and beyond for their hospitality and hoolies. With kitchen dancing so wild, that one neighbour Tommy Kane remarked, ‘there’d be sparks flying from the floor!’
“Childhood memories of that house are strong. On our journey there from England, Shane and I would throw off the car blanket in excitement as we reached the long road, dark before dawn, where ahead uncle John waited at the gates. Running into the kitchen, full of our great aunts and uncles risen early to greet us. Fire blazing, table laden with food, all bursting with excitement and chatter at our arrival.
“Here, away from the confines of London, we were free. Here we could roam the fields and let our imaginations run wild. We could play and argue and swing hurlies around with our cousins, neighbours and friends.
“In The Broad Majestic Shannon, Shane writes, I sat for while by the gap in the wall, found a rusty tin can and an old hurly ball, heard the cards being dealt and the rosary called and a fiddle playing Sean Donegal. These are real memories, those rusty tin cans, often bachelor baked beans, mysteriously seemed to populate Irish farmlands during those days, the hurly ball lying discarded after a vicious game. The gap in the old stone wall that lay across the field was real, it was beside this gap and behind those stone walls that Shane and I would duck down every evening when we heard the rosary call.
“We were typical youngsters who would rather stay fooling in the Summer evening rather than kneel for an hour on hard chairs at the kitchen table. As those rosaries led by aunty Nora were very long but we also always raised our heads too early and were always caught.”

‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’ monument was dedicated to the memory of Shane MacGowan, the monument has the lyrics to Shane’s song inscribed on it.

Dancing and music played out the rest of the day following Siobhán’s dedication. Hannigan’s bar, ran by local County Councillor Joe Hannigan was on hand to serve beverages throughout the day with plenty of pints in hands seen throughout the village.

A number of food vendors were also on site serving a delicious selection of treats including burgers, buns, chips and ice cream.

The day was a fantastic success full of fun and laughter, it was a day that would surely make Shane MacGowan proud.