A Big Man Says Goodbye to Ardara
Last Sunday December 4th, the sad news filtered through that Tommy Maloney had passed away. Tommy was from that generation of great Brackey people who made a lasting contribution to community life in Ardara. Tommy was a very creative person willing to have a go at most things and had the knack of being successful. A younger generation may not have appreciated Tommy’s involvement with our community. If you watch that great programme on Johnny Doherty you will see Tommy was a key player there and helped with the filming of the programme. He brought the Ulster Fleadh to Ardara in 1970 which was a great achievement of the time and was instrumental in the success of traditional music in Ardara in that period, the great period of John The Tae and Josie The Post. Tommy will be forever remembered for being one of the longest serving Show Secretaries and carried the shows through many difficult times. In difficult times and even today, Tommy could be an inspiration to any community. In his times amongst other things he was a butcher, a taxi man, a farmer, had a chip van and was a bread man. He never failed to have a go. Of course he did lots of community work, one such thing was he set up a boxing club and many a man especially from Glengesh can thank Tommy for the ability to protect themselves in times of trouble. Tommy spent some time in England where he met his wife Eileen who preceded Tommy in February 2001. Goodbye to a great Ardara man and more importantly a great Brackey man.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
