New book shares the stories of local Tunnel Tigers

BRENDAN Kennedy probably wasn’t the only teenager who crossed from Dungloe to work in the Scottish Highlands in 1952, growing a beard while sleeping in a field for a couple of weeks to help him look eighteen.

Working at hardrock drilling and on the trimming gantries in DalcroyPitlochry, and Glascarnoch further north, was difficult and dangerous.

However, the intense camaraderie, among men like the Campbells from Meenbanad, who were pioneering engineering solutions honed in Africa and South America, was exhilarating.

The legendary Andy Campbell was Brendan’s gaffer, whose son, four brothers and nephew also worked in Glascarnoch.

In the early hours of April 23, 1953, the hut where Brendan was sleeping became engulfed in fire. 38-year-old Patrick Campbell and 23-year-old James Bonnar, Andy’s brother and nephew, lost their lives along with Scottish man, Hughie Gibson.

The tragedy had a life-altering effect on survivors of the fire, including Brendan, who soon left for Birmingham’s buses.

Brendan hails from the Kerry Gaeltacht, where he grew up in a large and busy household on a small farm of sheep, cattle, hens, turkeys, greyhounds, cattle, bulls, fishing and rabbits. The Missions, Stations, Wrenboys, trips to Dingle, but best of all, Bothántaíocht (house to house visiting with music and dancing) were high points.

But Brendan and his siblings had another unique resource: their grandaunt Peig Sayers lived three miles away in Dunquin. She loved children and always welcomed them with her stories and banter- Brendan paints a woman very different to the impression gained by generations reared on her book!

Ní raibh aon suim ag Breandán sna leabhair, ar aghaidh leis go dtí an Clochán Liath, an áit ina raibh a dheartháir Pádraig ina Gharda: ní raibh aon Béarla aige, is ní raibh taithí aige ar Ghaeilge Dún na nGall. D’oibrigh sé sa tsiopa mhuilinn ag Johnny Edward Boyle, agus ist oíche bhí sé ag tiomáint taxi mór Meiriceánach do Patrick Johnny Sally. Ba bhreá an saol a bhí aige, thaitin Dún na nGall go mór leis, go dtí gur chuir na Gardaí stop leis: bhí sé ró óg chun bheith ag tiomáint! D’imigh sé go dtí an Alban, maraon leis na mílte eile, ó Dhún na nGall. Tá cuimhneachán álainn lasmuigh de Séipéal Naomh Chróna sa Chlochán Liath, ag céiliúradh saolta Tíogair na dTollán cróga.

(Brendan had no interest in school, off he went to Dungloe, where his brother Pádraig was a Garda: he had no English, and he was not used to Donegal Irish. He worked in Johnny Edward Boyle’s mill shop, and at night he drove a big American taxi for Patrick Johnny Sally. He had a great life, he loved Donegal, until the Gardaí stopped him, underage driving! He joined thousands of others, leaving Donegal for Scotland. There is a beautiful memorial in the churchyard of St Crona’s in Dungloe, celebrating the brave Tunnel Tigers.)

Playing Gaelic football and winning numerous medals for Kerry, and later Warwickshire, soccer for Aston Villa, the highs and lows of being Irish in Birmingham over the decades, his eventful career in construction, and many escapades, are told by Brendan: indeed every detail remains crystal clear as he recounts his memoir in We’ve Come a Long Way, by Máire Milner and Ann Smyth.

Brendan’s wife Mary is also featured: hailing from Nenagh, she had a childhood blighted by poverty, as her father had been shot in crossfire in the Civil War. She details her brief schooling with its cruel class system and a Church which disadvantaged women, causing her mother to almost lose her life.

Mary was sent to live with extended family repeatedly, affecting her deeply but toughening her too.

Her first act on reaching Birmingham was to bring her parents and seven siblings over, finding them all houses and jobs. Mary worked all of her life, in the Jewelry Quarter, different factories as well as ‘on the buses’, and after retirement she continued to volunteer in the local Credit Union.

The couple met in Birmingham’s ‘church clubs’, dancing to Irish Showbands, and never lost touch with Kerry and Nenagh. They paid annual visits to Ireland and Dungloe, and remaining family including Peig Sayers, until her death in 1958.

Today they are both in their 91st year, happy in their Castle Vale home: the Kennedys tell their stories in their own words, with dignity, courage and resilience.

The authors were able to verify Brendan’s Tunnel Tiger experience by making contact with Andy Campbell’s son Michael, alive and well in New Jersey, who also escaped the inferno.

We’ve Come a Long Way is published and printed in Ireland, and stocked in Letterkenny’s two Bookmark shops, Little Acorns in Derry, and in the Cope shops across the Rosses. Priced at €15, all proceeds after costs are divided between the Irish Cancer Society and the Birmingham Irish Association. It is the authors’ first book.