ON a bright Christmas Eve we gathered in Holy Cross Church, Dunfanaghy for the Requiem Mass and funeral of ‘Wee’ Barney McFadden. Despite our sorrow the sun shone.
Barney had passed away after a short but severe illness, He was only 64.
The world and especially the slopes around Derryreel will be a bleaker place with his passing.
He was a well known character and a natural comedian. Indeed, someone remarked at his funeral that they had never seen so many sad, unsmiling faces in a gathering where Barney was present.
He was also a farmer, shepherd, builder, fencer, bog-man, scheme worker and a great neighbour and friend.
Barney was unconventional and independent, he did not think or behave in the same ways as other people. There was a wildness of spirit to him that marked him out as a true maverick.
Barney was the son of the late Mary and Niall (The Gap) McFadden, Derryreel, a brother of Madge (RIP) and Neilly. However, from childhood he went to live with his maternal grandmother, his aunt and her husband, Hughie (Ned) McGee in their house at the foot of Derryreel Hill – a house known locally as Jimi Pheigi’s.
That is where Barney spent his young days. Growing up in the hill-farming country around Derryreel at the foot of Cnoc Shearlais.
Barney’s life spanned an era of change in rural Ireland that only those who have lived through it could be expected to have the capacity to grasp fully. An example of that would be at Barney’s wake in his own house – stove in kitchen, electric fire in living room and the switch on the wall to turn on the oil for the radiators. The CCTV camera linked up to the TV for watching the sheep lambing in the sheds.
Contrast this to the house he grew up in – the oil and tilly lamps, an open fire for cooking and heating, no running water or no electricity, a pair of wellingtons beside the door and a bicycle lamp on the table for going out at all hours to check the stock.
Yes, Barney was of a generation that experienced a way of life that hadn’t changed in centuries, who then went on to embrace a rapidly changing society in their lifetimes.
Barney had many strings to his bow. Despite his relative isolation growing up, he had, like many teenagers the world over, a huge interest in music.
On the old battery wireless by the light of the tilly lamp he listened to RTÉ and, Radió na Gaeltachta but he also turned the dial to his ‘go to’ source of music, Radio Luxemburg.
Barney developed an encyclopedic knowledge of all types of music and pop culture. However, by his own admission, he was a bit of a rocker. It was from his knowledge the rest of us learned about Eddie and the Hot Rods, who in Barney’s eyes paved the way for punk, Dave Edmunds, Stiff Little Fingers, The Stranglers, The Undertones, The Clash and of course his two favourite bands Thin Lizzy and Status Quo. He got to hear The Sex Pistols sing God Save The Queen before it was banned from the airwaves …though he did agree with wise old neighbour Josie Sheamus that it was a bad name to call a band.
Barney’s other great love as a teenager was football. He played a bit himself – an overlapping full back his preferred role. He had great regard for the great Dutch team of the 70s and their ‘Total Football’ methodology. Same game, he said, just light tears away from the ‘kick and rush’ of Murroe School playground.
It occurred to me writing this article that any event that Barney attended, be it an All-Ireland Final, a dance, concert, fair day or a day in the bog or at the hay – they all became ampi-theatres of entertainment for his own devilment.
But there was a lot more to Barney than just being ‘great craic’. He was a worker, not afraid to embrace modern innovations on the farm, had a hand in building his house and outhouses, kept his land well fenced and in great shape, and found time to help out his neighbours.
My brother Joe, who was keeping sheep but decided he also had to go back tunneling in London and Jersey to put a few pound together, said he would have never managed to keep the sheep on without Barney’s help.
Barney looked after the sheep all the time Joe was away, texting regular updates on their well-being. A true and dependable friend.
Barney, your time is done. Your family, friends, relations and neighbours spoke so well of you, and you will be missed.
I remember once, around 50 years ago now, you were just along the road from the Derryreel Dipper pointing out the spot over Keeldrum, above Taobh na Liathaid, where the sun disappeared on the shortest days, and the spot out above the islands were it went down on the longest days.
May all the days be bright wherever you are.
– An old friend
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