Thomas 'Keeler' McCullough

Thomas McCullough

By FMK - On Wednesday 22 October, a huge crowd gathered at St Luke's Chapel, Twinbrook, Belfast, to pay their respects to one of the area's most influential and enduring republicans. Three days earlier, and just one week off his 80th birthday, Thomas 'Keeler' McCullough had passed away after a courageous fight against cancer.

Keeler was born in 1923 in Seaford Street in the Catholic enclave of the Short Strand in predominantly loyalist East Belfast. It was a sign of the times, "the Pogroms" that the McCullough family were forced to move several times, including a spell in the Falls area, before resettling back at Seaford Street in the 1930s. Growing up at this highly volatile interface, (the Short Strand was, and indeed remains, under perpetual siege), instilled in many of the area's young men and women a stubborn determination and sense of rebellion that was to stay with them all their lives. Among Keeler's early friends were Jackie Stratton, Francie Martin, Lily Martin and Dickie Glenholmes.

In the 1940s, with Britain at war, the IRA decided to exploit the old maxim, "England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity", and the Belfast Brigade was mobilised. While this era is perhaps most poignantly lamented in republican circles with the hanging of 19-year-old Tom Williams, there were countless others who also suffered under the uncompromising Stormont regime. The McCullough family were no exception, Keeler's two brothers, Philip and Terence, were interned without trial.

In the late 1940s, Keeler met and married a local girl, Kathleen Murtagh, from Chemical Street. This union was to produce ten children: Anne, Josephine, Katherine, Pat, Thomas, Agnes, Geraldine, Briege, Philip and Peter. The family set up home in Thompson Street, also in the Short Strand, and remained there until 1972, when they moved to the then new estate of Twinbrook on the edge of West Belfast.

Twinbrook in those days was a mishmash of families and individuals who had moved to the area as a result of either sectarian intimidation in their previous neighbourhoods or because of slum clearance in the city's older districts. As well as being a refuge for the dispossessed, Twinbrook also housed an eclectic mix of political ideologies and allegiances. The Republican Clubs (later the Workers' Party) were keen to assert their authority upon the fledgling estate. Their methods were often heavy handed, intimidatory and violent. Keeler McCullough's answer to this was to set up Twinbrook's first Sinn Féin cumann.

The Eddie McDonald Sinn Féin Cumann was founded in 1973. It was named, on Keeler's insistence, in honour of his friend, Hector McDonald's son, Eddie, an IRA Volunteer who died in the tragic Anderson's Street explosion on 28 May 1972 (Three months earlier, Thomas had lost his nephew, Volunteer Gerard Steele, in another tragic explosion).

At the helm of the cumann, Keeler found himself in the role of political mentor to many of the area's young republicans. Among them were young men and women who were later to go to jail as POWs. They included Jimmy Rafferty, Jim Gibney, Phelim Hamill, Jennifer McCann and Bobby Sands.

In 1982, Thomas lost his wife Kathleen, herself a staunch supporter of the cause and the backbone of the McCullough family unit, at the early age of just 59. Although by now Keeler was very much a part of the Twinbrook republican scene, he still felt a great affinity with his native Short Strand. If asked where he was from, Keeler wouldn't say Juniper Park, Twinbrook. He would inevitably say Seaford Street. This sense of loyalty to the Strand was also reflected in the fact that many POWs from the area regularly received correspondence, from the reluctant Twinbrook address. Men such as John Boy McCombe, Philip Rooney and Eugene Gilmartin received reams of paper over the years.

During the cessation years, Keeler remained an ardent advocate of the Sinn Féin leadership's strategy. While serving time in English jails, former POW Pat Martin recalls that the letters from Keeler were "always uplifting and re-assuring, consistently exploring ways of lifting the struggle to a higher level".

Thomas McCullough's enduring contribution to the republican cause was officially recognised three years ago when he received a special award at the annual Bobby Sands Commemoration night. Although lately in ill health, he still managed to attend all major republican events until shortly before his death. In the years to come, he shall be sorely missed but inspiringly and fondly remembered.

To Thomas 'Keeler' McCullough's large family circle and countless friends, sympathy is extended and pride shared.

I measc laochra na nGael a raibh sé.