 This chain of dots started with early morning radio – pirate style. The late -seventies and early-eighties were my teenage years and also the age of Pirate-Radio – my preference was Southcoast Radio, which broadcast from over Henchy’s Pub in St. Luke’s Cross. One of the DJ’s introduced me to a band called Five Hand Reel, which included Dick Gaughan. The DJ must have had at least three of their albums – as I had and, upto yesterday, thought I still had on vinyl, but they are not where they should be. Hence, why the photograph is of a cd cover which will never be the same as an album sleeve. One of the songs to which I was introduced was ‘The Man From God Knows Where’. [DOT 1] A few years back, I looked for it on YouTube when creating a playlist but the Five Hand Reel version was not available so I added Phil Coulter and Tommy Makem. [DOT 2] I did some web searching about Tom Russell and noted that he was a friend of Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet; he was one of the founders of the United Irishmen;and, in 1803, he was hanged in Downpatrick. That information was floating around the deep recesses with much other trivia. [DOT 3] On Sunday, I took a different and new route home from Mallow. It was through Dromahane which provided the fourth dot on this little distraction. The monument is as one enters the village from Mallow. 212 years ago – but his actions are still recorded. |    |
