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Frank McGuinness' acceptance
speech
25.05.10
The following are
extracts from the acceptance speech given by Frank
McGuinness at the ceremony to bestow him with the
Freedom of Buncrana:
"There is not a day that goes by when I don't speak
to the shades of my mother and my father...and a
half an hour ago my mother was, of course, saying,
'don't shame us with anything you say' and my father
was behind her saying 'well, I see you put him into
a blue shirt!'. Obviously, they are still arguing in
Paradise. |
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I'm overwhelmed by
this, I really am, so it is quite hard to articulate
what I want to say tonight to you all - my
relations, my family, my friends, schoolfriends, my
neighbours, the children of my neighbours. If I were
to thank everyone who deserve specifically to be
thanked this night, we would be here 'til next
Easter. But I am deeply appreciative of this honour
given to me by Buncrana District Council. I
especially want to give my sincerest thanks to Lee
Tedstone who has done so much to make this night
possible and who has worked so hard to get us all
here and to welcome us. |
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To my family, I tell
them how much I owe their love, their support and
their sustaining kindness through my whole career,
through my whole life. I salute my much-loved
uncles, my much-loved aunts, both living and dead,
for their strength and their courage to rear us, to
educate us and to be the solid ground beneath our
feet. No matter how high we wanted to climb, they
were there, absolutely there - my magnificent
extended family. And, my magnificent cousins, are
the best kith and kin any man could wish for. The
best thing I can say to them and above them, the
truest thing I can say, is that they are worthy of
the men and women, the mothers and fathers, the
parents who reared them.
I would also like to acknowledge my need for and my
sincerest love towards my sister Eilish. The great
blessing, the mighty light of my life is my brother
Shane, his wife, my darling friend Catherine, and my
one-and-only, my most favourite, my beautiful, wise
and wonderful niece Selena. All who know me, will
know how deeply I wish that those shades, I spoke
about earlier, how deeply I would wish that my
parents, Packie and Celine, were here this night.
All they would want is for everybody to have a good
time. Enjoy yourselves. They did. Finally, I know he
would also want me to say, that tonight is special
too, to the beautiful, kind, strong, gentleman who
is my partner of over 30 years, and that is Philip
(Tilling). Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank
you." For more photos
click here . |
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