Belfast award honours Pat McGeown
By Laura Friel
``Anytime you met Pat Beag you invariably came away feeling better
for the experience,'' writes Terry Enright in a tribute to Pat
McGeown.
Belfast Councillor and H Block Hungerstriker, Pat McGeown, who
died suddenly in October 1996, was remembered this week with the
launching of a community endeavour award in his name. West
Belfast MP Gerry Adams officially launched the Pat McGeown
Community Endeavour Award at Belfast's Upper Springfield
Development Trust. Describing Pat McGeown as ``a modest man with a
quiet, but total dedication to equality and raising the standard
of life for all the people of the city,'' Adams said Pat ``would
have been one of the last people to expect an Award to be given
in his name, and yet few others could have deserved the honour
more.''
Geraldine McAteer, Chief Executive, said the Trust organised this
award because we wanted to pay tribute both to Pat, who had been
one of the first people elected onto the Board of our
organisation, and to all the unsung heroes of everyday life who
have made a difference in the Upper Springfield.
Chrissie Cahill, the Trust's development officer, outlined the
criteria for those eligible for the award. ``People of all ages
can nominate the person from, or working in, Upper Springfield,
who they think has made a major contribution to the life of the
area.''
Nominations close on 11 September and the Award will be announced
in October. The Award is a sculpture, commissioned by the Trust
from Dublin artist Joe Moran which expresses the idea of people
breaking free of deprivation and conflict.
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