Charlie McDaid Memorial Shield presented to Derry Feis

Feis Dhoire Cholmcille has been gifted a wonderful new shield in memory of Charlie McDaid, a Feis stalwart who sadly passed away in October 2021.

Charlie’s wife, Celine, and his daughter, Joanne, presented the shield to the Feis Committee in the Millennium Forum on Saturday.

Speaking to Derry News, Celine said the Charlie McDaid Memorial Shield would be awarded for storytelling and would be accompanied by a bursary. 

Joanne Ghosh (right) presenting the Charlie McDaid Memorial Shield to Betty Gallagher, Speech and Drama Secretary of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille.

Thanking Celine and Joanne for the McDaid family’s generosity, Betty Gallagher, the Speech and Drama Secretary of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille, described Charlie as a “true gentleman”.

Writing in Leabhar na Feise 2022, Betty paid tribute to Charlie saying: “Charlie always made time to talk and listen to everyone. He was a giant of a man who had a gift of the gab and was a fantastic story teller. 

“He had a wicked sense of humour and a smile as wide as the Foyle Bridge.

“Charlie’s family took part in the Feis and when their competing days were over he returned to Feis Dhoire Cholmcille as a stage steward. There wasn’t anything that Charlie couldn’t handle. His booming voice and ready wit made him popular with the committee, parents and the competitors.

Charlie will be missed this year and the committee of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille wish to extend their condolences to the McDaid family. May he rest in peace.”

Fondly recalling her husband, Celine said Charlie’s background had been in nursing but he had loved to entertain people. 

“His whole life, from when he was 18 until  he took early retirement at 55, was devoted to nursing. He trained in London and he subsequently worked in Gransha and Stradreagh, in mental health and learning disability. In Charlie’s day it was called Special Care then they changed the title to Learning Disability, in the 70s and 80s,” said Celine.

“Charlie was interested in storytelling and he loved doing monologues. He would have told yarns, jokes and had the craic. 

“He had a long history of being MC in the Father Daly concerts in St Columb’s Hall back in the days of Frank Carson. He would also have compèred concerts around the country at that time. He would also have been asked to be the after dinner speaker for some of the sports’ clubs.

“If you were talking to Pat Henderson and her family, they would say Charlie did so much to help Pat with her action songs. He would have got a lend of the old screens they had in hospitals, for dividing up the stage and providing background. 

“More recently In the Feis, Charlie was Stage Steward,” said Celine.

Charlie also actively encouraged his children to take part in Feis Dhoire Cholmcille.

“So the three of them, Tessa, Joanne and Cahir, all competed,” smiled Celine.

Laughing, Joanne said: “We did anything and everything in the Feis. We did Irish dancing, singing, speech and drama and instrumental. The whole family was at the Feis for the week.

“We would have had a big timetable on the wall showing who needed to be in which building at what time. In the days before mobile phones it was a real logistical feat, moving around between venues, getting to the different competitions, and, maybe, having two competitions and the same time in two different places.

“I remember the team dances especially because you had to be there for the team, no question. With something like singing you could sing out of order or you could ask to go first because you needed to be at a different competition or you could go on last,” said Joanne.

Celine, who also nursed in Gransha, said she was very touched to read Charlie’s ‘Remembering Friends of the Feis’ tribute in Leabhar Feis 2022.

“I was very appreciative of the tribute they wrote in this year’s Feis book. We did not know about it.

“I came to the Feis with Cahir and Jemma and their girls this Easter. I was standing outside waiting to get in, I opened the Feis book and who was looking back at me, but Charlie. 

“Charlie enjoyed life and loved people. He never passed anyone. He talked to everyone.”

Joanne said: “We used to joke that my daddy knew half of Derry and the other half knew him.

“He was really good craic and very mischievous. The story about him getting through the  army checkpoint on Craigavon Bridge in the 1980s has gone down in family lore.

“I was two years old and he needed to drop me to the childminder before he started his shift in Stradreagh. We were over the town and needed to get to Altnagelvin, so daddy drove up the outside of the checkpoint, right up to the soldiers. They were all, ‘Who’s this jumping the line?’ 

“Well, daddy said, ‘This child in the back is up for adoption in Belfast and I need to have her on the 2 o’clock train’. They just waved him through,” said Joanne wistfully. 

Celine added that if Charlie had won the lotto, he would have wanted to build a centre for people for whom alcohol was a problem in Derry. “That was the mark of the man.”