Legacy of Miami Showband ‘is more than music, it is bringing people together'
Two of the loyalist terrorists from the Ulster Volunteer Force were also killed in the incident, when a bomb they placed on the bus exploded prematurely.
Survivors Des Lee and Stephen Travers were among those who gathered at the roadside where the atrocity happened on Thursday to remember their bandmates.
It was the first of a series of events, including in Newry and Dublin, being held on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary.
Mr Travers said 50 years of tears have dried up and they want to tell the whole world of the legacy of the Miami Showband.
'It's far more than a band at this stage because bands come and go, and music comes and goes, and styles change, and if you were to ask anybody under 50 years of age to name all of the members of the Rolling Stones, I'm sure they'd have a problem,' he said.
'These things come and go, but the legacy of the Miami Showband is one that I am enormously proud of, and it is simply this: when people came to see us, whether they were Catholic, Protestant, Unionist, Nationalist, they left sectarianism outside the door of the dance hall and they saw each other as human beings, and they danced with each other, and sometimes they even fell in love.'
Father Brian D'Arcy opened the commemoration at the site on the Buskhill Road, hailing the survivors as 'proving that music and goodness survives'.
'That's what we're celebrating today, the survival of good, music and peace, and joy and bravery,' he said, adding a prayer for peaceful rest to all who died at the spot.
All those gathered said the Lord's Prayer together, before the hymn Abide With Me was played.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill did not attend the event, but in a message said she could not be there but described a 'deeply traumatic event for everyone, and remains a painful reminder of our troubled past'.
'I commend you all for your commitment to remembering your friends by celebrating their lives and the joy of music they brought to so many in their tragically short lives, I truly hope that while never forgetting the pain of the past we continue to move forward as a society towards a peaceful, inclusive and better future for all of our people,' she said.
In a post on the social media platform X, Secretary of State Hilary Benn wrote: 'Today, our thoughts are with the families of the victims, and the survivors, of the abhorrent Miami Showband Massacre 50 years ago.
'Let us remain determined to help build a better and more peaceful shared future for all the people of Northern Ireland.'
William Frank Godfrey, a DJ who used to present the Miami Showband on stage, was among those gathered for the roadside commemoration.
'I used to play before them, and I'll never forget Fran O'Toole, his main song was 'clap your hands, stamp your feet', and he had the fans eating out of his hands,' he said.
'We're still grieving and we still miss the band, they were very, very popular, not only in Ireland but in many other countries as well.
'I lift my hat to them today in memory of the three lads and the survivors. We miss the music and thank them for the music. We will always have great memories of happy times.'
Earlier, Mr Lee said he remembers 'every single thing in the finest detail' from the atrocity in 1975.
'It was the most horrendous scene I have ever seen in my life, when I got up off the grass and I had to make a run up that embankment to get help.
'When I got onto the main road, it was the worst sight anyone could ever imagine,' he told the BBC Radio Ulster.
'They were my brothers, you know, three of my brothers.'
While there has been criticism of a loyalist band parade planned to take place in Portadown on Saturday to remember one of the attackers, Mr Lee said he has 'no problem with that whatsoever'.
'They are entitled to commemorate their dead as much as we are entitled to commemorate ours,' he said.
He was, however, critical of the UK Government over its handling of the past, saying he feels they are doing a 'dreadful job'.
'They're trying to push all the families under the carpet and hope that it all goes away, and as long as I'm alive, I will fight for Fran, Brian and Tony,' he said.
Mr Lee said he expected the anniversary will be an 'extremely difficult day'.
'My whole philosophy in life now is forgive and forget and move on,' he said.
'I don't hold any grudge. What happened to my friends was appalling but I don't want to live for the rest of my life living in the past.
'But there's one thing we must never forget: Fran O'Toole, Brian McCoy and Tony Geraghty.'
He described their only weapons as having been instruments to entertain audiences 'during that awful time' in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.
'Fran had a microphone, Brian had a trumpet, and Tony had a guitar. That was the weapons that they had during that awful time in Northern Ireland, bringing two hours of peace and joy and happiness and dance and love and kindness and everything that went with it,' he said.
'That was our job to entertain those people for two hours, no matter what religion, no matter what creed.
'We were a band that were mixed, and we had never any problems regarding religion or anything. Our job was to entertain people, and that's what we did.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Belfast Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Belfast priest who married Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley ‘surprised and saddened' by break-up
The Catholic priest who married TV presenters Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley in Italy 13 years ago has told of his sadness at their split.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Pope Leo XIV gets rock star welcome from young Catholics at huge vigil
Hundreds of thousands of young faithful feted Pope Leo XIV like a rock star on Saturday at an open-air prayer vigil outside Rome, after the head of the Catholic church made a dramatic entrance by helicopter. Pilgrims began crying and cheering when the white military helicopter descended over the sprawling site in Rome's eastern outskirts. Organisers said more than 800,000 young pilgrims from 146 countries around the world had assembled as part of a Jubilee of Youth – and perhaps as many as 1 million. Smiling from his popemobile, the first US pope waved to throngs of screaming young people lining his route, many running for a better vantage point. They had already spent the day in the hot sun listening to music, praying and talking with fellow Catholics. 'The pope is here' announced an excited voice over the public address to thunderous applause from the crowd. But the tenor of the event became more solemn and contemplative as the pope took to the stage, carrying a large wood cross. 'Dear young people, after walking, praying and sharing these days of grace of the Jubilee dedicated to you, we now gather together in the light of the advancing evening to keep vigil together,' Leo, 69, told them. In the crowd was French pilgrim Julie Mortier, 18, whose voice was hoarse from singing and screaming for hours. 'We're too happy to be here. Seeing the pope, that's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' she said. Event organisers said people had continued to arrive during the vigil and that it was possible that attendance numbers had reached 1 million. Most pilgrims said they would camp overnight for a Sunday morning mass at the site led by Leo. That will mark the culmination of the week-long youth pilgrimage, a key event in the Catholic church's Jubilee holy year. Some in the crowd were so far away they could not see the massive stage with a golden arch and towering cross that dominated the open area – which at more than 500,000 sq m was the size of about 70 football fields. 'I'm so happy to be here, even if I'm a bit far from the pope. I knew what to expect,' British student Andy Hewellyn said. 'The main thing is that we're all together,' he said ahead of the pope's appearance, as other young people nearby played guitars, sang or snoozed in the sun. Italian broadcaster Rai called the event a Catholic 'Woodstock', as throughout the day nearly two dozen musical and dance groups, many of them religious, entertained the crowds. In a video message, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed pilgrims to the capital, who were 'praying, singing, joking among themselves, celebrating in an extraordinary party'. The Jubilee of Youth, which began on Monday, comes nearly three months after the start of Leo's papacy, and 25 years after the last such massive youth gathering in Rome under Poland's pope John Paul II. Early on Saturday, groups of young people set off from central Rome for the venue in Tor Vergata. They were ready to spend the next 24 hours surrounded by a crowd of people and sleep under the stars. Victoria Perez, who carried a Spanish flag, could not contain her excitement at seeing 'the pope up close'. 'It's the first time I'm going to see him, and I can't wait,' the 21-year-old said, looking forward to a 'night of prayers under the stars'. French pilgrim Quentin Remaury, 26, said he had been inspired by the late pope Francis's rousing message to youth during a 2016 visit to Krakow, Poland. 'Pope Francis told us to 'get off your couches', and that really gave me a boost,' he said. Throughout the week, attenders participated in church-planned events, such as confession at Circus Maximus, one of Rome's top tourist spots. On Friday, about 1,000 priests were on hand, with 200 white gazebos serving as makeshift confessionals lining the hippodrome where chariot races were once held in Ancient Rome. The pilgrimage unfolds as under-30s navigate economic uncertainty, the climate crisis and international conflict, with some pilgrims travelling from war-torn areas such as Syria and Ukraine. Samarei Semos, 29, who said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome, said she hoped Leo would have a strong say about 'third world countries'. The Vatican said that before the vigil the pope had met and prayed with travellers accompanying an 18-year-old Egyptian pilgrim who died on Friday night. Rai News reported that the young woman had died of a heart attack on a bus while returning to her lodging from an event in Rome. Amid tight security, more than 4,300 volunteers and more than 1,000 police were watching over the vigil, organisers said.
ITV News
4 days ago
- ITV News
Legacy of Miami Showband ‘is more than music, it is bringing people together'
The legacy of the Miami Showband is about more than just music, it is bringing people together, a survivor of the loyalist ambush which targeted its members has Fran O'Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy were shot dead on a roadside close to Newry on July 31 1975 after having been pulled over at a bogus security forces of the loyalist terrorists from the Ulster Volunteer Force were also killed in the incident, when a bomb they placed on the bus exploded prematurely. Survivors Des Lee and Stephen Travers were among those who gathered at the roadside where the atrocity happened on Thursday to remember their bandmates. It was the first of a series of events, including in Newry and Dublin, being held on Thursday to mark the 50th Travers said 50 years of tears have dried up and they want to tell the whole world of the legacy of the Miami Showband.'It's far more than a band at this stage because bands come and go, and music comes and goes, and styles change, and if you were to ask anybody under 50 years of age to name all of the members of the Rolling Stones, I'm sure they'd have a problem,' he said.'These things come and go, but the legacy of the Miami Showband is one that I am enormously proud of, and it is simply this: when people came to see us, whether they were Catholic, Protestant, Unionist, Nationalist, they left sectarianism outside the door of the dance hall and they saw each other as human beings, and they danced with each other, and sometimes they even fell in love.' Father Brian D'Arcy opened the commemoration at the site on the Buskhill Road, hailing the survivors as 'proving that music and goodness survives'.'That's what we're celebrating today, the survival of good, music and peace, and joy and bravery,' he said, adding a prayer for peaceful rest to all who died at the those gathered said the Lord's Prayer together, before the hymn Abide With Me was Minister Michelle O'Neill did not attend the event, but in a message said she could not be there but described a 'deeply traumatic event for everyone, and remains a painful reminder of our troubled past'.'I commend you all for your commitment to remembering your friends by celebrating their lives and the joy of music they brought to so many in their tragically short lives, I truly hope that while never forgetting the pain of the past we continue to move forward as a society towards a peaceful, inclusive and better future for all of our people,' she Mr Lee said he remembers 'every single thing in the finest detail' from the atrocity in 1975.'It was the most horrendous scene I have ever seen in my life, when I got up off the grass and I had to make a run up that embankment to get help.'When I got onto the main road, it was the worst sight anyone could ever imagine,' he told the BBC Radio Ulster.'They were my brothers, you know, three of my brothers.'While there has been criticism of a loyalist band parade planned to take place in Portadown on Saturday to remember one of the attackers, Mr Lee said he has 'no problem with that whatsoever'.'They are entitled to commemorate their dead as much as we are entitled to commemorate ours,' he was, however, critical of the UK Government over its handling of the past, saying he feels they are doing a 'dreadful job'.'They're trying to push all the families under the carpet and hope that it all goes away, and as long as I'm alive, I will fight for Fran, Brian and Tony,' he Lee said he expected the anniversary will be an 'extremely difficult day'.'My whole philosophy in life now is forgive and forget and move on,' he said.'I don't hold any grudge. What happened to my friends was appalling but I don't want to live for the rest of my life living in the past.'But there's one thing we must never forget: Fran O'Toole, Brian McCoy and Tony Geraghty.'He described their only weapons as having been instruments to entertain audiences 'during that awful time' in Northern Ireland in the 1970s.'Fran had a microphone, Brian had a trumpet, and Tony had a guitar. That was the weapons that they had during that awful time in Northern Ireland, bringing two hours of peace and joy and happiness and dance and love and kindness and everything that went with it,' he said.'That was our job to entertain those people for two hours, no matter what religion, no matter what creed.'We were a band that were mixed, and we had never any problems regarding religion or anything. Our job was to entertain people, and that's what we did.' Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.
