Dublin - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

Benefit night to fund an Irish International Brigade monument in Madrid

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice

Thursday January 14, 2010 16:25

by anarchaeologist - Friends of Charlie Donnelly

eddietyrone at gmail dot com

087 2712864

Music, drink and auld chat at the Teachers' Club

This year the annual commemoration at Jarama will also see the completion of a project initiated in 2007 by the Friends of Charlie Donnelly with the help of AABI. The intention has been to pay tribute to this young Irish poet who died on 27 February 1937 in the last action of the Battle of the Jarama.

We're holding a fund-raiser to help pay for the transportation of the stone from Tyrone to Madrid and all are welcome.

The idea to erect two monuments to Charlie, one in his Dungannon birthplace and the other close to where he died at Jarama, was arrived at by the Friends of Charlie Donnelly, who erected a temporary memorial at the site in 2008. The city council of Rivas-Vaciamadrid has now provided a site and has collaborated in making the whole thing happen.

The stone itself has been taken from a quarry in Tyrone and will form the centrepiece of the monument, located on the southeastern outskirts of Madrid, close to where the battle took place. The inauguration of the Memorial will take place on Saturday 27 February at 11:00 in the Park of Miralrío de Rivas-Vaciamadrid.

Sponsor the stone!
The monument will consist of a large engraved stone taken from near Charlie’s
birthplace in County Tyrone. It will be set in a cairn of stones, 32 of which will be brought from Ireland and the rest from the Jarama battlefield. The monument will not only commemorate Charlie Donnelly but all the Irish Brigade volunteers who died as well as paying tribute to all those killed in Spain in defence of freedom.

The Friends of Charlie Donnelly hope to finance the stone's engraving and its transport to Madrid by asking people to ‘sponsor a stone’. We will be truly grateful for any support that can be offered.

If you would like to help or ‘sponsor a stone’ please contact Eddie O’Neill on 087 2712864 or by email eddietyrone@gmail.com