That Liverpool conference

I recalled recently after hearing of the death of Brian Stowell my attendance with him at the Connolly Association (CA) conference in Liverpool in 1985 on the Irish sea its militarisation and pollution for which I was a speaker. Brian was a member of the Connolly Association and had high regard for its General Secretary Desmond Greaves - although having said that everyone had high regard for Desmond who was an infectiously charming ‘radical’.

I hadn’t realised at the time I recalled these events that in fact Brian was a sponsor of the conference (another reason my 'speaking ticket' must have been secured) but I discovered this when I came across the pamphlet produced by the CA after the conference.

Time dulls the memory and perusing the book I see it was a rather grand affair given its modest venue (the Shaftesbury Hotel of ‘Letter to Brezhnev’ fame).

In addition to myself the speakers included Greenpeace, Scientists against nuclear arms, Irish CND, Merseyside Action for Peace and the Connolly Association itself.

The Sponsors including Brian included a number of MPs and Councillors including Eric Heffer and Bob Parry from Labour and Dafydd Wigley from Plaid Cymru. The meeting was chaired by the Secretary of Liverpool Trades Council. Liverpool of course in the 1980s was a febrile area for both Republican and Socialism and many of the names like Parry and Heffer were household names.

Another item of memorabilia (I’m having a right ‘all our yesterdays’) is the video of the participation of Mec Vannin (a colour party) at the 1966 Easter commemoration in Dublin I recently obtained a copy of. I recall Brian saying that he had attended the event as well on behalf of the Celtic League but although I scanned the brief video sadly he was not on the segment filmed.

Brian Stowell of course these days is synonymous with the Manx cultural revival and no more so than in the fortunes of the language. However he was a very complex and committed individual in terms of both inter-celtic politics and republican socialism belonging not just to the CA but also the Celtic League and Mec Vannin.

I mentioned the other day about the vast number of articles that Brian had written in Manx for virtually every issue of Carn until he was taken ill. Phil Kelly has collated a great number of these and I hope that work at some time in the future can be finalised. It is probably the greatest collection of comment in Manx on contemporary affairs spanning four decades

Details of his funeral which will be a celebration of his life can be found at this link:

https://www.manxradio.com/…/funeral-of-dr-brian-stowell-an…/

Image: The Connolly Association Liverpool Conference pamphlet

Bernard Moffatt

Celtic League