I had only written fairly recently about the centenary of the death
of Sophia Morrison and the centenary commemorative events surrounding that event in January of this year.
Pivotal to the success of those commemorations was Roy Kennaugh who himself died this week. Roy was an extremely popular figure in the whole of the National movement a feat achieved via the tremendous commitment he gave to several organisations including the Celtic League, Celtic Congress and indeed Mec Vannin.
As Secretary of the League he organised our extremely successful AGM this year which brought together delegates from the six Celtic countries.
Roy’s great strength in terms of the National organisations was however in his believe in consensus and at a time when there is a natural predilection for cultural and political groups to ‘plough a separate course’ he believed that the strength of our National organisation was ‘the sum of all its parts’ and he fostered cooperation.
Roy eschewed the confrontational and to those advancing reservations about cooperative ventures he advanced he would invariably say in a winning way ‘We may as well give it a try’.
I mentioned his role in the Morrison Commemorations at the beginning of this item and indeed he was still working on the conclusion of those projects at the time of his death – he is a great loss to many of our organisations.
We extend our condolences to Roy’s family at this difficult time. Bereavement at any time of year involves tragic personal loss but at this time of year it is especially poignant.
Image: Roy (blue sweater) at an event staged by Michael Heritage Trust in 2014. As well as National organisations Roy was active in many community groups.
Bernard Moffatt
pp Celtic League
29/12/17
