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Details
Ref: Brother Walfrid Statue
Location: Front of Celtic Park
Date of unveiling: 5 November 2005
(news story from Nov 5th 2005 on unveiling of the statue)
A STATUE of Brother Walfrid, the main founder of Celtic Football Club, solely financed by Celtic supporters, will be unveiled outside the glass fronted entrance to Celtic Park on Saturday 5th November 2005 at 2pm. Pre-unveiling proceedings opening the event begin at 1pm.
Joining several thousand Celtic supporters at the ceremony will be past and present Celtic players, officials and custodians, as well as Church, political, sporting and community representatives from all over Scotland and beyond, reflecting the essential nature, distinctiveness as well as openness and symbolism of the Club.
The ceremony will be distinguished by music composed for the event by Scotland’s foremost composer, James MacMillan. Entitled ‘Walfrid, on His Arrival at the Gates of Paradise’, it will be performed by the musicians of the ‘Coatbridge St Patrick’s Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann’, an Irish cultural body in Scotland.
Background to Ceremony
A statue of Brother Walfrid, created by sculptor Kate Robinson and solely financed by Celtic supporters, was unveiled outside the glass fronted entrance to Celtic Park on Saturday 5th November at 2pm. Pre unveiling proceedings introducing the event began at 1pm.
To this end, for the past three years money raising ventures had been taking place amongst Celtic supporters and for eighteen months the planning committee organised the construction and erection of the statue as well as the unveiling ceremony itself.
This venture resulted from the wishes of many supporters to honour the man, who along with his compatriots in 1887/88, gave birth to the institution that has become a community symbol. Tens of thousands of pounds have been raised over the past three years by fans, including by Celtic supporters associations in North America, Ireland, England and Scotland.
Andrew Kerins, the Catholic Marist Brother Walfrid from County Sligo Ireland, is the critical figure in the history of the Club. The legacy of Walfrid and his fellow founders of Celtic has meant that Irish immigrants and their offspring, Scotland’s largest immigrant community, as well as many others from a variety of backgrounds and identities, have shared in this cultural institution, been recipients of Celtic inspired charity and enjoyed and celebrated the distinctiveness and success that Celtic has brought to their lives.
Joining several thousand Celtic supporters at the ceremony were past and present Celtic players, officials and custodians, as well as Church, political, sporting and community representatives from all over Scotland and beyond, reflecting the essential nature, distinctiveness as well as openness and symbolism of the Club.
The statue was unveiled by several well known figures including Celtic Chairman Brian Quinn, who was taught by Marist Brothers in Glasgow and whose family roots are in Sligo, former Celtic player Sligo born Sean Fallon, as well as a grand niece and grand nephew of Brother Walfrid and two refugees from the contemporary refugee community in Glasgow. A number of children were also involved in the unveiling of the statue.
The ceremony began at 2pm on Saturday November 5th. Celtic and the Brother Walfrid Committee invited all Celtic supporters to attend this momentous day. Several thousand people attended.
The Veil Project received a Sense Over Sectarianism Award in 2006.
Brother Walfrid
Bronze, granite, gold leaf.
3m 20cm x 2m 60 cm x 2m 60 cm
Celtic Park Football Club, Glasgow
2005 (Sculpturer: Kate Robinson Link, Link 2)
Plaque on base of sculpture titled, “Ignoti et quasi occulti in hoc mundo” (‘Unknown and hidden in the world’ – Marist Brother motto)
‘It’s not his creed nor nationality that counts, it’s the man himself’ Willie Maley
“You’ll never walk alone.”
A four page order of ceremony was produced for the occasion. The one pictured below was signed by Sean Fallon who was attending the event and was also the Patron of the Brother Walfrid Memorial Fund Committee.
Some fans have been said to leave pennies on the Walfrid statue in commemoration of the Penny Dinner Tables the club was set up to fund, which Walfrid organised in Bridgeton and elsewhere in the East End.
