John Condron (Auldbhoy of the KDS)
Born: 2 Aug 1955
Died: 11 Dec 2010
| “I have never met a famous Celtic player, I am just a quiet living family man who loves my family and The Celtic”** John Condron **Later on John did in fact get to meet Bertie Auld and Willie O’Neill. |
Auldbhoy was a senior administrator on this website, and was a bulwark in its formation. Without him, this site would be a pale imitation of what it has become.
A popular figure on the kerrydalestreet.co.uk forum (a sister site to this one), Auldbhoy was regularly involved in many discussions, everyone finding him to be a jolly person to converse with.
He is best known on the forum for collating each week the data from the “Man of the Match” threads which is a labourious task, and the data is then collated to tally up the points for the “Man of the Match” and the subsequent “Player of the Month/Year” awards. The results are always very interesting and we all have much thanks to give Auldbhoy to this thankless task (see link). As a mark of his dedication, at the end of the season he even used to provide individual tallies for each person to see how they voted!
In 2009, Auldbhoy was diagnosed with cancer. It is a tough blow for any man but John never wavered and always kept a bullish attitude. Through this site and the kerrydalestreet forum he and his son (also né John) kept us all informed on his progress during what was to become his final year. The level of empathy from all the Celtic support was incredible, and Auldbhoy became an inspiration for many.
Sadly on Saturday 11 December 2010, Auldbhoy passed away.
We on this site had the privilege to work alongside him for all these years, and his death has made us all numb.
We will sorely miss his presence on this site.
Our condolences to his family, Auldbhoy will never walk alone.
Biog
On Saturday 11th December 2010, our online community of Celtic supporters was left greatly saddened by the news that one of our friends had passed away, after his open battle with cancer.
John Condron (known to us by his pseudonym of ‘Auldbhoy’ on both TheCelticWiki*, and KerrydaleStreet** websites) was a man who’s presence helped to make our community of Celtic fans what it is. He was a cornerstone of the online Celtic community as a whole. His gentle, and friendly character made an impression on all who crossed his path, and his loss invoked an outpouring of heartfelt emotion from the online Celtic community to an extent rarely seen.
Despite his battle with illness being bravely publicised, and shared on the pages of the KerrydaleStreet forum; the news of his loss was something for which we were all ill-prepared to receive.
Each of us who would converse with him regularly, or follow his news on the website; had fended off any and all thoughts of inevitability: and for good reason. John’s spirit, his courage, and his good humour kept us all from ever giving up. His attitude throughout his fight was, in short, an inspiration.
On the KerrydaleStreet forum, John was perhaps known best for his work on tallying up the total votes for the “Man of the Match” awards. These totals were then used to create the respective “Man of the Match”/”Player of the Month/Year” awards on the website. The results were published on both TheCelticWiki and the KerrydaleStreet forum, and were highly anticipated by many. As a personal touch, and as an example of his dilligence to this work, John even used to provide for each regular poster, a record of how they voted throughout the season.
In addition, John was an administrator and major contributor to TheCelticWiki site. His presence on TheCelticWiki was ubiquitous. He managed, organised and edited on every part of the site to help push it into a more acceptable state. Prior to his presence, the site was struggling to keep up with everything, and difficult questions were being asked at the time.
Ever since Johns first posting on TheCelticWiki site in July 2007, he wanted to do more than just make the odd contribution. He quickly immersed himself without anyone having to ask. He helped to set templates, new standards, and add regular contributions to ensure the site was always intact; be it ‘Match Picture’ pages, article edits, simple tidy-ups, or anything. Most of his work will have been in the background, and most people will never really see the amount of work that has to be done on this site, but we can assure you that it was a heavy amount – and John just took it all in his stride.
In total, he racked up an astounding 23,000 edits on the site, and was by far the biggest contributor.
The whole onus of TheCelticWiki site was to provide an easily accessible resource for anyone interested in the history of Celtic and its support. Johns contribution to this achievement can never be overstated. He left his imprint everywhere on the site and helped to make it what it is today: a highly regarded site utilised by the Celtic support all over the world, as well as many others. Without him, the site would be a pale imitation of what it has become.
Yet despite the obvious loss to the online Celtic resources to which he diligently devoted himself; the overwhelming loss being felt by Celtic supporters online is that of a valued friend, a true member of the Celtic family, and a lovely, dear man.
John drew faith from all the well wishes and prayers offered to him during his battle with cancer, often offered by people whom he’d never before conversed with. He was always at pains to emphasise how much it meant to him to be in peoples thoughts. However, John’s true tower of strength during his battle, was his loving family: his wife of more than 30 years (“and never a cross word” he once told me) Linda, son John, and daughter Michelle.
Through my own conversations with him and on the KerrydaleStreet forum, John’s love for his family stood out as the undiminishing source of his mighty strength. During the toughest times he confided that he did not know where he and Linda would be without the help of John and Michelle. Indeed, as a prominent member of the KerrydaleStreet community himself, young John and his father shared banter and heartfelt messages on the site which left a lump in all our throats, and left none of us in any doubt of the important things in life.
That was what John Condron did for us, and for all others lucky enough to have known him. His love for Celtic is there for all to see in his legacy, his unbelievable body of contributions to TheCelticWiki, which will provide a resource for generations of Celtic fans to come. For those of us who met him – whether in person or within the online community – his good nature, his gentle demeanour, his inextinguishable humour, spirit, generosity and warm-heartedness, will continue to shine brightly.
“They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind”.
Hail! Hail! John.
We will all miss you.
*TheCelticWiki is an online resource offering information on all things Celtic. It has been created by Celtic Supporters, for Celtic Supporters; and can be found at www.thecelticwiki.com
**KerrydaleStreet is an online Celtic discussion forum, and can be found at www.kerrydalestreet.co.uk
Celtic Tunnel Brick
As a gesture by the moderating teams from TheCelticWiki & KerrydaleStreet (KDS), a “brick” was purchased in the tunnel at Celtic Park that reads:
“John Condron – Auldbhoy KDS“.
We hope it will become a marker of pride for his family, and is a genuine mark of respect from us all to a great man.
The brick was purchased in what was John’s last weeks, and Celtic had specially got the Tunnel Brick made quickly as a “one off” and brought the builders in specifically to put it up for John – It had been arranged with The Hospice that they would get an ambulance and Nurse to take John over to see it. Sadly, John passed away before we had the opportunity to be able to take him to see it for himself. However he did know it had been done in recognition of his truly outstanding work on the KerrydaleStreet forum & TheCelticWiki and in recognition of his being both a Great Celtic Supporter and a Great Man.
Many thanks and much respect to the club for assisting and raising this in priority in the circumstances.
KDS Thread
Match Tribute (Celtic 1-0 Kilmarnock 30 Dec 2010)
Announcement of his passing (11 Dec 2010)
His KDS & TheCelticWiki profile pages & avatars
Obituary from “The Celtic View” magazine 5 January 2011
Auldbhoy Charity Appeal
As a mark of respect to John Condron, members of the Kerrydalestreet forum and its charity fund helped raise funds via raffles for related charities in January 2011. A remarkable amount was raised as more fully detailed below.
(post by Cartuja from 4 Feb 2011)
…from the Kerrydale Street Charity Fund
KDS Link
As most people will be aware, the auldbhoy Appeal was set up in honour and in the memory of a great Celtic man and KDS member, John Condron who, sadly, passed away in December.
The groundswell of emotion has been engendered, not only by, the great work he did in bringing to life (through the pages of TheCelticWiki) past victories, glorious defeats and incredibly detailed and sometimes obscure facts and photographs from the past and present Celtic story, but also the year long online ‘diary’ of his battle with cancer and his evident love for and ever-strengthening relationship with his son, John (johnnyc313).
A decision was quickly and unequivocally taken by the members of KDS to support the suggestion to direct fundraising towards a substantial donation to St. Margaret of Scotland Hospice where auldbhoy was given the best of care in his final few weeks of life. Without wishing to veer too much into political waters, it is important that people are aware that St. Margaret’s is in danger of losing some of its palliative care beds and facilities as a result of Scottish Government proposals to redirect funding support. With this in mind, it is doubly significant that we (the members of KDS) are now in a position to give a sizeable donation to the Hospice.
Presentation
With the co-operation of Celtic Football Club, there will be a cheque presentation on the pitch at the Celtic v Hamilton match on Saturday 5th March. The presentation will be made to Sister Rita (who runs the Hospice) by Bertie Auld and our own johnnyc313. Sister Rita will also be a guest of Celtic’s and will watch the match from a seat in the Director’s box. Our thanks go to Celtic FC for supporting this.
We are also hoping that there will be some acknowledgement of this event in the matchday programme and the Celtic View so if you have gotten out of the habit of buying either or both, please make an exception in this instance.
And now, perhaps the most important part – the total raised from the donations of the members of KDS and beyond…
The magnificent total = £7,000
It has not been possible to allocate this money to a specific item. Sister Rita explained that the Hospice’s funding needs are constantly changing but that, nonetheless, it will be welcomed very gratefully. There are discussions, presently, about a lasting KDS memorial to auldbhoy which will be announce at a later date.
Which brings us to the ‘Thank Yous’!
First and foremost, the Kerrydale Street Charity fund would like to give a sincere thank you to all those KDSers who have, unstintingly, supported (by chucking their cash in the pot), all the raffles, sponsored activities, t-shirts sales and other assorted appeals of the last year. This year has seen many, many more people giving of their time and money in support of the fundraising and this is, in no short measure, a reflection of the esteem in which auldbhoy has been held.
To have raffles, you need raffle prizes and, as I’m sure everyone will agree, the prizes in terms of quality as well as quantity were outstanding this year. It’s sometimes easy to be a spectator and marvel at the generosity of people but it takes a special effort to offer up items which, in some cases, will have had personal significance to the individual donators. To each and every one who donated prizes to the Christmas Raffle, a heartfelt thank you!
Another significant donation came from The Arlington Bar. A keg of Guinness! This particular prize and raffle brought in an amazing £1,700 and also witnessed another spectacular display of generosity by the members of KDS, and not least, from pablo5. Not only did he donate a hefty amount of dosh (and he wasn’t alone in this regard) but when his winning number was drawn out of the hat, he decided to open out an invitation to the people who have been closely involved in the fundraising and TheCelticWiki over the years. He was well toasted in his absence, I can tell you.
I should also say that The Arlington is a smashing wee bar and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone. When I worked near Woodlands Road I used to pass it often and would very rarely go in but now that Danny McGhee has taken it over and refurbished it, it’s definitely the kind of place I could see myself frequenting when I’m in that part of town. (Advert over! ) No, but seriously …a cracking pub!
To round up. It has been very heartening to witness the generosity of the Celtic fans from this forum, particularly while we are in the midst of a deepening recession. From the ‘big hitters’ to the ‘just one ticket, I’m skinto’ donations, be assured that every penny given is appreciated.
To auldbhoy
Kerrydale Street Charity Fund
Donations cheque presentation
On 5 March 2011, the cheque for £7000 was presented at half-time in the Celtic v Hamilton match. Present were John Condron’s son, Bertie Auld and Sister Rita of St. Margaret of Scotland Hospice.
