Sometimes life hits you with reality and you’re floored. In
life Denis Collins delighted in surprising you. His sudden death was no
different. Doubtless Denis would smile this morning full in the knowledge that
once more he caught so many people out with his sudden passing.
You’d be out on a litter pick as part of tidy towns and as
everyone was heading for a cuppa, Denis would find another lane full of empty
cans and bottles. You’d turn up at the arts centre to find there was an additional
artist added to the bill at the last moment.
And there were the
stories. Once Denis was in the mid west of the US taking an internal flight on
a small aircraft. As he boarded he noticed that he was one of the few
passengers not carrying a rifle! “So” asks Denis to the pilot who was also the
air steward and the flight engineer, “Is this kind of thing normal”? “Absolutely
“ was the response. “They put the bullets in the hold in their luggage”!
Denis was a legend. He encouraged so many people into the
arts. He wasn’t just the owner of a gallery,
he saw talent and wanted to nurture it. Be it music, painting,
photography, sculpture, poetry, dance. You name it, Denis encouraged it.
Denis took over from the late Chris Culleton as Chairperson
of Wexford Tidy Towns. Chris died young 18 months ago. Now Denis’s sudden death follows soon after. Denis
embraced life in all its diversity; the arts, environment, politics and
culture. With Denis where one stopped and the other started is anyone’s guess.
The Wexford Denis grew up in was fundamentally a different
place to what it is now. He opposed the
8th Amendment in 1983 and supported Divorce in 1986. Two difficult
things to stand up on back in the day. He understood the need for a broad
political coalition between progressive politicians and straddled the divide
between left wing parties that can often be bitter, petty and negative. There
was so much that he stood above and stood aside from. That was why he was so
loved and regarded.
I’ll miss his good humour, positivity, wisdom, intelligence and
basic decency. So I’ll finish with
another story, Denis would have liked that.
A few years ago I entered Wexford Tidy Towns in a
competition behind his back. Lo and behold on the night we were having a
celebration for winning the Silver medal in the national competition, I learnt
we’d won it. We were going to get free return tickets for up to 50 people on a
train to anywhere in Ireland!
So over a few pints I revealed our good fortune to
Denis. Delighted we organised to visit
Skerries the following Spring as Skerries had won the overall national competition.
On the appointed day, Denis took us off on the morning train and after a change
at Connolly there we were. As we arrived at the station one eagle eyed member
of the group spotted a skip and curiously poked the debris to retrieve an
Infant de Prague. Denis surveyed the scene and said to leave it for when we
were returning.
As luck would have it on returning the statue was still
there and tucked under the forelock of the volunteer was Wexford bound. As we
had an hour to spare waiting for the connection to Wexford we made our way to
the pub in Connolly Station. Just as we went in the door Denis turned to the
volunteer who was still carrying the
statue. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t bring a child into the pub
at this time of evening”.
Every town should have a Denis Collins
Rest well Denis in whichever secret garden you are now.
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