The Donaghadee Lifeboat at the 12th

About the Book

Ballyfrench townland, County Down, is the most easterly point in Northern Ireland. Thompsons have lived there for generations.

When William Thompson was a wee boy, his oldest brother Robert went to sea. A few years later, in 1911, Robert drowned in an accident at Gloucester Dock in England. He was just 20 years old, and William was only 9. It had a devastating impact upon the family. A local man wrote a memorial poem about Robert which was framed and hung on the wall in the family home. But the family were poor and Robert's body was never brought back home to Ulster. He is buried in Tredworth Road Cemetery, Gloucester.

Then in 1916, a distant relative - James Thompson - was killed at the Battle of the Somme. So William, aged just 15, wrote a memorial poem which was also printed up and framed, and was given to James' family.

And so it went on. William wrote hundreds of poems which were published in local newspapers. But the most lasting legacy of his poetry was that he went door-to-door around the Ards Peninsula, selling small booklets of his poems for sixpence each. The money he raised was donated to the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), and helped to fund the new local lifeboat at Cloughey. William knew the sorrow of losing a loved one at sea - he wanted to do what he could to prevent others going through the same pain.

So the book is a family memorial to William and his poetry, and also a fundraiser for the RNLI. It's how William would have wanted it. Make sure you get a copy!

Tuesday 29 July 2008