Taghmon History Society have officially commemorated the late stuntman, John Condron, who died tragically while performing a stunt fall from the castle in the village 42 years ago…
Members of the society’s committee arranged for a plaque to be unveiled on the castle wall on Saturday, August 17th and they were joined by members of John’s family and former colleagues from his old stunt team, including his good friend, Neville Tough, who accompanied John to the top of the castle on the day.
The stunt took place on the afternoon of Sunday, August 15, 1982, during the 13th Taghmon Mardi Gras festival with the tragedy understandably cutting the festival short.
“Putting a plaque on the castle for John is something that probably should have happened a long time ago, but we are delighted to able to do this now so that John will be remembered forever more in the village,” said Taghmon History Society Chairperson, Michael Doyle.
“I am very pleased that members of John’s family will be joining us from Ireland, England and even as far away as Canada, which shows how much a gesture like this means to them. We are also very pleased that some of John’s former stunt colleagues will come along and remember their old friend.”
John Condron was just 23 years of age when he came to Taghmon to perform his stunt as the main showpiece of the 1982 Mardi Gras festival, a two-day music and general entertainment event that had been held in the village since the early 1970s.
John’s younger brother, Ambrose, and older sister, Gemma, said their family are thrilled that the people of Taghmon have decided to memorialise their brother.
“Even though John died more than 42 years ago, we all still get quite emotional about it to this day,” said Gemma. “He was our brother and we loved him – and we still miss him so much. Many of us would have visited Taghmon over the years and stood on the spot where John died. It helps us to deal with it as, even though time heals, you really never fully get over something like that.”
Ambrose said: “That the local history society has decided to do this has made us all so happy and we are really looking forward to meeting everyone on the day.”
The ceremony took place at 2pm on Saturday August 17th in front of the castle and it was followed by an unveiling of the plaque by the Condron family on the castle wall. The plaque was commissioned and crafted by the team at Wexford Stone Works.
Jason Redmond
From Gorey, Jason is the owner of Wexford Weekly. He is also a post-primary English and History teacher.
