• Brother Walfrid homepage

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(news story from Nov 5th 200x 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 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, will be unveiled outside the glass fronted entrance to Celtic Park on Saturday 5th November at 2pm. Pre unveiling proceedings introducing the event begin at 1pm.

To this end, for the past three years money raising ventures have been taking place amongst Celtic supporters and for eighteen months the planning committee has been organising the construction and erection of the statue as well as the unveiling ceremony itself.

This venture has 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 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 statue will be 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 will also be involved in the unveiling of the statue.

The ceremony begins at 2pm on Saturday November 5th. Celtic and the Brother Walfrid Committee have invited all Celtic supporters to attend this momentous day.
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I have heard that fans have started leaving pennies on the Walfrid statue in commemorationof the Penny Dinner Tables the club was set up to fund, which Walfrid organised in Bridgeton and elsewhere in the East End