A PLAQUE has been unveiled at the Cultúrlann on the Falls Road in honour of the last Presbyterian minister to serve at the former Broadway Church.
Before becoming an Irish language centre, the Cultúrlann was a former Presbyterian church, with its last service taking place in 1982.
Members of the former congregation and Presbyterian Moderator, the Right Reverend Richard Murray, joined with the family of Rev Wilbur Gillespie – the last minister of Broadway Presbyterian Church, who served the congregation during the height of the conflict from April 1971 until July 1982 – for the special ceremony. The plaque is attached to the frame holding the bell of the old church which was donated back to the Cultúrlann from the Presbyterian Church in 2022.
Jake Mac Siacais from Forbairt Feirste said this was the latest in a series of year-long events to reacquaint West Belfast with its Presbyterian past and to have a Presbyterian presence back on the Falls Road. There is now a monthly service at the Cultúrlann.
Introducing Moderator Richard Murray to those gathered in the Dillon Gallery, Rev David Moore, proclaimed that “the Mod’s a Westie”.
FÁILTE: Jake Mac Siacais, centre, shows Moderator Richard Murray, Presbyterian artefacts on display at the Cultúrlann
The Moderator explained: “I have many links with this area. My father served his time in Mackies’ just up the road, my mother was a domestic supervisor in the Royal Victoria Hospital whenever we were small children and I was baptised here in Broadway Presbyterian Church. Yesterday I was handed the baptismal register of Broadway Presbyterian Church. I was born on the 19th of May 1965 and I was baptised on the 6 June.
“I’m quite sure when my parents had me baptised here, they never in a million years would have thought I would end up a Moderator of the Presbyterian Church but here we are and it is an honour to be here today with you."
Richard said that when Presbyterians "exited West Belfast" during the start of the Troubles that they took "a richness with them" as they left for other parts of Belfast. "I believe this area became poorer as a result of the absence of Presbyterians,” he added.
And then it was over to Wilbur Gillespie’s daughters Helen McKelvey and Alison McClure to unveil the plaque to their father.
Helen said: “It is a pleasure and a privilege to honour the memory of my father Wilbur Gillespie, the last Minister of Broadway and the people of the congregation who worshipped here down the years.
“I want to thank Jake and Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich for the many initiatives they have taken and continue to do so to honour the Presbyterian heritage in West Belfast and pray that the future will be a mutual one of respect for the past and hope for the future.”
