Roy Garrett RIP

All at Writing on the Wall and The George Garrett Archive project were very sad to hear of the passing last week of Roy Garrett, the sixth of George Garrett’s seven sons. We first met Roy when we held an event during the WoW Festival a few years back, during the early days of the archive project. When the discussion opened up a guy, who had come in late and made his way to the back of the room, put his hand up and startled us by saying ‘I'm George Garrett’s son’! It was a happy coincidence as we had been trying to contact him. But that was Roy’s way. When we had the George Garrett Archive Launch, and subsequent events, he wouldn't want any help getting to them, even though we’d offer, and would make his way under his own steam. Roy was always a pleasure to be with, and regularly expressed his immense enjoyment of the achievements of the project in bringing his father’s life and work to public prominence. He was delighted with the public launch and display, and particularly enjoyed the performance of Two-Tides at The Unity earlier this year. He got the best of the work we have done, which we are told provided many moments to inspire him during the latter stages of his illness. We are particularly proud of the moment of magic we caught with him and his brother Derek on the short film we made of their father’s life, where they spontaneously break into singing ‘Hallelujah I’m a Bum’, the old Wobbly song taught them from his days in America. This moment really brought out his warmth of character and sense of fun. Roy was very generous with his time and regularly expressed his support for our project. On behalf of writing on the wall and all at The George Garrett Archive project, we’d like to pass on our respects to Roy and our sympathy to all of his family.

Mike Morris with Roy at debut of Two Tides 

Mike Morris, WoW Co-Director and Project Manager of The George Garrett Archive Project & WoW Co-Director, Madeline Heneghan.

Click here to view our short film on George Garrett’s life and work, which features Roy and Derek Garrett discussing their father’s life and singing ‘Hallelujah I’m a Bum', the Wobbly song taught them by their father.