On Sunday 16^th June 2002, Paul Furey passed away. Paul was a great musician, story teller, comedian,  magician and, above all, a loving husband and father. He was a great companion for the long plane, boat or car journey while touring, as he was gifted with the great art of story telling.

Although some of his tales might not have been completely true, he would never fail to keep our attention, whether he’d be telling us about his most recent game of golf or an event in his life (or somebody else’s) many years previously.

As there are 7 of us on the road when we are touring, we pair off in hotel rooms, breakfast tables, seats on the tour buses and so on. Paul’s partner on the road was our bass guitarist and singer Derek McCormack.  Like the rest of us, Big Detser, as we called him, was heart-broken with Paul’s death and we could never have foreseen that Derek was to pass away just 19 months after Paul on Friday 30th January 2004 - both totally unexpected.

Like Paul, Derek had a flair for story telling. Most of Derek’s storeys related to his experiences and the characters he met in his 30 plus years in the music business.

We hope we all pass on to a better life after our time here and that Paul and Derek are enjoying the music, the golf and the ‘craic’ up there while keeping a watchful eye on us down here.

We miss them both dearly, but none more so than Catherine and Bernadette.