I live here.

Here are two photographs that go with this story.

Arthur Sealy passed away today. He is a man who had a big influence on my life and shaping who I am today. Amanda came into work at 5 with bloodshot eyes and told me Ms Kerry announced it today during the school talent show. I walked around work in a daze for two hours and had tears streaming down my face before I even walked past the shop on my way home…

Sealy was an eccentric. We used to laugh and take the piss. He favoured the wealthy or bright, pretty much anyone he thought would be useful to him some day. He wanted success himself. He wrote so many books, he knew so many people, he had so many stories and so many ideas but so much advise for us and genuine care. I was one of the few who didnt do music that was welcomed into the arthur sealy club.

We performed Godspell the musical in 2008 (picture one) and I played Peggy Gordon. I would never have done a main role or a solo if it was not for Arthur. He gave me the confidence and the competence. For this I am grateful as that confidence transfered to the rest of my life and I made so many friends from that play. 

He wanted me to take up music for my leaving cert, having never studied it before and not a clue what a note looked like… I remember he got couches in the music room for jamming/chilling time. He sat me down and asked me what subject I would be using for points did I think would be my lowest and I told him french. He asked me what grade I thought I’d get and I told him a high c or low b. He promised me a high b in music. He told me he could teach me everything I would need to get a b in a year, having never taken the subject before. I dont know if I regret taking up his offer….

We went to liverpool in Feb 2009. This was the beatles pilgrimage for the sealy fan club and I had a blast. We went to every museum, fancy meals, the liverpool philharmonic. We played sgt peppers in the casbah and wrote on the walls of the cavern club. I still wear my t-shirt often. He commented on our heels and the fact that we couldnt keep up with everyone else on our walk to the chinese the second night… He told me non-chalantly the last night my legs were the second best of all the girls in the school (picture 2) and I didnt talk to him for weeks.

Sealy is to thank for my love for classical music.. he would play beautiful music effortlessly, anything we would request and sometimes little treats of things we had never heard before. If it were not for him I would have never set foot inside the national concert hall in Dublin. He took us to beautiful churches, he thought us about church music. He opened my ears to hymns outside of ‘christ be our light’, hymns of the protestant tradition in particular. He gave me a love for choir that stopped it from being ‘uncool’.

He called me stubborn and I called him the same. He celebrated St Cecillia’s day by bringing in sweets for everyone. He tried to help me pursue my dream of learning to play drums. I still have not done this either.

I don’t know what to write. This has been a big shock to me… It’s not fair and life is too short. Arthur you contributed so much to who I am. Because of you I have this confidence, because of you I am still active in my college choir, because of you I love classical music and going to concerts, because of you I love the Beatles.

Your influence has made me hear the music.

RIP