Introduction
My name is Monica D'Arcy, sister of the late Michael Farrell. I was the older sister of Michael, and his two brothers Willie and Pat. Michael was the third sibling in the family. I was five years older than him.
Background
Michael was born at home on the 3rd of December 1954. And he was a bundle of joy. Even though Michael was almost five years younger than me, we became the best of friends. He would follow me around the house. He was like my shadow.
Every Saturday at home, my job was to clean the house before I went anywhere. I did not like that, but Michael would stay in and help me - for a price! His fee was six-pence. Of course, he put music on, and we would clean the house while dancing around to the Bee Gees - which made the cleaning fun.
Michael adored his family and was very close to all of us, especially our Mam. He would do anything for her: run to the corner shop for milk and bread, cut the grass; anything that needed to be done, Michael would do.
Michael started his first job at the age of 14 as a helper on the trucks in Allied Bottlers, which he loved. He then moved on to driving the trucks, which he loved even more.
Michael loved pay-day. He made sure our Mam always had got what he referred to as her "wages" from it. With the rest, he would get what he needed - like new jacket, shirt and trousers, as he was very well dressed. He might get a haircut and, of course, would sometimes get a bottle of fragrance like 'Old Spice’. Michael was dapper and always looked after his appearance.
Michael loved to socialise. He did so with some of the lads from Allied Bottlers, but mostly with his best friend Jerry. They went out whenever one of them had money or one of them could borrow the price of two pints. He loved his time out and about and would back a horse or buy a spot-the-ball competition entry. He was very lucky and would sometimes win.
He also joined the pitch and putt club where he won lots of trophies and displayed them with pride.
Michael was going out with Thelma Fraser who was also killed in the Stardust fire. He met Thelma when he was 21, in her aunt’s house, four or five years before their death. Michael was 26 when he was killed in the Stardust.
I married very young, at 19. Michael used to come round all the time. He'd come over to borrow money! He used to be gas: he'd make signs behind my husband’s back, making me laugh, and would then pretend he wasn't doing it. He would rarely be sat down in the house, and would always be standing, chatting, in the doorway between the kitchen and living room.
All my children loved Michael and he loved them. Michael and Thelma would often take the kids out and I used to call out after them, "Don’t bring them to the pub!"
But they would anyway. Sometimes they would go up to Dublin airport for a day out to look at the planes or would go to the countryside. He was great with the kids. He would have made a great father himself.
He was a thinker and would write all his thoughts in his diaries - which we still have to this day.
Michael had started a job in Cadbury's shortly before he was killed in the fire. He continued to look after our Mam with her shopping and he would take her into the city.
Though he liked going out, he’d only have one or two drinks before he went home. He liked the horse racing and was meant to travel with his pitch and putt club. He loved the Bee Gees, Bruce Lee and going dancing. He would go to the Stardust a lot with his friends.
The Stardust Fire
On the night of the Stardust Fire, our brother, Pat, was in the dancing competition. I was meant to go but I couldn't get a babysitter. Michael went to the Stardust that night to show some support for his brother in the competition.
Before he went, he asked whether I would get Thelma a Valentine's card for him. When I went into the shop to get the card, the man in the shop was teasing me because it said ‘girlfriend’ on it. So then I said to Michael, "that’s the last Valentine’s card I am ever getting you!". Over the years, thinking about those words has made me feel very upset.
My brother Pat was the one who informed mam that there was a fire in the Stardust. Pat was in such a panic that he couldn’t find Michael. Pat stayed around the Stardust until about 6 in the morning searching for Michael. When he informed mam, mam knocked at my door around 7 that morning and informed me about the fire.
Myself and Pat searched everywhere we thought Michael could be: at the houses of family, friends and Thelma. We then went to all the hospitals and still nothing. We searched for 3 days and that’s when we went back into the Mortuary and that’s where I was brought into a room, and they showed me a watch which I knew straight away that it belonged to Michael.
Life was never the same after this.
Since Then
This destroyed my mam and dad and all my family knowing their son, brother and uncle was never coming home. This brought so much anger, pain, heartache throughout our whole family especially as we never got to see Michael or to say goodbye to him.
He would have made a great father himself. Even though it is now over 40 years since this happened, it still feels like yesterday.
We will never get over this.
Conclusion
He would talk to us about how much he loved Thelma. He told us "She’s my soulmate" and that he was going to marry her.
They died before he could have asked her.
