Michael Feeney,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, is the founder of the County Mayo Peace Park and Garden of Remembrance. An Irish citizen he was awarded the MBE due to his services in promoting British-Irish relations by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

at a ceremony at

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in the Queen's

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in 2010.

Early and private life

He was born in

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal poi ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

. Feeney is the founder of the County Mayo Peace Park and Garden of Remembrance. He was educated at St Patrick's school in Castlebar up to the age of 14. He worked for the local Bacon Company before moving to the Health Service Executive. He has supported the development of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in Mayo and was Secretary of the Mayo League until 1986. Feeney is married to Mary Feeney and has two children, and lives in Castlebar. He spent several years in the

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County Mayo Peace Park and Garden of Remembrance

The County Mayo Peace Park and Garden of Remembrance is a project to document people from County Mayo who lost their lives in both

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. It was officially opened by

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

, the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

in October 2008. The annual

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in t ...

Services to commemorate Mayo's

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

dead began in 1999, when Feeney organised an official Remembrance mass in the Church of the Holy Rosary in Castlebar following research which showed that a significant number of County Mayo soldiers were killed in action in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

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in the uniforms of many nations.

Pte Patrick Feeney

Feeney's grandfather, Patrick Feeney, of the 1st Battalion

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was killed in action on Thursday 22 July 1915 near Rue-Tilleroy France the day the

were finally relieved after spending 16 days in the front line. Patrick Feeney was a professional soldier and served in the South Africa Campaign, he had left the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1911. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he was mobilised and returned to the

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to serve with the

once more. He was buried in the Royal Irish Graveyard in

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. Feeney was awarded the MBE due to his services in promoting British-Irish relations by

at a ceremony at

in the Queen's

in 2010.

Published work

Feeney compiled a book ''Remembering Mayo's Fallen Heroes''. This was a collaborative work with a number of authors and was launched in September 2008.

References

External links

The Official Site of Mayo Peace Park.
Remembered at last in Mayo

Remarks by President McAleese at the official opening of Mayo Peace Park, Castlebar, Tuesday 7 October 2008

Irish War Memorials Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeney, Michael People from Castlebar Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire People from County Mayo Year of birth missing (living people)