{"id":460856,"date":"2025-09-29T16:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/460856\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T16:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:30:18","slug":"hugh-gallagher-tributes-following-death-of-derry-photographer-a-man-of-great-wisdom-and-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/460856\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugh Gallagher: Tributes following death of Derry photographer: \u2018A man of great wisdom and talent\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colmcille Press led tributes to their \u201cgreat friend and most-talented colleague\u201d Hugh Gallagher who died on September 29 after a long illness.<\/p>\n

His funeral will take place on Thursday 2 October at St Mary\u2019s Church, Creggan.<\/p>\n

Over the past 40 years, Hugh had worked with virtually every publishing organisation in the North West, starting his media career as a volunteer and later staff photographer with Fingerpost in the mid-80s.<\/p>\n

\u201cA gifted humorist, he published his first book, The Spectator and Other Derry Stories (illustrated by Cormac Downey) in 1990 with his good friend Eamon Deane’s Yes Publications,\u201d Colmcille Press said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his spare time, he became the lensman for Cityview, the official Derry City FC programme, travelling up and down the country with The Candystripes after their re-entry into senior football.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he also worked for many years with the Derry Journal and the Derry News as both a columnist and freelance cameraman.\u201d<\/p>\n

With an archive of more than 40,000 images, Hugh Gallagher was, for a generation, a first source of pictures for Guildhall Press, Hive Studio Books and Colmcille Press\/Cl\u00f3 Cholmcille.<\/p>\n

He was always particularly delighted to cover book launches, loving nothing better than to swap stories with old friends and fellow authors.<\/p>\n

\n

Hugh was a real talent, but so modest with it<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr Gallagher published two books with Guildhall Press: A View of Derry (2008), a superlative collection of local photographs; and A Foyle Tale: The Toucan Venturer in Derry, which recounts the remarkable true story of how he worked as a supervisor on the attempted refit of a grounded ship, to bring supplies to famine-struck Ethiopia, and ended up living on board.<\/p>\n

A \u201cdyed-in-the-wool\u201d Creggan man, he was very proud to contribute to any book, periodical or pamphlet that promoted his home turf.<\/p>\n

He had lived in the same house in Melmore Gardens for 75 years. His photographs adorn virtually every wall in the R\u00e1th M\u00f3r Centre \u2013 and can also be found in almost all books to emanate from there.<\/p>\n

In retirement, Mr Gallagher kept busy writing short stories for the local newspapers, and magazines such as Ireland’s Own.<\/p>\n

He also loved to publish and exhibit collages from his extensive archive, with it said that you were nobody in Derry until you had appeared in a Gallagher picture spread.<\/p>\n

His generosity and community spirit was also evident to anyone who ever dealt with him.<\/p>\n

R\u00e1th M\u00f3r General Manager Kevin Hippsley paid tribute to his friend saying: \u201cHugh was a real talent, but so modest with it. Nothing was too much trouble for him \u2013 he loved to help and to see a job done well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a warm presence about the office, lifting us with his humour. But there was a great wisdom there too \u2013 and he contributed so much to so many books and so many projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a real loss to all of us in the publishing sector, to Creggan and to Derry. Suaimhneas s\u00edora\u00ed d\u00e1 anam uasal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hugh<\/p>\n

Hugh Gallagher had worked with virtually every publishing organisation in the North West<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Monday 29th September<\/p>\n

Former Derry Journal Editor Pat McArt paid this tribute: \u201cHis archive of life in Derry over the past 40-50 years has got to be priceless. He was a chronicler of the everyday, of people going about their daily doings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese photos were never meant for newspapers or other media, but simply to record lives. That was what interested Hugh. I doubt if anyone else has anything that comes near.<\/p>\n

\u201cCondolences to his family and friends. He was a lovely man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugh was the beloved son of the late Hugh and Molly, loving brother of Helen, Mary, Kathleen, Margaret, Liam, Pat, Eugene, Mura and Ann. He will be sadly missed by his nephews, nieces and the wider family circle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colmcille Press led tributes to their \u201cgreat friend and most-talented colleague\u201d Hugh Gallagher who died on September 29…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1817,22305,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-460856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-derry-news","9":"tag-garrett-hargan","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115288541051958231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}