Revealed - how a Garvagh man came to aid Hungarian refugees
Ken Belshaw will be giving a talk on Major Derek Cooper to the Garvagh Historical Group on Thursday the 12th of November at the GADDA building in Garvagh at 7-30 pm.
ON the 23rd of October 1956 Hungarian students staged an uprising in Budapest against Russian occupation.
Their exploits became an international news story. Russian tanks rolled into Budapest and brutally crushed the uprising after seven days of freedom. Thousands were killed or wounded and Hungary suffered a brutal suppression by the 4th of November that year.
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising, an event that caused over a quarter of a million Hungarians to flee the country. On reading and hearing of the plight of Hungarian refugees a former soldier, who spent his formative years in Garvagh and his wife Pam, decided to see how they could help.
In total Derek and Pam brought over 80 refugees on their first night.The Land-Rover proved perfect for the job and they were able to raise funds from friends back in London to send four further vehicles that winter.
Their efforts were quickly recognised and they became part of the combined efforts of the Red Cross, Save The Children Fund and the Knights Of Malta. The Coopers Hungarian refugee work of 70 years ago this year inspired them to dedicate their lives to helping refugees ,mainly in the Middle East.
They joined a Save the Children relief effort in 1962 following the Buin Zahra earthquake which rendered 22,000 homeless.
Ken Belshaw will be giving a talk on Major Derek Cooper to the Garvagh Historical Group on Thursday the 12th of November at the GADDA building in Garvagh at 7-30 pm. Ken Belshaw was Honorary Consul of Hungary in Northern Ireland from 2012 to 2025.
On his retirement as Consul he was awarded the Knights Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary by President Katalin Novak. Contact Andrew Wilson at [email protected] to reserve a place.