BALL, Andrew

BALL - Andrew Gerard (Dún Laoghaire and formerly, Brisbane, Australia) – Art & Street Photographer - First Anniversary (May 16, 2021), his partner Michael Merrigan and his mother, Nola Ball, brothers, David, Peter and Dominic and the entire Ball family, his birth mother, Barbara Jones, and his friend from childhood, Patrick Whitman, wish to thank all those who offered sympathy, attended Andrew’s funeral, both virtually and in-person, placed messages on social media and on rip.ie, phoned, sent letters, texts, emails, sympathy cards and Mass Cards. All were hugely supportive in an extremely difficult time. We were overwhelmed by the hundreds of heartful messages posted to Facebook and on rip.ie. Michael’s brothers and sisters, the extended Merrigan family, friends and neighbours in Dún Laoghaire were simply wonderful. The neighbours and friends who stood along Cross Avenue to bid Andrew farewell touched us all very deeply indeed – many, many thanks. We would especially like to thank the medics who attended Andrew, An Garda Síochána, the Family Liaison Services at Loughlinstown Hospital and all at Patrick O’Donovan & Son Funeral Directors, Sallynoggin. We are most sincerely grateful to all who made the service at Mount Jerome on Saturday 22nd May 2021 such a beautiful celebration of Andrew’s life, celebrant Rev. Hugh Gormley; Gavin Hennessey, May Kay, Joey Mullins and Darren Maloney for the wonderful music and song; Katherine Atkinson for her beautiful reading of Andrew’s poetry; Christina Edge who read messages from Nick Cave fans from around the world; Barry Scanlon and Andrew’s colleagues from Croke Park and, the family members who participated in the service, especially, Dermot Merrigan for that exceptional eulogy. Sincere thanks to Gavin Hennessey for his arrangement of the service on video for the production by Flashbay of the digital Memorial Cards for Andrew featuring two of Nicolas Reuland’s photographs, including Andrew taking one of his signature shots of the glorious sunsets across Dublin Bay from the West Pier in Dún Laoghaire. Go raibh mile maith agaibh go léir. Andrew in ár gcroíthe go deo.