Brigid Bond

Born Brigid McMenamin in Derry, she left school at fifteen to work in Tillie and Henderson's shirt factory. Brigid married Johnny Bond and they had four sons. Always in poor health, she discovered she had a hole in her heart, but the poor living conditions she and her husband were enduring as a homeless family meant that Brigid was forced to cancel a scheduled operation on her heart. In protest, Brigid became a member of the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC), formed, in March 1968, to protest against the discrimination in housing experienced by Catholics in the city. In 1968, during the Easter holidays, Brigid was part of a continuous picket outside Derry Guildhall, protesting against the housing record of Derry Corporation. They escalated their protests, addressing the Corporation, sitting down at the opening of the lower deck of Craigavon Bridge (when two members of the committee served prison sentences in consequence). DHAC members took part in the Dungannon to Coalisland civil rights march and asked NICRA to organise a march in Derry. As a result, the notorious 5th October march was held, when the RUC baton-charged marchers, bringing worldwide attention to conditions in the north of Ireland.

Brigid continued with her work with the Housing Action committee, joining members in an overnight squat in the Guildhall in December 1968 and a longer squat in January, starting on New Year's Eve and remaining until after the People's Democracy marchers arrived in the city, having started their 'long march' from Belfast on 1 January 1969. Fourteen families participated in that squat, and by February, all, including Brigid and her family, had succeeded in being allocated houses.

Brigid became a member of the NI Civil Rights Association and continued to be an active protestor against internment. After the civil rights march in Derry, which was attacked by the British army on January 30th 1972 in what became known as 'Bloody Sunday’; Brigid campaigned for justice for the fourteen killed as a result. Ill health forced her resignation from NICRA in 1982. Her personal papers relating to her activities have been lodged in the Museum of the Troubles in Derry.