Tireless community activist who rebuilt Derry after the Troubles

Paddy "Bogside" Doherty, who has died aged 89 in his home city of Derry, was one of those who shaped the modern city, physically and socially.

He was a man of great energy, whose confidence belied his lack of formal education. He first came to prominence during the Battle of the Bogside in August 1969, when he was chairman of the Citizens’ Defence Association, a body which organised the defence of the area against police and loyalists.

In his later years he was central to the economic and physical regeneration of Derry, as founder and driving force of the Inner City Trust.

However, what was probably his most important contribution dates back over half a century. He was a founder, in the very early 1960s, of Derry Credit Union. It was the first credit union in the North, and has grown to be one of the largest.

In a city then greatly afflicted by poverty, it helped many find financial security. John Hume came to prominence through credit union work, first on the local and then on the national stage. Doherty was a supporter from those early days.

Learning skills

Then, in the late 1970s, he was involved in setting up the Derry Youth and Community Workshop. This aimed to give young people the same chances he had had, to learn manual skills.

In the early 1980s he was key to establishing the Inner City Trust. The trust rebuilt much of Derry’s city centre after the devastating IRA bombings of the early 1970s. That rebuilding has shaped the city centre, with developments such as the Craft Village and the Tower Museum, sometimes leaving it difficult to believe the devastation ever occurred in the first place. Doherty used his determination to draw down funding – and to avoid what he saw as unnecessary delay.

Some time in the late 1970s his efforts gained him the nickname “Paddy Bogside” to differentiate him from Derry’s many other Paddy Dohertys. It was a moniker of which he was intensely proud.

Patrick Laurence Doherty was born in June 1926 in Derry’s Bogside, the old Catholic working class area that lies beneath the city’s walls. He was the second eldest of the 10 children of Hugh Doherty, a docker, and his wife, Dora (née Redmond), a native of Co Wexford.

After education at St Eugene’s Primary School he left formal education at 14. He served his apprenticeship as a joiner. During the second World War he worked in London, then returned to Derry, where his knowledge of his craft led to his becoming a foreman on construction jobs.

Shortly after the Battle of the Bogside, he was appointed chief maintenance officer of the old Derry Corporation. However, his appointment was vetoed by the then unionist government at Stormont. He was forced to go abroad, working in Trinidad and Tobago for a couple of years on a major hotel project for an English company.

Strong faith

Personally, he was a man of a strong and traditional Catholic faith. He was also a traditional nationalist, a strong believer in a united

Ireland

but not a supporter of the IRA campaign. It was fitting that his coffin was draped in a replica of the flag that flew over the GPO in 1916, a golden harp on a green background.

Paddy “Bogside” Doherty is survived by his widow, Eileen; daughters Roisin, Eileen, Kathleen, Paddy-Ann, Fiona and Nuala; sons John, Hugh, Declan, Kieran, Brendan and Kevin; sisters Helen, Jean, Sally, Dora, Kathleen and Anna; and brother Terry. He was predeceased by his daughter Doreen.