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“These were paintings that we hadn’t seen in 40 years,” says Eithne, “and yet we were all so deeply familiar with them, it felt
Beyond his involvement with the Greystones Operatic and Dramatic Society (where he wrote music for pantos), back in the 1970s, Desmond Hand was actually
Later, following a breakdown in his mental health, Hand moved to the UK. It was here that he was diagnosed with manic depression, later recognised as bipolar disorder.
The Hand sisters on Stephen’s Green SUN27NOV22
hey were paintings that the Hand kids had seen every day growing up in their 
Greystones home, Mount Pleasant, back in the ’60s and ’70s.
So, when a distant friend of a friend got in touch to say she had 18 of the latest Desmond Hand’s paintings in her attic, it came as a wonderful surprise.
“These were paintings that we hadn’t seen in 40 years,” says Eithne, “and yet we were all so deeply familiar with them, it felt 
like no time at all had passed. This generous person wanted us to have them, and given our father’s charity work, we decided to sell the paintings to raise money for charities, such as St Michael’s House…”
Beyond his involvement with the Greystones Operatic and Dramatic Society (where he wrote music for pantos), back in the 1970s, Desmond Hand was actually 
head of St Michael’s House (which provides care to people with intellectual disabilities) before going on to become managing director of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
Later, following a breakdown in his mental health, Hand moved to the UK. It was here that he was diagnosed with manic depression, later recognised as bipolar disorder. 
He would die there in 1999, aged 67.
“I really believe the art and the music was an escape for my father from the difficulties associated with bipolar disorder,” says Eithne. “This would be well accepted today, but I think in the 1970s, not so much. He continued to paint and writing music, and work for various charities, during those 20 years in London.”
Newspaper report on 1963 Cork exhibition
