Fr Des advised everyone he met to record their story, for their family to look back on or to be deposited in a community archive.
He kept his own diary’s both written and recorded.
At night he would retire to his bedroom at the top of his three story house, smoke 2 Gauloises French cigarettes, and record the events of that day on an old reel to reel recorder. The recordeings document who he met that day and events within the community.
This extract from Wednesday 30th May 1973 @ 12.40am Fr Des describes looking out the window of his home at a helicopter which is shining a powerful search light into the area of Ballymurphy, St Thomas’ School, the city cemetery, the falls park and and Turflodge. He say the “purpose of that exercise is to let people know they are being watched” he described it as a”purpose of intimidation and to make people believe that everything they do is being watched.”