Portroe honours its everyday heroes in song and film

All parishes have their everyday heroes, the people who do great work without getting much, if any, recognition.

But a group of young female singers in Portroe have joined forces to celebrate the unsung heroes of their parish, producing a single in honour of the people who make a huge difference to their local community, particularly over the past year and a half when everybody has been severely tested by the pandemic.

The 15-member group, whose singers range in age from 13 to 22, call themselves Portroe in Harmony and they have spent the best part of a year surmounting the challenges posed by the “stay apart” edicts of infectious disease experts to hone a moving rendition of the single “Everyday Heroes”, a song fitting of our times that touched the hearts of viewers when it was first performed by nurse Beth Porch on the television show “Britain's Got Talent” in October last year.

It’s a song that viewers of the show struggling through the pandemic said was “medicine for the soul”, and its eagerly awaited Portroe launch takes place this Sunday, August 29, in the local GAA pitch.

The much anticipated event - being promoted as “a safe space” for the people of Portroe to gather - is being called the “Picnic in the Pitch”, and will feature live music from local acts and fun and games for children in the build-up to the official release on the day.

The organisers would love if the real live launch of its charity single and video at the pitch was open to everybody, but Covid restrictions mean that the vast majority will get to view the event on social media.

The funds generated by the single will go to the Children’s Health Foundation, a charity which raises funds to support vital lifesaving work in children’s hospitals in Ireland.

As many members of the singers’ group are also passionate members and players with Portroe Camogie Club, part of the funds raised will also go to the club to help develop its services at underage and junior level.

MUSIC MENTOR

Sarah Madden, a local music mentor with a background in social care, has been central to the initiative to honour everyone in the locality for the way they have coped with the pandemic.

It is also a song and video in memory of people from the parish who died since the arrival of Covid and who did not get a proper farewell due to restrictions on funeral gatherings.

Sarah said she was inspired to undertake the initiative with the young local singers as a way of saying thanks to a “fantastic community”.

The charity single and video, she said, reflect the community’s story through the pandemic and how people in the parish somehow managed “to come together while staying apart.”

“The release of this charity and single online is a celebration of our young people who make Portroe a great place to live, our frontline staff and members of our community who helped to keep our village safe,” Sarah told The Guardian.

She added that the launch was their way of acknowledging all ages within the community and across the world who kept each other safe during the pandemic.

“We formed this singers’ group in a time of real uncertainty in the world with Covid-19,” said Sarah, recalling the start of the initiative in November last year.

“We wanted to give this group of young girls the motivation and experience to become leaders in their community by demonstrating their resilience, coming together while staying apart, supporting each other and to raise money for two organisations that mean a lot to the group and many people.”

Member of the singers’ group Aisling Sheedy (22) said the work on the project kept all local female Scór singers like herself together and united even when they could not meet up due to restrictions.

“Because singing in Scór was not possible Sarah, who is our Scór signing manager, came up with this idea to keep us together and give thanks to the heroes in the parish for the way the way they brought us all through the pandemic.”

Aisling said the video being launched with the single is not about the singers. “The video mainly features our healthcare workers, our fire fighters and social workers who have been so great. Also appearing are the great characters of our parish, the people that make Portroe the unique and special place that it is.”

Aisling added: “We are so delighted to be part of this momentous project. It will be great to look back at the video in many years to come and say we were all part of it.”

As part of the initiative the group recently brought all the local frontline workers together at the GAA pitch to formally thank them for their contribution and to take photographs of all of them.

Old and young have been honoured, including the oldest citizen of the parish, 94-year-old Pat O’ Brien from Cloneybrien who as a great grandfather has defied his great age by still managing to do chores on the family farm on which he continues to grow his own potatoes as well as sharpening chainsaws and building fences.

HONOURED

Local public health nurse Sarah O’ Connor said she was really touched that a signing group in her own parish had come together to formally say thanks to people like her.

“I can honestly say it is an honour,” said Sarah. “To be acknowledged for the work that we have done as frontline workers during Covid by our own community is just so lovely.

“When the first lockdown came I just felt I was out there doing my work when everyone else was cocooning at home. But to hear that that a local group is paying homage to us, we’re just so grateful; and it means a lot.”