Fundraising concert for railway held in cathedral

Fundraising concert for railway held in cathedral

26 June 2024

DOWN Cathedral was alive with the sound of music last Friday night.

The full steam ahead concert in aid of the Downpatrick and Co Down Railway was a huge success with the cross-community event taking place on the hill above Ireland’s only full-size heritage railway which was ravaged by last November’s devastating town centre flood.

The volunteers who run the railway have been left with a repair bill estimated at several million pounds with last weekend’s concert raising in the region of £3,500.

The event was organised by Judith Harper from Down Cathedral to not only help raise the spirits of the community, but assist the local railway on getting back on track.

The audience was treated to an evening of musical delights from the Down Youth Community Choir led by Kyle Bradshaw, the Ballygowan Concert Flute Band conducted by Mark Douglas, Downshire Brass with its musical director, Professor Michael Alcorn and the St. Patrick’s Choral Society with arrangement specially written for the event by Geoffrey Cherry.

And the combined Women’s Institute choir conducted by Judith Harper also entertained the audience.

Baroness Margaret Ritchie spoke of the devastation which the flooding had caused and of the need to keep pressing for assistance for all those businesses affected. 

She welcomed the event and praised all those who took part for providing such a joyful evening, with South Down MLA Colin McGrath also in attendance.

Railway chairman Robert Gardiner said the hugely popular facility is nestled in the shadow of the ancient Downpatrick landmark and it uses the cathedral back in its photos.

But last Friday night was the first time that the two neighbours had collaborated on an event and Mr Gardiner hopes it won’t be the last.

“Sitting in the crowd was a wonderfully humbling experience, knowing that all this was being done to support us and everyone was there because of what had happened in November,” he said.

“We'd like to give a massive thank you to everyone involved. None of this could have happened without the support and thoughtfulness of the audience, event organisers, and performers.”

And Mr Gardiner said if there is any silver lining from the terrible floods in November it had been the response of the local community.

He described it as “amazing and truly wonderful” and beyond anything the railway volunteers could have ever expected.

He explained Judith Harper got the idea from seeing the heritage railway’s Cinema Night held at the iconic Strand in Belfast earlier in the year.

Mr Gardiner said Judith worked tirelessly to put something together virtually unknown to officials until it was announced. 

“Full credit must go to Judith and Baroness Margaret Ritchie for such passion and dedication, as well as the Rev Adrian Dorrian and the rest of the Cathedral Board for hosting the event in their ancient place of worship,” he continued.

“On top of this, plenty of other people and groups did a lot of work behind the scenes, such as Northside Graphics who sponsored the programmes for the concert.”

The railway chairman said all the performers involved put in a huge amount of effort to get their pieces up to such an incredible standard, for which the railway is extremely grateful. 

“The concert was a great opportunity to show off the diversity of amazing musical talent that we have here in Co Down,” Mr Gardiner added.