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County Fermanagh

Eamonn Holmes is in Northern Ireland to meet people whose faith plays an important role in their professional life. Plus music from Clannad's Moya Brennan and hymns from the combined choirs and congregations of Enniskillen.

35 minutes

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Thy Hand, O God, Has Guided - Choir and congregation at St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Enniskillen

    TUNE: Thornbury, Basil Harwood, WORDS: Edward H Plumptre

  • I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say - Choir and congregation at St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Enniskillen

    TUNE: Kingsfold, ARRANGER: R Vaughan Williams, WORDS: Horatius Bonar

  • In Christ Alone - Choir and congregation at St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Enniskillen

    WORDS & MUSIC: Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

  • Be Thou My Vision - Choir and congregation at St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Enniskillen

    TUNE: Slane, traditional Irish hymn

  • To God Be The Glory - Choir and congregation at St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Enniskillen

    WORDS: Fanny Crosbie, MUSIC: W Howard Doane

Factsheet for Sunday 26th May 2013

Eamonn Holmes is in Northern Ireland to meet people whose faith plays an important role in their professional life, plus music from Clannad's Moya Brennan and hymns from the combined choirs and congregations of Enniskillen.Ìý

Interviewees

Marina Hassard

Marina used to work as an Estate Agent, but when she spotted an ad looking for people to work in the Ambulance Service, she quit her job and applied.

10 years on, she works alongside the paramedics as an Ambulance Technician and describes her job as ‘highly rewarding and a privilege’.

Getting really ill people to hospital in time, bringing in pregnant ladies or saving people who have been injured on the roads are what makes the job really special.

ÌýOn the downside it can be very physically and mentally demanding.Ìý Marina regularly has to deal with seriously ill patients, suicide and death.Ìý

These are difficult to switch off from but Marina relies on her strong faith to help her cope and to be as sensitive and understanding as she can possibly be.Ìý She describes herself as ‘a work in progress’!

Each morning she prays for strength for what lays ahead that day, and throughout the day she prays for those she has helped and asks for God to be with the families of patients that she sees.

As an Emergency Ambulance Technician she now works into the new £276M state of the art South West Acute hospital in Enniskillen.

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Louise and Sam Balmer

Sam Balmer and his wife Louise helped form the Fermanagh Christian Fellowship Church.Ìý

The new independent church in Enniskillen started after a few friends began to meet regularly in each other’s houses.Ìý Now they are renting premises on the main shopping street in the town.

Louise is the Administrator of The Fermanagh and Tyrone Postal Bible School, which sends out lessons to around 1,700 young students locally who have signed up to their bible correspondence course.

The lessons are completed at home and then returned to the centre to be marked by volunteer teachers.Ìý Certificates are rewarded on completion of various stages.

The Postal Bible Lessons are mostly aimed at children and young people, and are used by individuals, youth groups Primary and Sunday Schools.

Postal Bible School began back in 1958 in Co Cork.Ìý It has since expanded across the UK and in to foreign countries- Ghana, Nigeria, Eastern Europe.Ìý

Sam is the International Secretary for Bible Education Services and travels the world extensively training new teachers for the project.

Together with his wife Louise they run sow2reap.

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Deborah Anderson

Deborah set up the Irish Dancing group, The Zephaniah Dancers, in Portadown.

The group is non-profit making and it’s aims are ‘to tell the Gospel story through music, dance and song’

They are regularly invited to perform at churches and organisations throughout Northern Ireland

Deborah was also a keen Irish dancer and competed and socialised in these circles in Portadown where she grew up.

She married in her early twenties and after 20 years of dancing fell away from both religion and dancing.Ìý

After the birth of her first child she felt a real emptiness and struggled with loneliness and the feeling that something was missing in her life.

She explains that she was ‘called by God’ to ‘set up a ministry which would spread the word of God’, using her skills as a dancer.Ìý

She made a promise to God that she would never pay to hire a hall, and so she laid wood on the floor of her garage and began taking classes.

The Deborah Anderson School of Dance has expanded since then and her pupils regularly feature in the medals at the Northern Ireland Championships.

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Music Performances

Mora BrennanÌýperforms ‘When The Morning Breaks’.

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With Donegal band, Clannad, she rose to prominence with a pioneering approach to traditional music which has garnered them 15 million record sales worldwide and a string of awards, including a Grammy in 1998. Their sound has since become the benchmark for the Celtic music genre.Ìý Sister, Enya, joined Clannad for a time before pursuing her own successful career.

Moya’s solo career has continued that success with 8 albums to her credit and more in the pipeline. Her international live show has developed into a visual (as well as sound) spectacle with rhythm, atmosphere and vibrant harmony.Ìý

Besides her solo work Moya has been much in demand for a number of other projects and is both vociferous and active in her championing of Irish arts and culture abroad.

Her career to date includes 25 albums, numerous film scores and she has sung with many great artists, including The Chieftains, Robert Plant, Paul Brady, Shane Michael Crawford and, of course, Bono.

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Ruth Trimble performsÌý‘God Knows’.

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Ruth Trimble is a singer songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland.ÌýÌý

Having previously considered music as just a hobby, she trained and worked as a pharmacist for seven years... but after developing an interest in writing and recording her own songs, Ruth decided to concentrate on music full time.

As a multi-instrumentalist, she has completed two UK tours with grammy-nominated singer songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, recently opening her shows as well as performing alongside Beth as her only band member. In October 2012, Ruth completed an intense '50 states in 50 days' tour of the US, supporting singer Kevin Montgomery.

Ruth's development of her skills in the studio, as engineer and producer, have led to involvement outside her own music. Amongst other projects, she recently produced and recorded several tracks with Robin Mark for his latest album 'John Wesley & Co.'

Her self-produced debut album 'Things I Want To Say' has received very positive reviews since being released in March 2012.Ìý

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Locations

All of the hymns were filmed at St Macartin’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Enniskillen.

Other Information

The Choirs that took part in this weeks episode were from St Macartin’s Cathedral, St Michael’s Church, Mount Lourdes Grammar , Killadeas Choir, Rossorry Church of Ireland, Darling Street Methodist Church, Enniskillen Presbyterian Church, Fermanagh Choral Society, Irvinestown Community Choir, Magheracross Church, Ardess Church Choir, Clog Parish, St Mary's Irvinestown, St Franchea’s College, St Michael’s College, Portora Royal School, Enniskillen Collegiate, Mount Lourdes Grammar School, Devenish College.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Eamonn Holmes
Producer Carole O'Kane
Series Editor David Taviner
Executive Producer Tommy Nagra
Performer Moya Brennan

Broadcasts