The Deele College community is extremely proud this week that our sixth year student, Sophie Gallagher has played a significant role in the launch of the heart-breaking song, ‘Stolen Dreams,’ which was written by Matt McGranaghan to commemorate the life of the late Leona Harper who tragically died in the Cresslough tragedy last year.
The song, which featured on UTV Live and will appear on BBC One on Friday is sung by Sophie and Ballybofey singer, Chris McLaughlin and was recorded at Valley studios under the guidance of Terry McGinty.
The poignant song, which was a collaboration between Raphoe musician, Matt and the Harper family is sung as a duet and explores the heartbreak of the stolen dreams of Leona and the dreams and aspirations that her parents had for her, that were cruelly stolen on that fateful Friday in the small Donegal village.
Matt picked Sophie after working with her on a number of Deele College performances and she is one of the main performers in the Deele College choir under the tutelage of Miss Catriona Bonner. Her performance in the video is exceptional and she says that she wanted to do justice to the beautiful lyrics that Matt wrote in memory of the late Leona, who through the song is forever fourteen.
“I’d like to thank Matt for picking me and I would also like to thank Miss Bonner from Deele College, Terry from Valley studios and Chris McLaughlin who sang with me. It was a great honour to be a part of it,” she added.
The song was originally written for just the Harper family but they have decided to launch it and use the money raised for charities in Leona’s name.
School principal, Mr Joe Boyle says that Sophie’s performance is a credit to her, her family and the entire school community.
‘We are so proud that a student from our school has played such a role in this project. It’s a beautiful piece of work and our former student Matt McGranaghan has done a superb job and it really does capture the incredible loss felt by the Harpers and all the families affected by the tragedy.’
More information can be found on Matt’s Facebook page. https://m.facebook.com/mattmcgranaghanmusic
