AN EXCITING exhibition to celebrate of 19th century poet and Donegal resident Cecil Frances Alexander is due to come to an end this month.
She is one of the most famous hymn writers in the world thanks to her renowned hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.
A year of song, workshops and heritage events was organised to remember Alexander, who lived in Donegal from 1855 to 1860.
The Cecil Frances Alexander Celebrated Project was a landmark cross-community and cross-border heritage project delivered through the PEACEPLUS Programme and supported by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) as well as Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Throughout the project, communities from Donegal, Strabane, and Derry, came together to celebrate Alexander’s life and legacy, combining music, heritage, creative arts, education and dialogue to promote peacebuilding, shared understanding and cultural connection across communities.
Famous poet Cecil Frances Alexander, who lived in Donegal, is renowned for her hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.
One of the programme’s defining moments was a celebratory concert held at Christ Church in the Bowling Green where choirs from across Strabane, Derry and Donegal congregated for an event which acknowledged Alexander’s contribution to hymnody and community life. The evening culminated in the world premiere of a new hymn ‘The Angels Stand Around Us All’, written by Louis Fields and Nicky Morton of St Columb’s Cathedral Choir. Participating choirs included The Inishowen Gospel Choir, St Columb’s Cathedral Choir, Strabane Chorale, Strabane Controlled Primary School Choir and Strabane Academy Choir.
Strabane was also the starting off point for the ‘Bright and Beautiful’ Heritage Bus Tour, a cross-border journey through churches and communities associated with Alexander’s life and work, travelling through Strabane, Killeter, Baronscourt, Fahan and Derry, exploring themes of faith, poetry, education, women’s history and social conscience.
The tour concluded at Alexander’s graveside in Derry City Cemetery with a shared rendition of ‘There Is a Green Hill Far Away’, providing a reflective and moving finale to the experience.
Other highlights included the ‘Each Bird Sings’ cross-community writing workshops led by writer Kathy Donaghy, intergenerational lantern-making workshops, the ‘All Souls Lantern Walk’ through Strabane, and a cross-border evening of music and reflection at The Old Rectory in Fahan. The finale will see the project’s Steering Group meet at the Grassroots Café on John Wesley Street to evaluate the past year’s achievements.
Commenting on the completion of the project, project coordinator Sinéad Smyth said she was ‘incredibly grateful’ to everyone how had participated, supported and contributed to the project.
She said: “Cecil Frances Alexander Celebrated has shown how heritage, music and storytelling can bring people together in meaningful and lasting ways. Through workshops, performances, shared journeys and conversations, communities from different traditions and backgrounds discovered common ground in the life and legacy of a remarkable woman whose compassion, creativity and social conscience continue to inspire today.”
On behalf of the Churches Trust, she also thanked members of the Steering Group, including Howard Crowe, Rosemary Doherty, Fiona Fagan, Peter Ferguson, Elaine Graham, George Irwin, Judi McGaffin, Pat McGuigan, Mark Roxborough, Bridgeen Rutherford, Marlene Skuce, Gordon Smyth, Trevor Smyth and John White, with support from Elizabeth Fielding, Robert McGonigle and Gordon Speer.