Poignant tribute paid to original Colmcille Choir member Breedge O'Connell

Breedge O’Connell (née Doherty), who was laid to rest at Derry City Cemetery this week following Requiem Mass at St Eugene’s Cathedral, passed away peacefully at Altnagelvin Hospital on New Year’s Day following a period of illness.

Ursula Clifford, chair of Colmcille Ladies Choir and Registrar of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille another institution which the late Mrs O’Connell was heavily associated with told the Journal: “It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of my dear friend Breedge O’Connell. Her beautiful voice has now been silenced.

“Breedge was a member of the well-known Doherty family and worked in their William Street bakery shop for many years. But for me, it was singing in the Colmcille Ladies Choir that I’ll always remember her most fondly for. We toured the USA and Europe as part of the choir. My outstanding memory of Breege will always be when she presented Pope John Paul II with a bowl of Shamrocks.

“We were out in Rome for St Patrick’s Day in 1982 as part of Bishop Daly’s silver jubilee celebrations. We had a private Mass with Pope John Paul II and sang for him in his own chapel. Then we went out to a large reception room and sang again and did some Irish dancing for him. Within the Colmcille Ladies Choir Breedge was the entertainments officer and at the end of each trip she always presented everyone with a small gift.

“Breedge was one of three women who presented the Pope with gifts, and she gave him a bowl of Shamrocks and explained to him about St Patrick’s use of the three leaves of the Shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to those he was converting to Christianity. Next day, Bishop Daly was invited to breakfast with the Pope and the bowl of Shamrocks was sitting on the breakfast table.”

Ursula Clifford also gave examples of Breedge O’Connell’s obviously great sense of humour.

“Breedge and another girl were in charge of checking out the concert venues while we were on tour. We were in the Napa Valley in California not too far from San Francisco. They set off the fire alarm in the process of checking out the hall and the fire brigade came. Breedge had the cheek to ask them for photographs posing on the fire engine.

“On another occasion we were singing somewhere down south, and we stopped in Castleblayney on the way home for dinner and for her to give out her presents. She had intended giving her sister-in-law who was in the choir a parcel with a joke spring inside which flew out when you opened the box. But before she’d given Agnes the box, Dick Spring walked into the hotel. He was out electioneering. So Breege called him over and gave him the parcel. You should have seen his face when the spring flew out of the box at him,” Ursula laughed.

“Such was the quality of her voice that Radio Foyle featured her singing ‘O Holy Night’ from the choir’s record. It was so beautiful to hear that. Breedge was also associated for many decades with Feis Dhoire Cholmcille. Breedge, Cissie Parlour and I once won the Ladies Trio competition at the feis.

“In the last years of the feis being in the Guildhall she was the one who organised the café and in her latter involvement with the feis she wrote the details on the certificates for me and used her great baking skills too when the feis moved to the Millennium Forum,” Ursula added.

Breedge married her late husband Raymond (Rakie) O’Connell in 1960 and is survived by her children John, Raymond, Maureen, Kevin, Laurie, Joanne, Gary and Bridgeen.