Organ Scholarship Awards Service

Tuesday August 27th 2024

The Annual Down and Dromore and Connor Organ Scholarship Scheme Awards Service of Choral Evensong will be held on Sunday September 15 at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.

The guest preacher will be the Very Rev Roderick Smyth, formerly Dean of Killaloe.

The service begins at 3.30pm, with music from 3pm by the scheme’s final year scholars. There will be refreshments after the service.

The Down, Dromore and Connor Organ Scholarship Scheme was established in 1990 thanks to a then anonymous benefactor who, recognising the importance of the ministry of music in parish life and worship, provided a generous endowment to train organists in the two dioceses.

In the past year, that benefactor has been revealed as Mrs Patricia MacKean, who died on December 23 last at the age of 94. In recent years, Mrs MacKean has quietly attended the annual awards services, and was present at the 2023 awards, held in St Columba’s, Knock.

Born in London, Mrs MacKean moved to Northern Ireland in 1950, living with her husband, the late Major George MacKean and five children on the family estate, Loughanmore House, near Parkgate, Co Antrim. She sang in the choir and was a regular attender at St John’s, Donegore, and St Patrick’s, Templepatrick. You can read more about Mrs MacKean’s life in this tribute published online in the Antrim Guardian.