Frequent visitor to Tipperary produces inspirational musical

A lady who has a great fondness for Tipperary and particularly for the Tipperary Peace Convention, has written a musical which is inspired by the true story of a pioneering, selfless doctor and author.

A number of songs from the musical were premiéred on Saturday September 23rd at the Mast Mayflower Studios in Southampton. Award-winning composer and songwriter, Helen Bonney, who is living in Southampton, has written the musical titled 'Always a Rainbow'.

The dream of writing a musical came true for Helen after being influenced by the actions of WW2 hero, Dr. Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit, a Polish Jewish educator and children's author.

Korczak who spent many years working as a principal of an orphanage in Warsaw, refused sanctuary repeatedly and stayed with his orphans when the entire population of the institution was sent from the ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp during the Grossaktion Warschau of 1942.

The Tipperary connection is very evident in the musical as one of the songs 'Soft Whispers' which was written by Helen, was placed second at the Tipperary International Song of Peace Contest in 2006.

Helen also wrote a song titled 'Peace begins with a Smile' which was performed at the presentation ceremony for the then UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, when he received the Tipperary International Peace Award in Tipperary in May 2015.

Helen Bonney has been a frequent visitor to Tipperary over the years and even launched a children's book titled 'The Woppapotamus From Titan' at the Tipperary Excel during one of her visits.

I was very pleased to be able to travel to Southampton for the premiére of Helen's songs at the musical on September 23rd.

I was glad to have the opportunity to congratulate Helen and to make a presentation to her on the occasion, and to wish her every success with her plans for the staging of the full musical.