WITH THE start of the Euro 2016 football tournament in France just over three months away, the London Northern Ireland Supporters’ Club (London NISC) have just launched a fundraising fan's single.
‘Making Our Way to Paris’ by The London Green and White Army is a light-hearted cover of the Smokie classic hit ‘Living Next Door to Alice’ that hopes to raise funds for the Northern Ireland based charity Cancer Fund for Children.
Fermanagh man Richard Cathcart, the ardent Northern Ireland fan behind the song, got the idea while in a bar in Bucharest for Northern Ireland's game with Romania in 2014. When the Smokie song 'Living Next Door to Alice' came on the jukebox, Richard changed to lyrics to ‘Making Our Way to Paris’, which went down well with his fellow Northern Ireland fans in the bar that night.
Richard Cathcart, the man behind the song, is pictured with Chrissy Wegrzynski. Photo - Malcolm McNally
Richard Cathcart, the man behind the song, is pictured with Chrissy Wegrzynski. Photo - Malcolm McNallyAfter Northern Ireland had qualified for Euro 2016, he decided to to write a whole song and spoke to his musician friend Steve Wegrzynski, who set the wheels in motion and arranged and recorded the song. London NISC members, who represent all backgrounds in Northern Ireland and come from across London and SE England, volunteered to muck in and help with the project.
The song was officially launched recently at the fan's base, Philomena’s Irish Sports Bar in Covent Garden in London, where the fully mastered recording was played in full for the first time in public. The large turnout of London NISC members also performed an acoustic version which was sung with gusto, as it will in France later this year.
London NISC members outside Philomena’s Irish Sports Bar in Central London. Photo - Malcolm McNally
London NISC members outside Philomena’s Irish Sports Bar in Central London. Photo - Malcolm McNally