Dance lessons in Dunganon honours the memory of late teen

Country tunes blazed around the hall at St Patrick’s College, Dungannon, as wannabe jiving kings and queens put their best foot forward to help celebrate the 16th birthday of the late Matthew McCallan in a ‘way he would have loved’.

Poignantly taking place on what would have been Matthew’s 16th birthday, the well-attended event on Monday past featured jiving lessons, and saw its enthusiastic participants don their brown jackets and matching brown shoes – and learn how to dance.

‘Loved all-things tang’

The only son of Frances and Peter McCallan, Matthew went missing after attending the Jamboree in the Park Winter Wonderland in the Ecclesville Centre more than three months ago. The 15-year-old’s body was found two days later, and a post-mortem indicated that he died of hypothermia.

Described as a ‘most handsome young man’ who was ‘such a witty character with the most beautiful smile’, Matthew was a boy who loved all things ‘Tang!’, from tractors to horses, to getting mucked from head to toe – and, of course, country music.

The jiving extravaganza succeed a poignant 15-mile charity tractor run from Carrickmore to Dungannon earlier in the day, which saw a cavalcade of approximately 300 tractors, both vintage and modern, proudly take to the streets, which were lined with scores of onlookers.

In aid of charity

All proceeds raised from both events, organised by Matthew’s loving family, were aid of Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) Ireland. Established in 1987, the voluntary 999 / 112 emergency search and rescue organisation is concerned with the training, assessment and deployment of air scenting search and rescue dogs to search for missing persons.

The dog teams, which consist of the handler and their dog, search anywhere in Ireland, and are effective in the mountains, woodlands, rural and urban areas, waterways and seashore, and can help to locate accident or disaster victims.

If you’d like to see for yourself how the jiving participants got on, make sure and check out St Patrick’s College, Dunganon’s Facebook page for a top class video of the event.

The McCallan family have expressed their thanks to everyone who helped support Matthew’s special birthday events.