Students at St Colman’s College have released a cover of Lean On Me – and it’s proving to be a hit.
A charity single recorded by a group of schoolboys for their classmate with cancer went straight to the top of the iTunes chart.
The cover of Lean On Me, recorded by transition year students at St Colman’s College in Fermoy, was released on Wednesday morning and within an hour or so had shot to the the top of the Irish iTunes downloads chart.
“Everybody at St Colman’s College is so, so, so excited to be after reaching the number position on iTunes in Ireland literally not even an hour after the release of the download,” music teacher Sarah Barry, who has led the project, told the Press Association.
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The money raised from the single will go to support the classmate of the boys who has cancer and Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin, where he is being treated, as well as Ronald McDonald House and the national children’s ambulance service Bumbleance.
The song was recorded last week along with a video, which is set to be released on Thursday, after the class suggested to Miss Barry they would like to do something to raise money.
“The boys are just so supportive of their friend who has been diagnosed with cancer and is being treated at Crumlin Children’s Hospital at the moment so it’s an incredible cause,” she said.
“We just would love everybody to get behind it.”
Miss Barry brought in producer Mark Cahill to help record the song and her own vocals also appear on the track alongside the boys, who are 15 and 16-year-old transition year students at the school in County Cork.
She said that, aside from raising as much money as possible with the track, they were “aiming for Christmas number one in Ireland”.
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As of Wednesday, the track was holding off the likes of X Factor winner Dalton Harris and Mark Ronson to sit at the top of the iTunes chart which, unlike the singles chart, continues to update and change throughout the week.
LESBOS, Greece (AP) — Most drowned making the hazardous sea crossing from nearby Turkey, while others died of natural causes in migrant camps on the Greek island of Lesbos.
After years of neglect, a makeshift burial ground for migrants on the island has been cleaned up and landscaped to provide a dignified resting place for the dead, and for their relatives to visit.
Earth Medicine, the Lesbos-based charity that handled the project near the village of Kato Tritos, formally handed over the redesigned cemetery to municipal officials on Wednesday.
“We wanted it to be clear that this was a burial ground, (mostly) for people who died at sea — some of whom have been identified while others have not,” Earth Medicine spokesman Dimitris Patounis said. “It used to be just a field.”
For years, Lesbos has been a major destination for people seeking a better life in the European Union. They leave Turkish shores crammed into small, unseaworthy vessels provided by smuggling gangs. About 3,800 people have made the journey so far this year.
Before the intervention, the weed-choked graves were marked by a simple stone with a number written on it by marker, or, in the rare cases when it was available, a name. Currently, about 200 neat, uniform gray slabs filled with white gravel cover each grave, clearly listing whatever is known of the occupant.
“Now people will be able to visit when their (dead) relatives are identified,” Patounis said.
Officials stress that the burial ground is nondenominational, with recent inhumation services conducted by an Imam, a Greek Orthodox or a Catholic priest, according to the deceased's known beliefs.
“This was done with human dignity in mind, without any religious affiliation,” Patounis said.
The cemetery lies about a kilometer (½ mile) outside Kato Tritos in central Lesbos, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the island capital of Mytilini. Other migrants have been buried in the past in municipal cemeteries in other parts of the island, but this is the only burial ground specifically for migrants.
Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
A grave of an unknown refugee is seen at the cemetery in Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. After years of neglect, a primitive burial ground for refugees who died trying to reach Greece's island of Lesbos has been cleaned up and redesigned to provide a dignified resting place for the dead. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)
A cemetery is seen from above at Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. After years of neglect, a primitive burial ground for refugees who died trying to reach Greece's island of Lesbos has been cleaned up and redesigned to provide a dignified resting place for the dead. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)
A boy lays flowers on a grave at the cemetery in Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. After years of neglect, a primitive burial ground for refugees who died trying to reach Greece's island of Lesbos has been cleaned up and redesigned to provide a dignified resting place for the dead. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)
A woman walks at the cemetery in Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. After years of neglect, a primitive burial ground for refugees who died trying to reach Greece's island of Lesbos has been cleaned up and redesigned to provide a dignified resting place for the dead. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)
People visit the cemetery at Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. After years of neglect, a primitive burial ground for refugees who died trying to reach Greece's island of Lesbos has been cleaned up and redesigned to provide a dignified resting place for the dead. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)
A cemetery is seen from above at Kato Tritos village on the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. After years of neglect, a primitive burial ground for refugees who died trying to reach Greece's island of Lesbos has been cleaned up and redesigned to provide a dignified resting place for the dead. (AP Photo/Panagiotis Balaskas)
