But the best was still to come! For the Sands Family Folk Group was invited to play at the most prestigious venue in the world, Carnegie Hall in New York, where Bill Fuller`s wife, the celebrated singer, Carmel Quinn, was starring at an Irish American Gala.

En route to the show, the group, carrying their instruments, stopped a passer-by and asked: “How do we get to Carnegie Hall?” Looking with sympathy at the young Mayobridge musicians, he responded: “Practice, practice!”

Entering the East German hit parade, the single held the number one slot for six weeks. They also toured Canada, Scotland, Austria and Italy, as well as appearing at international music festivals in Eastern Europe, where there was great interest in events, unfolding in Northern Ireland.

Top television producers like David Hammond and Tony McAuley featured the group in a number of folk music television series. And in Dublin they attracted the attention of the giant EMI record company.

A year of triumph and tragedy followed in 1975 for, while the classic Sands Family album, “You’ll be well looked after,” produced by Donal Lunny, proved an immense success, a few months later came the shock killing of Eugene “Dino” Sands in a car accident near Hamburg.

For a time it looked as if the Sands Family Folk Group was finished. But into the breach stepped Ben, and the albums kept coming, - every one a hit. And a special “The Sands family at home” album featured tracks, recorded at the farmhouse near Mayobridge, featuring songs by their parents, Mick and Bridie, as well as their sister, Mary and “Dino.”

One project with which they have been involved at Rostrevor, - where Colum, Tommy and Anne now have their homes, - is the annual Fiddlers Green Festival, established in 1987, which has attracted top-class artistes to the village, now one of Ireland’s top music venues.

Their Silver Jubilee in 1994 was marked by a gala concert in Belfast’s Grand Opera House, attended by friends from the music industry, television, radio, press and politics, as well as fans who have remained faithful for quarter of a century.

Meanwhile, Tommy Sands has a simple philosophy: "I can’t move mountains with songs, but I can try to help Protestants and Catholics to understand each other better. If they can be reconciled, I believe the politicians would be forced to reconcile as well.”

However, in 1974, came the tragic event, which sparked that classic song: “There were roses.” A Protestant friend of Tommy was killed in an act of senseless violence. And when loyalists sought a Catholic to kill in retaliation, they ironically chose a man, who had been a good friend of the original victim, and of Tommy Sands.

Shortly afterwards, he was invited by the UDA to visit their offices, noticing a book on Gandhi and Celtic pictures on the wall. Later, he found himself at the headquarters of Sinn Fein in West Belfast, and saw the similarities.

In 1996, he was involved in organising the historic Citizens Assembly in Belfast. There, in a climate of neighbourliness and humanity, the North’s finest artists, literary figures and representatives of all political parties, sat down together for the first time.

Two years later, Tommy Sands was invited by President McAleese to organise and participate in a special North/South cultural concert at Aras an Uachtarain. And, a few months afterwards, he was requested to address a special conference of UNESCO on the subject of “Culture and peace.”

And, of course, he serenaded the delegates taking part in the negotiations, leading to the Good Friday Agreement.

Just returned from appearing at Las Vegas and Jerusalem respectively, Tommy and Colum Sands have been promoting their latest albums, “Hope in the morning” and “To shorten the winter,” planning for another year, when this talented Mayobridge family will be top of the hit parade!

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