A theatre in Derry is asking people to come forward with their stories about when John Hume or his late wife Pat showed them an act of goodwill.
The Playhouse, based on Artillery Street, is currently producing a musical drama about the life of John Hume ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement next year.
'Beyond Belief' will be performed in Hume’s native Derry to commemorate the deal that largely ended years of violent conflict was signed.
Read more: Derry street artist tells the story behind new John Hume mural
The John and Pat Hume Foundation are also currently working alongside The Playhouse theatre to create the musical drama.
Speaking earlier this month, Playhouse CEO Kevin Murphy said: “The difference that The Playhouse and The John and Pat Hume Foundation both make is that we bring people together to effect meaningful change creatively, peacefully and with hope.”
In a video released by The Playhouse, Bogside Artist, Tom Kelly shared his story about the time the iconic couple helped him and his two colleagues.
The Bogside Artists first began working together in 1993 to document the events surrounding the Northern Ireland Troubles.
With supplies donated from local residents, the trio of artists painted several murals on the walls of Rossville Street buildings commemorating the Battle of Bogside and Bloody Sunday.
From 1994 to 2008, they painted a total of twelve murals on this street in the Bogside, which they named The People's Gallery.
"John and Pat Hume were good steady supporters of the Bogside Artists and people's gallery," Tom said. "They understood the division we had to create an open-air art gallery for the city.
"We had a wee studio down there in the Bogside, behind the Bogside Inn. It was a bold move on our part given the fact all of the murals were supported by the local public with their donations, and we ran into difficulties," he added.
"We were two months behind in our rent and it look like everything was in jeopardy, you know, the fulfilling of our vision to paint Rossville Street. It looked like we would be evicted from our studio."
"Brendan McDaid, who was a local reporter, made our story public at that time. I guess John read it.
He would've come around to our studio regularly, but on this particular day, we were at our wit's end basically. We heard the knock on the door and it was a typical Derry rainy day. We opened it and there stood John and Pat Hume. We invited them in but they declined, which was unusual."
He continued: "He handed me this white envelope in my hand and I said 'thank you very much', not knowing what it was. I thought it might've been an invitation to do something.
"We went back into the gallery, with Will [Kelly] and Kevin [Hasson], the other two Bogside Artists, and sat around the wee table as we did. We opened the letter and inside was a £250 cheque and a nice letter along with it which read that they believed in our project, believed in us, and they wished us well going forward.
"It really touched, not our heads, but our hearts. It gives that insight into the character of both John and Pat Hume. We were forever grateful."
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