By Ursula Duddy
Reporter

A moving song has been written in memory of a young Derry boy who drowned last year while on holiday with his family.
The family of the late Colum Canning are hoping that a song written as a moving tribute to their son may help them to help others.
Colum, 5, drowned last year on a Christmas trip to Disneyland Paris.
His parents, Karen and David, sister, Caitlin and twin brother, Kieran were heartbroken at their loss.
However, the family are striving to honour Colum’s memory in a positive way by helping to provide equipment for a sensory room at Belmont House Special School.
Karen said the CD, ‘Just a Little Boy’, she thought it was fitting that children with learning difficulties should benefit from the touching song penned by Karen’s cousin, Paul Comaskey.
“I was talking to my cousin, I know that he writes and produces songs, and I asked him whether he would do a song for us as a family to have a memory of Colum and everything about him; he was just so unique,” she said.
“This CD is all about him. When we played it, we could just see him in the house; it really helps us as a family.
“It’s a very personal song but I wanted to do something to give something back, something that Colum could do for people.
“I can’t do anything for Colum but I can do something for somebody else that was my reason for going to Belmont.”
Karen’s twin boys were autistic and had attended Belmont House Special School at pre-school age.
“Colum went to school there and he spent a very happy time there and the teachers came every week and worked with the boys; it’s difficult what they do but the teachers are very good,” she said.
“If we can get some kind of facilities for these kids it will just make life a lot easier for them and give them a better chance of education.”
The CD, ‘Just a Little Boy’, is £5 and will be on sale at Belmont House Special School, Eurospar at Hatmore, Mace, Texaco at Hazelbank, McKeever’s in Creggan, Ferguson Fashions, William Street and City Print in Springtown Industrial Estate.
Donations can also be made to columcanningtrust@googlemail.com or alternatively at www.justgiving.com/columcanning