Dunbar’s marks 135 years with a massive fundraiser
THERE’S NOT too many businesses out there that can boast 135 years trading, but one of them is Dunbars in Ferns who celebrated reaching the milestone by raising funds for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital.
The popular Ferns haunt has managed to last through six generations and is still going strong and they decided that a celebration was in order back last month as they marked the occasion.
While perhaps 135 years in business is enough of an excuse for a party, it was also decided that they would raise money for a great cause and a fundraising committee was set up among the customers to try and ensure as much money was raised from the event as possible. In the end, they were blown away with the result and were able to hand over a cheque for €3,357 to Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
‘It was a fantastic weekend here,’ said owner Tom Dunbar. ‘The weather was beautiful. It was like being in Spain or something! We had a big draw; we had buckets out and we even had a pig on a spit one of the nights. A grandchild of mine had some problems and was up in Crumlin at one stage, so we saw first hand the great work they do and that’s why we wanted to give something back. We are absolutely delighted with the reaction we got and we’d like to thank everyone who contributed in any way.’
Tom particularly thanked Martin Murphy, Michael O’Brien, Seamus Redmond and the rest of the organising committee for all their hard work and hopes that the money can be put to good use to help children from right across the country.