The town that goes yellow for Daffodil Day

For four years now, the Boyneside town of Drogheda had embraced Daffodil Day by turning yellow in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. Shops, offices, restaurants and pubs show their support for this important charity by decorating their premises with daffodils and yellow accessories - and are happy to pay to do so.

This impressive display is thanks to the Drogheda branch of the Irish Cancer Society, which spearheaded by Lizanne Allen, works tirelessly to make Daffodil Day a success.

Lizanne has been involved with the Irish Cancer Society for over thirty years and now heads the committee of ten women who rope in family, friends, colleagues and neighbours to make sure that Daffodil Day doesn’t go unnoticed in Drogheda.

They have certainly succeeded as last year’s event helped them raise €102,000 for the Irish Cancer Society and the town’s amazing support for Daffodil Day, which has made them the biggest fundraising town in the country, has also featured on Nationwide.

‘It takes up about two months of my life for something wonderful,’ says Lizanne. ‘When I first got involved in the old Conquer Cancer campaign, I had to explain what I was doing. Now everyone knows about Daffodil Day and it’s such a great idea, as the daffodil is a symbol of new life and hope. The response we get from the people and businesses in Drogheda is absolutely amazing. It is lovely to see so much yellow around the town, to see so many people supporting the Irish Cancer Society as cancer is a disease which affects so many people in this part of the country.’

For weeks now, Lizanne and her crew of volunteers have been busy making yellow pom poms and other decorations which they supply to shops for a small donation.

‘I did window dressing in the past and a friend is a window dresser so we will decorate a lot of shop windows,’ she explains. ‘We also do floral bouquets which we sell to restaurants and businesses to display for €50.’

Following the initiative of this hard working band of volunteers, many local businesses also make their own contributions to Daffodil Day, donating a per centage of sales etc, to the Irish Cancer Society.

‘All the money we raise goes to the Irish Cancer Society for research and night nursing,’ says Lizanne. ‘A lot of money comes back to this area, as the Society supports the Gary Kelly Centre, the oncology unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, and the bowel cancer screening service at the Louth County Council.’

In addition to their trojan efforts for Daffodil Day, the committee are also busy organising their annual fashion show, which takes place on Thursday April 6 in the Westcourt Hotel.

Anyone who would like to help out on Daffodil Day should contact Lizanne at 086 2774271