‘James was looking down and smiling at us’
THERE were truly great scenes witnessed in the Boolteens area of Castlemaine on Sunday morning as close to 100 tractors of all shapes, size and colour rumbled through the village as part of the James Ashe Memorial Tractor Run, with organisers delighted at what they are calling an “outstanding” day.
A charity event in aid of the Palliative Care Unit in University Hospital Kerry, this was the eighth year of the tractor run, and the third year in which it has been dedicated to one of the great local fundraisers – James Ashe, who passed away from cancer on November 24, 2014.
“James was a truly, truly outstanding fundraiser for Palliative Care; this is our eighth year doing the run and in all this time, we have managed to raise close to €54,000 for the service,” said Francie Ashe, speaking to The Kerryman on Monday.
“We had 84 tractors last year and this year I think that we almost broke the 100 mark. It was outstanding; it was just unbelievable the support that we got on the day. We were so happy with how many people showed up to help out.”
“We were blessed with the weather and I like to think that James was looking down and smiling at us; he’d have been delighted with it; we’d just like to thank everybody that came out, donated money and thanks to all the pubs that helped with refreshments,” he finished.
The run started from The Anvil Bar with the long cavalcade of motors then driving through Castlemaine before heading for Milltown and Killorglin and returning to The Anvil for further refreshment.