Brid’s head shave for Laura Lynn

ALTHOUGH Bríd Graham can’t make a splash in the pool at the moment, she has put her positive energy to good use in another way by raising funds for Laura Lynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice.

Bríd, who runs the Sligo Splash Swim School and the Mullaghmore Splash Swim School, opted to shave her head last weekend in order to fundraise for a very worthy cause.

Her endeavours have gained a huge reaction, with donors from 11 countries and counting contributing just under €4000 as of yesterday (Monday).

Ms Graham says the idea behind her fundraising effort came from the various different people she meets on a daily basis at her swim schools.

It was also an apt time for the idea to come to fruition, as this week is the Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice Week.

Bríd said: “We’ve at any one time around 800 customers in our swim school, and that’s from all over Sligo and we have children and adults and we’ve people with additional needs and when you’ve that many people you come across so many different stories - there’s illness and there’s births and deaths and funerals, Covid-19 aside, there’s always some story going on with some customer and you’re always thinking how can I give back as a business.”

Ms Graham is familiar with giving back: the swim school has sponsored female supplies for the Sligo homeless appeal, and also contributes to the MS North West Therapy Centre. She continued: “It puts everything into perspective, we’re always complaining that we’re short of money or that we’re out of work, but then you think what would you do if you’d a sick child?”

The idea was followed by action. Over the weekend, Bríd’s husband took care of the head shaving while the action was broadcast live on Facebook to a wide-ranging audience.

“It’s very straight forward,” Bríd says of the process of establishing a fundraiser. “Laura Lynn have the whole thing so up online so you register with them, they email you a link and accept you to their Facebook group and they deal with all the money.

“I’ve got a couple of bob from all the people I know who aren’t online but in general you put up your information online, you try to keep it relevant, I put up a couple of little video as well with the children, I’ve three small children and all the customers know the kids, and they’ve missed seeing them at the pool.

“I was a little bit nervous! My husband said he’d go at it, he has experience with showing cattle and cattle clipping in the past so he went at my head without a seconds hesitation!

“We also have a lovely Australian vet living with us at the moment, she got trapped here due to Covid-19, she only came here for a weekend and she got stuck in Ireland, so she did the camera. We did it live on Facebook. I think people love the positivity.”

Bríd’s endeavours have captured the imagination, and the extent of her fundraising efforts, when put into perspective, will have a hugely positive impact for families with a sick child.

“€250 supports a family to have a weekend’s respite. You can’t buy time when you have a sick child but they’ve got medical support there, they have fun, a weekend free of stress and worry for that time.

“You get emotional thinking about it, for this money potentially if we get to €5000 that could be 20 families getting a weekend free from worry and that is just amazing.”

To find out more details on Bríd’s exploits, search for Bríd’s and William’s Laura Lynn Ireland’s Children’s Hospice fundraiser on Facebook.

The campaign remains open for donations until the end of the month.