Cancer fundraisers dig deep to raise a whopping €15,000
COMMUNITIES COME TOGETHER FOR CHARITY AND ALSO HELP CELEBRATE AN 80TH BIRTHDAY
DESPITE having an organising window of just under three weeks a group of enterprising people in the Ballyhack, Arthurstown, Campile and Duncannon areas managed to raise €15,000 for the Irish Cancer Society.
A number of events took place and as one of the organisers, Jenny King, pointed out to this newspaper they tried to ensure that all members of the community had the opportunity to support the fundraising.
A coffee morning event took place in Byrne’s of Ballyhack and another event was held in the King’s Bay Inn, in Arthurstown.
The five-person committee behind the campaign was composed of Ms King along with Esther Myler, Evelyn Byrne (Byrne’s Pub), Mary Lawlor (King’s Bay Inn) and Trish King.
Fundraising for the society has taken place locally in the Ballyhack area for the last five years and is ordinarily organised by Breda Flood, from Flood’s Centra in Ramsgrange.
However, this year Ms Flood asked locals if they would like to organise something and that resulted in the committee being formed.
Flood’s Centra did contribute to the overall fund by organising its own raffle and a sponsored walk in the park which took place on Saturday, October 20.
Last year €6,000 was raised for the society and the fact that this year’s events raised over twice that amount delighted the committee.
‘ There isn’t anyone who hasn’t been affected by cancer in some way,’ said Ms King.
‘Everyone was very supportive of it and the campaign received a lot an enthusiastic response locally, not just in Ballyhack and Arthurstown, but in Ramsgrange and Fethard as well,’ said Ms King.
A head and beard shave event took place on Saturday, November 10, in the King’s Bay Inn, and another, similar event took place the following night in Byrne’s Pub in Ballyhack.
Those two events alone raised €2,500 and a raffle organised by the committee raised a further €1,500.
There were some fun aspects to the fundraising too with the principal event being the ‘Presidential’ election that saw Michael Walsh, from Ballyhack - but representing Arthurstown - going up against Trish King, from Passage East.
They arrived at Byrne’s Pub on Sunday evening in a rickshaw which caused a lot of amusement among locals.
It was a close run election and despite great canvassing on the part of Ms King and her team it ended up with Mr Walsh winning the right to be called Mr President.
There is great community spirit between Ballyhack and Arthurstown and that was underlined by the manner with which the local people got fully behind the fundraising, however, there was also friendly rivalry in the election campaign which added to the overall banter of the weekend.
The success of the election initiative was such that it alone raised €6,500 for the fund.
‘We got started on the fundraising around three weeks ago and everything culminated in the events last weekend,’ said Ms King.
‘ The thing about the Irish Cancer Society is that most people can relate to what it does because if they themselves haven’t been affected by cancer they know someone who has,’ said Ms King.
There was an added bonus to the coffee morning in Byrne’s Pub as it coincided with local woman, Breda Finn, from Saltmills, celebrating her 80th birthday.
The coffee morning also gave people who might not ordinarily frequent pubs the opportunity to lend their support to the fundraising campaign and they were appreciative of being given the chance to do so.
The committee was delighted with the success of this year’s fundraising and they thanked everyone who helped. A particular word of thanks was conveyed to the people of the local community for giving their full support to the different events.