The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Small screen debut and big plans ahead for Listry
LISTRY GAA club members don’t do things by halves; first off they are appearing on a national TV advert for Supervalu and now they have launched a very ambitious fundraising drive to build their very own sports hall.
Last Friday TV crews arrived at Listry GAA grounds to film the advert at the same time that the East Kerry club launched a campaign to raise €250,000 – an ambitious target by any standard.
The new sports hall will have a basketball court, new dressing rooms and meeting rooms, while incorporating the existing gym and club rooms.
The entire project will cost up to €500,000 and funding sources will have to be found for the development which would be a major boost to the club. In the interim, however, the club is determined to raise as much funds as possible and has set a target of €100,000 for the first fund-raiser – a grand raffle.
Each raffle ticket will cost €10 and with 10,000 tickets on sale this will eventually raise €100,000 for the club. The first prize is a weekend stay at the Bracken Court Hotel in Dublin with Tayto Park passes and €500 spending money.
There is also a host of other prizes, including weekend breaks, restaurant vouchers and golf prizes.
The raffle will take place in the Faha Court Hotel on August 17 as part of a midsummer celebration for the club.
Chairman of the fundraising committee Denis Murphy said this week that the fundraising campaign will take time but he appealed for the local community to support their efforts.
“It will take two to three years to raise the money. This is the start of our fundraising drive. We have 16 weeks to sell as many tickets as possible and we are appealing to people to buy as many tickets as they can.”
The raffle was launched last Friday amid filming for the TV advert, which will grace screens shortly.
300 attended the celebration evening at the club where Peter and Siobhan Keane of Supervalu in Killorglin also handed out footballs to juvenile members.