VOLUNTEERS AT THE CENTRE OF OLD FAIR DAY

THE Old Fair Day Festival in Tubbercurry is run entirely by volunteers who spend months and months planning and preparing for the annual event.

As Sligo is the current European Capital of Volunteering, the Sligo Volunteer Centre paid a visit to Tubbercurry on Wednesday.

Ciara Herity, Manager of Sligo Volunteer Centre, said the organisers of the Old Fair Day Festival are to be admired.

“They have a big committee working on the organisation of the event and it’s only when you look into it you realise the scale of the logistics. There’s all the stall holders, what they do in case of an emergency, traffic management, everything - there is so much behind it,” she told The Sligo Champion.

“I don’t think people realise that the whole event is run by volunteers. They put so much work into it,” he added.

Fair Day attendees were very interested in the Volunteer Centre and what they do.

“People are passing by all day, they’re very interested in what we’re doing. We have brochures here for people so yeah we’ve got a good reaction today.”

As for the year of volunteering itself, Ciara says it’s going well and raising awareness of volunteering opportunities.

“It’s going really well. We’re getting a lot of businesses involved. It’s all about promoting volunteering and raising awareness really of what volunteers do.

“Some people don’t realise that events are run entirely by volunteers so it’s just about making people more aware of that kind of thing. We’ve seen a lot more interest from people in volunteering this year. It’s also about recognising people who are already volunteering.”

And the plans are already in place for the closing ceremony at the end of the year.

“It’s only August but we’re already looking at the closing ceremony for the year and recognising all of those who volunteered and helped out throughout the year. We’ ll be wrapping up with businesses and companies too.”