Blackwater concert raised over €6,000

An outdoor charity concert in the car park and garden of Corrigan’s bar in Blackwater raised over €6,000 for Wexford boy Cillian Wood Condon, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

‘We raised €6,058.57 to be exact,’ said Tina Breen, who organised the event along with with Noel Breen, Mick Butler and Jenny Butler.

‘It was amazing. I wasn’t expecting that. It was a brilliant day’.

The fundraiser was attended for a time by Cillian’s mother Sinéad Wood, his brother Oisín and his grandmother Madeleine Flanagan, and everyone was delighted to see them there, according to Tina.

There was face-painting for children courtesy of Jenny Carroll, Rosie Cullen and Christina Breen and free ice cream thanks to Spar of Blackwater as well as competitions such as ‘guess the number of jelly beans and the weight of the cake’ and a bottle stall which invited punters to throw a hoop in the hope of winning a bottle of wine.

An entertaining line-up of acts gave their services free for the afternoon including The Back Beats, John Kenny, Pat Hayes, Sport Murphy, Unhinged, Jack Ryan, the Big Rockabilly Party Band and John Delaney.

Even the weather obliged by providing sunshine for most of the day as a large number of locals and visiting holidaymakers enjoyed the event, many staying for the entire concert which continued from 1pm until 9pm. All the money raised was handed over to the Marie Keating Foundation which will present it to Cillian’s family. The courageous seven-year-old pupil of Scoil Mhuire was diagnosed with T-Cell lymphoblastic lymphoma and is facing more than three years of chemotherapy. Tina Butler thanked everyone who contributed to the success of the concert including Thomas and Mary Corrigan for the venue, the Marie Keating Foundation which provided T-shirts and collection buckets, Hazel of Tucker Transport for the trailer stage and all the bands who played free of charge. A painting by the artist Ken Flynn, a regular visitor to Blackwater, which was first prize in a raffle, was won by Richie Robb.

Organisers Tina Breen, Mick Butler, Madeleine Flanagan, Jake Pitman, Sinéad Wood, Oisin Condon, Sadie Woiod, Brian Whelan, Tina Breen and Noel Breen.

Local artist Ken Flynn, who painted a special painting of Blackwater to be raffled on the day, with organiser Tina Breen.

Laura Kehoe, Catherine Kehoe and Mary Corrigan.

Amanda Ross and Robyn Kearns.

Robby and Phyllis Darcy.

Nina Ferrick and Rita Ormonde.