The charity fundraisers involved in the revived and 11th Paudie Fitzmaurice Memorial Tractor and All-Vehicle Run were delighted with the returns from the early October run this year.
This year’s chosen beneficiary, Castleisland Day Care Centre, recently received a cheque for €6,800 at an informal cheque presentation ceremony at the centre.
The day care centre was chosen by the ad-hoc organising group as it was unable to stage its own cycle fundraiser early last September due to spiralling insurance costs.
List of Local Charities
The group which set up the event in 2012 in memory of their friend and local, ever obliging taxi-man, Paudie Fitzmaurice, has now raised and gifted a total of €104,100 to a list of local charities.
This year’s run attracted over 100 vehicles of all descriptions from Honda 50s to high powered tractors as they took to the roads from Cordal through Castleisland and onto Currow and back to Cordal.
The fine, dry Sunday afternoon of October 2nd facilitated the grand turnout as onlookers were left guessing at the millions worth of farm machinery on the passing parade that day. The run was preceded on the Saturday by a bucket collection on the streets in Castleisland.
A Heart-warming Turn-Out
Cllr. Charlie Farrelly described the turnout as ‘heart-warming’ afterwards as he thanked all who participated and contributed.
“To be honest with you it’s heart-warming to see the levels of commitment and contributions made to this event and what it’s raising funds for,” said Cllr. Farrelly who led the run on the day.
“All the proceeds have gone to the day care centre because they lost their annual fundraising cycle because of exorbitant insurance costs being levied on such events now.
Growing Awareness
“It’s the kind of spirit that binds communities and we can see that the younger generation, represented so well by Paudie’s and Mary’s family, are growing up with an awareness of the needs of the community around them – and that can only be good,” he said.
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