Meeting gets Clare away with Irish record

ENNIS was the scene for a record-breaking gathering of people at the weekend, including one little girl aged just 10-months-old. Earlier this year a call went out to people named Clare, Claire or Clair to join together at Ennis Cathedral in a bid to break a world record for the largest gathering of people with the same name.
While targets for a European or world record were missed out on, the gathering did break an Irish record and organisers believe they have created a new record for the most people with the same name gathered in a place of the same name.
The event was organised by the Clare Volunteer Centre, held in association with The Gathering Clare 2013 and the Ennis Love: Live Music concert. During the official count, 296 people with the same name were recorded, with visitors from all over the world taking part.
Sharon Meaney of the Clare Volunteer Centre said, “We were absolutely delighted with the event, the whole atmosphere was very positive. We had Clares from Pennsylvania, New York, across Europe, Donegal. Our youngest Clare was 10-months-old and she came from Arizona. We counted 296 but people came up to us afterwards, so we are going to count up all the birth certificates when we are back in the office. We have made the Irish record for the most amount of people with the same first name. But also this is the first time in Ireland, or anywhere that I know of, that there has been as large a gathering of people with the same name in a place of the same name.
“I think that’s a fantastic achievement. We were on a high on the day and we still are. People got really emotional on the day because they were so touched by the whole event and the Ennis Gospel Choir and Ennis Brass Band were just brilliant. We had new friendships made and there were a lot of laughs and great singing.
“We had a Clare come who said she had it on her bucket list to visit the county. There was another who didn’t even know where county Clare was and one who travelled for three days. It was just amazing to see the amount of effort that people put in to travel for the event and I think that is because we asked them to come and they came.”
Vital to the organisation of the event has been the involvement of volunteers, Sharon explained. “We have an amazing team of volunteers, they made it. When people talk about the Olympics in London, they talk about the volunteers and the welcome of the volunteers, and we definitely had that in Clare at the weekend. We had volunteers on the streets, we had 40 volunteers in the Cathedral providing guidance, helping with parking and giving refreshments afterwards in the Holy Family school. It was brilliant and I believe that because we involved so many volunteers, it really gave a very genuine welcoming feel to the people coming in.”
The record attempt was part of a weekend of events that included a performance in Glór and talks by author Clare Kilroy and geneologist Clare Curtin. There was also a special Clare discount card, which was supported by local businesses.
“The businesses around the county really came on board with the initiative and the Clare’s who visited were treated to loads of special offers. The feedback we have got, particularly about the card, has been really positive. People felt they got great value and felt really special for the weekend.
“Making it a weekend of events was key to getting people to come here. We had a fantastic volunteer who did our social media campaign which was really strong and we partnered with other organisations to get the message out there. This was organisations working together and the media were also fantastic at helping to raise the profile. It really was a concerted effort and I think to have that many people in the town who would never have come to Clare for that weekend is a huge achievement,” Sharon concluded.