Big day out for Broadford’s Ashleigh and Yvonne

IT was a day with a difference on Monday for a Broadford hotel sales director and her five-year-old cousin as they helped former Republic of Ireland and Manchester United soccer star, Roy Keane, to launch a charity campaign.
Yvonne McNamara, director of sales at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dublin asked another Broadford native Ashleigh McNamara to help launch the ninth annual Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind Shades campaign.
This campaign, which focuses on raising funds for the training of guide and assistance dogs for people living with sight loss or autism, runs until Sunday.
Ashleigh, who celebrated her fifth birthday on Tuesday, travelled to Dublin with her parents, Leslie and Conor and her two siblings for a holiday break. Speaking to The Clare Champion, Leslie said Ashleigh thoroughly enjoyed the photoshoot.
“Ashleigh was thrilled to meet Roy Keane. I could not believe how nice he was to all the children and how interested and knowledgeable he was about the charity and how it has helped transform the lives of people with sight loss and autism.
“Roy Keane played with all the children, spoke to them about their interests and what they were doing and was very good with them,” she added.
Ashleigh is in junior class in Broadford National School and loves visiting the ponies and other farm animals on her grandparents’ farm run by Patrick McNamara in Broadford.
Shades pins will be on sale in Paddy Power shops and retailers nationwide and volunteers will take to the streets during May to sell pins and drum up funds for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Speaking at the launch, Roy Keane said, “It’s amazing to see the incredible difference a guide or assistance dog makes to an individual or family. I’m a great admirer of their work and the effort put in by their volunteers and staff in making a difference to others.” 
To find out more, go to www.guidedogs.ie or call 1850 506 300.