A MOCK wedding that took place in Scariff 11 years ago, will end in ‘divorce’ next month in Mountshannon.
The novel events are part of a fundraising campaign spearheaded by Shay O’Neill and Niamh Waterstone.
The ‘wedding’ raised €12,500 for cancer services, and it is hoped that the ‘divorce’ will generate around €10,500 for Raheen Community Hospital.
The comedy night, which takes place at Cois na hAbhna in Mountshannon on October 1, will also pay tribute to the memory of two East Clare women who worked at the Tuamgraney facility.
Members of the families of the late Maria Bugler and Annette Turner, both of whom were from Mountshannon, are also involved in the fundraiser which will support dementia services.
“Maria was great craic,” Shay said. “She was one of the bridesmaids at the mock wedding. She and Annette are really missed. We were thinking about them. I got in touch with their husbands about this idea and they were delighted. We wanted to help Raheen because they were both nurses there and really cared about their work.”
The mock wedding, which had a guest list of 250 people at Rodgers’s in Scariff, joined together Brendan Lynch from Kilmaley and Orla O’Brien of Bodyke.
“We had mighty craic,” Shay said. “We had it mind to do a follow up, but things got in the way. We’re back now with ‘The Divorce’ which will see the court case play out in front of the audience.
“Noel Daley from Ogonnelloe who is a fierce character will be the judge. Noel Hogan from Mountshannon played father-of-the-groom and he’s back now to speak up for his son. Ger Power from Scariff will be there as the groom’s brother.
“Pete Halloran will be father-of-the-bride and my own mum, Frances O’Neill from Tuamgraney is mother-of-the-bride. I’m the solicitor for the groom and John Hogan will represent the bride. The Clerk of the Court is Niall Bugler from Scariff.”
Events get underway on Saturday, October 1, at 5pm with an interval for dinner between the first and second act. Music from Alan Tubridy follows. More than 200 tickets have already been sold and there is a waiting list currently for anyone else hoping to attend. “We sold 140 in a day as soon as the tickets went up on Facebook,” Shay said.
“We’re now looking at a marquee so we might be able to increase the capacity a bit.”
Shay, who is a Scariff-based fireman, said comedy is a bit of a hobby of his. Asked if there is any chance of a reconciliation between the warring couple, Shay said: “It’s hard to see that happening”. He did reveal that the comedy is “not for the politically correct”.
“We’ve made that clear on the posters and told people that if they’re easily offended, that’s tough. It’s going to be a right bit of fun.”
The plan for proceeds of ‘The Divorce’ is to purchase a special ‘Tovertafel’, an interactive games table for people that can provide therapy for people with dementia. “We asked the team at Raheen what they need and told us where we could see how this ‘Magic Table’ works,” Shay explained.
“Mary Cassidy from Raheen handles all donations and, on our committee, we also have Maria’s husband and Annette’s sister.”
There are opportunities for sponsors to get involved. “We know how much businesses are struggling right now,” Shay said. “We haven’t been bothering them for that reason, but we would love if any of them could get on board.”
Shay and Niamh can be contacted on 087-6552454.