The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
AROUND 250 people turned out for a welcoming barbecue held at Wolfe Tones on Saturday, with around 100 of them newly arrived Ukrainians.
It was the brainchild of the Love Shannon Community Council as the group’s Assistant Secretary Fiona O’Brien Maxwell explained.
“We had a member of the group who said it’d be great if we could organise a barbecue and get someone like Wolfe Tones to host it for us. I know the operations manager through work, we supply Wolfe Tones with a lot of stuff so I got onto Paul Hogan there and he said just give me a hand in pulling one or two bits together and we’ll make it work. It grew legs from there, basically it was a welcome barbecue and it was open to the whole town.”
All were welcome to attend and Love Shannon gave transport to the club for the new arrivals. “The invitation was extended to the town basically, to whoever could make it. Love Shannon helped to organise lifts from the Park Inn, people were brought down from the hotel there.”
“We were expecting in the region of 250 and we probably had a bit more than that. It was very well attended, between the two hotels there were around 100 refugees and the rest of it was made up with people from the town.
“There were all age groups there from a baby that is few months old to a grandmother who arrived in the Oakwood last week to her three grandchildren, she’s well into her eighties. It was a lovely mixture.”
Fortunately the weather was very suitable. “The weather was gorgeous, it was like the sun had been waiting for us! We had a few musicians from Mary Lynch’s school of music. There were some set dancers who came in from Sixmilebridge and there was a trad music session from them.
“Paul and myself had got on to local businesses and all the food was donated. The two butchers, John Quinn and Denver Morrissey donated the meat, Darragh over in Texaco organised more meat and burger buns and salads.
“The Wolfe Tones picked up some of the bits and pieces that weren’t supplied, the fruit and veg shop donated a lot of things, Tea & Tones organised two or three hundred cupcakes. Cleanwell, which my Mam and Dad own, donated all the napkins and plates and cups.”
She said that there is a group of about 50 people who are available to bring the refugees to things like doctor’s appointments, and that there is a lot of generosity on show in Shannon.
“It’s lovely to be able to say that the spirit of Shannon is amazing, I can’t sing the praises high enough.”
Fiona said that it is similar to when Chilean refugees came to Shannon many years ago, in that the desire to provide help is very strong.
People could make donations to local relief efforts at the barbecue and Fiona said that while there are some expenses, local businesses have been very helpful to the newcomers.
“Any of the money collected was going back to local relief efforts, we’ve had a couple of people with broken glasses and things. Actually there was a 15 year old in one of the hotels who broke his tooth a week after he arrived. Fergus Dental brought him up and treated him and wouldn’t even charge for it.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
