LAST Saturday the 7th annual ‘Cliona’s Foundation Celebration Evening’ took place at Bulgaden Castle and I was delighted to be one of the guests invited to take part in this year’s celebrations.
I have long been an admirer of the charity which provides crucial financial assistance for families of critically ill children in Ireland.
The fundraiser, which is always a big event on the social calendar, proved another great success as founders Brendan and Terry Ring welcomed families who have been helped by the foundation and other guests and supporters who attended the annual event at the popular venue.
Special guests on the night included Cork girl Joanne O’Riordan who features in the documentary ‘No Limbs, No Limits’ and whom many of you may remember from her inspiring interview on ‘The Late Late Show’.
I had the honour of interviewing Joanne who was joined by her father Joe and the audience were instantly taken with her special charm and hilarious one-liners. Joanne, who was born with Tetra Amelia syndrome spoke about everything from living with her rare limb disorder to taking the Taoiseach to task, addressing the United Nations and challenging technology experts at organisations like MIT and apple to build her a robot. I then spoke with Brendan and Terry about their attempt at breaking a Guinness World record in Croke Park as part of ‘Stars, Choirs and Carols’.
While the event didn’t quite break the record, the event, hosted by Miriam O’ Callaghan and featured stars like Louis Walsh, Lisa Hannigan, The Celtic Tenors, Celine Byrne and Dublin Gospel Choir, was a great success and the couple announced on the night that they plan to break the record next Christmas!
MC for the event was Tom Tierney (no relation )and he did a fantastic job running the show. Limerick FC manager Stuart Taylor was also there as a special guest with his family and did great work entertaining the children as he gave out signed soccer balls and jerseys in a fun quiz game. Limerick Rose of Tralee Chloe Heslin was also a special guest and she and Stuart helped to give out the prizes for the monster raffle which boasted a huge array of hampers, vouchers and prizes.
Other highlights of the event saw guests enjoying delicious finger food and music by Nightfall; all the money raised on the night now goes to Cliona’s Foundation.
