Host of golden daffodils hands them over to cancer society

WITH Daffodil Day fast approaching, Gormanston farmer Darragh McCullough is busy ensuring that the 74,000 daffodils he is donating to the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) are ready for the charity's main fundraiser this Friday.

The blooms, which will be sold by the society's Louth and Meath branches, have all to be picked by hand so Darragh and his workers have been enduring a very busy couple of days this week.

Darragh, who is also a journalist and broadcaster, grows 30 acres of daffodils on his farm in Gormanston, supplying to supermarket chains, including Tesco and Lidl.

His donation will supply the Louth and Meath branches of the ICS with all the blooms they need for Friday's fundraising campaign.

The Irish Cancer Society is still looking for volunteers to help raise funds on Daffodil Day this Friday. Anyone who wants to help out with the fundraising campaign is asked to contact the society on 1850 60 60 60 or by e-mail to fundraising@irishcancer.ie

Every daffodil sold on Friday helps the Irish Cancer Society provide quality care and emotional support to people affected by cancer through free, nationwide nursing and cancer information services.

The main work of the society is the delivery of nursing services to patients with cancer throughout Ireland. These services include funding hospital-based oncology liaison nurses, community-based night nursing for patients in their home, and home care nursing teams. The society operates a FreeFone Cancer Helpline, staffed by fully qualified nurses, which receives almost 6,000 calls annually.

There are a number of activities taking place in Meath over the next week or so to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. Athboy Macra are busy organising a charity ball which will take place in the Old Darnley Lodge Hotel in Athboy on Saturday 15th March. The ball starts at 8.30pm with a drinks reception, followed by a meal. Tickets cost €50 and all proceeds go to the Irish Cancer Society.

Meanwhile, the Marriott Hotel, Ashbourne, hosted its first 'Help Give Cancer The Boot' black tie ball on Saturday last to support the Marie Keating Foundation.

The evening kicked off with a champagne reception and Gerard Byrne from 'Fair City' was the MC.