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Nenagh family raises money for rescue service
(31/07/2010)
By Simon O’Duffy
A well-known Nenagh family beset with tragedy in recent months has managed to raise over €4,000 for a voluntary river rescue service based in Carrick-on-Suir.
Edward Shoer’s family from St Joseph’s Park has had to cope with six funerals since December. Among these were Edward’s nephew Eddie, who died after being struck by a train in Nenagh last month, and his brother Pat, whose body was recovered from the River Suir in Waterford City last December.
Pat had been missing for several weeks before the Carrick-an-Suir River Rescue service retrieved his body from the river just before Christmas. The voluntary service had spent some 33 days searching for the missing Nenagh man during at times horrendous weather conditions last November and December. The body was eventually found after gardaí detected a signal from Pat’s mobile phone at a quay in the city.
The Shoer family are forever indebted to the Carrick-an-Suir River Rescue service and the lengths they went to in recovering Pat’s body.
“We cannot thank them enough,” said Edward. “Everyone remembers the bad weather we had last winter, and those guys were out in that day and night looking for him. They thought Pat had gone into the river but didn’t know where exactly. When his phone was pinged to the pier, I phoned Carrick River Rescue on a Tuesday, and he was found the following Friday.”
The Shoer family built up a close relationship with the rescue service, several members of which came to Nenagh to attend Eddie’s funeral last month.
As a means of expressing their gratitude, the Nenagh family decided to launch a fundraising campaign for Carrick-on-Suir River Rescue, which does not receive any State funding.
Through a series of initiatives, including a recent street collection, supermarket collection, raffles and school events, the Shoer’s have so far raised €4,207 for the rescue service. The money was presented to service members when they visited Nenagh recently.
Michael Hickey, chairman of Carrick-an-Suir River Rescue, said the money will go towards the purchase of sonar equipment, which will help the service locate bodies quicker in difficult conditions, thereby saving families a lot of time and grief. He said the service, which operates all over the country and in one year alone recovered 13 bodies from a 17-mile stretch of the Suir, is totally voluntary and always grateful for support.
“We are dependent on people like the Shoer family,” said Mr Hickey. “We don’t normally take money from the families we help, but when they said they were going to do a fundraiser in Nenagh we were delighted, and it has been a great success. We have built up a very close relationship with the Shoer family.”
The Shoer’s will tell their story on Tipp FM’s ‘Down Your Way’ programme this Thursday (July 29) at 7pm. Edward wished to thank the people of Nenagh and local businesses for supporting and sponsoring the fundraising campaign. He said further fundraising is planned for the autumn.
Edward also wanted to thank Garda Olive McNamara of Nenagh Garda Station, who accompanied his nephew Eddie to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick last month, and remained with him until he died. |
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