Fundraising show for Shinrone church
Top night of music planned on Friday
Country music performer, Olivia Douglas, will be performing in Dooly’s Hotel, Birr on Friday, July 4, in aid of the Shinrone Church of Ireland Restoration Fund. Trevor & PJ, local music duo from Shinrone, will also be performing on the night.
Hazel Green, committee member with the Church of Ireland Restoration Fund Team, outlined the plan for this exciting evening. “It’s a country music dance; Olivia Douglas is our main event. There will be a band first, PJ and Trevor, and then between the acts there will be finger food.”
Every ticket sold will be contributing to the preservation of Shinrone Church of Ireland. Admissions tickets are €20 and can be purchased from local parishioners, at the door on the night, or tickets can be reserved in advance of the night by calling 087 3555839.
Church Restoration Fund
“The church is 200-years-old. The roof certainly needs a bit of work because it’s making the walls weep, so we need some work done on that, but always with an old building there’s something to be done,” added Hazel.
“We’ve recently completed some work in the graveyard with trees but the next thing that we really need to do is the roof. That’s what we are gathering money for at the moment,
“If people buy tickets for the dance that would be brilliant, that’s our main focus at the moment. Any contribution is wonderful. Most of the funds are raised through fundraisers whether we have dances, or fashion shows.
“It seems to be quiet constant really to try and maintain these buildings, but it’s a lovely parish and it’s really well kept,
“It does mostly come down to a few people, you end up going back to the same people again and again to fundraise, this event is hopefully an appeal to a wider group of people, it will hopefully attract people who wouldn’t normally know of us or contribute to the fund.”
About the talent
Olivia Douglas, from Ferbane, County Offaly, will be performing both Irish country covers and original songs at this event.
She commented: “I sing country and Irish music. I would have grown up playing a lot of traditional music, but country and Irish music is what I sing now,
“I’ll be doing a mixture of everything, I’ll be doing a bit of my own songs as well, and there will be a bit of accordion.”
Attendees of the event can look forward to hearing ‘A Hug or Two’, ‘The Girl for You’, ‘Leaving Tipperary’ and a good few more of Olivia’s original Irish country songs during the event.
“I’m really looking forward to it!” added the Irish country singer.
“It’ll be a night of dancing and if they don’t want to dance, people can listen and sing along.”