Vintage run raised over €8k
Charity benefits from well-supported event
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Angela Coffey (right), co-ordinator of the vintage tractor and car run, with representatives of the beneficiaries, Breda Lenihan, Fionn Goodwin and Mary Moran.Image 2 of 5
Charlie, Danny and Liam Crosse, Killoscully, with their family’s 1971 Zetor 5611 tractor participating in the vintage run.Image 3 of 5
Pat Hogan, Rearcross, with his 1965 Massey Fergusion 135 at the tractor run.Image 4 of 5
Billy (2), Fiadh (5) and Paddy (1) and their parents, Megan and Shane Lenihan, Newport, and their vintage Toyota at the fundraiser.Image 5 of 5
Brendan with Vincent O’Toole’s traditional Grey Fergie 20 from the late 1950s or early 1960s taking part in the vintage tractor run.An annual vintage tractor and car run, which has dedicated the proceeds of their fifteenth annual outing to “making life better for children” within the local area and larger region raised more than €8,000 on the one-day event.
More than 100 vintage vehicles provided a spectacle for a large gathering as they assembled at Newport Livestock Mart for the annual countryside run to a finishing point coinciding with the annual Harvest Threshing Festival at Bunkey, Newport.
They came in all shapes, sizes, and colours, the majority glistening restorations up to three quarters of a century old having been lovingly rebuilt to their original new condition with painstaking care to be much admired.
Behind the scenes, Angela Coffey, co-ordinator and her committee of vintage tractor and car owners had put a lot of work into planning and running of the event.
“We are doing it this year for the children to make life better for them by supporting three very worthy causes,” she explained of the beneficiaries of the event. Each year over the last decade and a half the organisers have donated generously of the proceeds to varied chosen charities.
Later in the evening at Ahern's, Bunkey, from the proceeds, which amounted to €8,134, cheques for €3,567 each were presented to Mary Moran and Carol Fitz-Gough from Children's Grief Centre, Limerick, and Fionn Goodwin for the Niall Mellon Fund, and €1,000 to Breda Lenihan, for the annual Christmas Wonderland for Children at Newport Community Centre.
Mary Moran explained that the Limerick Children's Grief Centre aids children of families across the mid-west who have become stricken by various types of grief.
The annual cost of running the centre amounts to €660,000 towards which they receive a 10% state grant and the balance has to be raised from various events and donations.
Fionn Goodwin spoke of the benefit to children in South Africa of the school building work, which he and four colleagues done on a seven day Niall Melon Fund mission in 2025.
This year, Fionn and colleagues, Barry and Gary O'Toole, John Ryan, and Cian Kennedy, will leave on November 6 for another seven-day building mission in South Africa, with their team increasing to seven, joined by Stephen Ryan and the first female volunteer to travel, Orla Kennedy.
A huge community event supporter, Breda Lenihan, also well known as 'Mrs Brown' in her unique attire said: “I love working with little children” and the Winter Wonderland has brought a huge amount of joy to so many “it's marvellous and I love every minute of it”.