Tipperary public support fundraiser to provide humanitarian relief in Palestine

Last Sunday saw what was a colossal fundraising event, in aid of the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), take place in The Talbot Hotel, Clonmel.

It was primarily a live music event featuring a wide variety of local musicians, that also included a Palestinian food market and kids entertainment.

Every single cent raised, be it from the tickets, food, raffle tickets or art sold at the market all went to the PCRF.
The event was organised by Eoin Hally and his wife Kate Twohig.
Eoin said that he and Kate, had been seeing the tragic circumstances unfolding in Gaza on the news and felt the need to do something about it.

He thanked all those who showed tremendous support for the event.
Those included the Talbot Hotel who generously allowed the organisers to use the ballroom free of charge, the sound engineers Dirk Baumann and Eoin Barry who also donated their time free of charge, as did everyone else involved in making the event possible.

The musicians were all local, with Eoin and Kate reaching out to as many musicians in Clonmel as possible.

MUSLIM COMMUNITY
The muslim community of Clonmel contributed to the day by creating a market with home cooked goods and art pieces, sold at stalls around the edges of the ballroom. Children were welcome to come along and entertained by a magician crafting balloon swords and animals. They could also snack on the candy floss and popcorn available.
Local musician Ken Horn guided the audience on the musical journey which took those in attendance through a variety of genres and cultures.

HORRIFIC SITUATION
He introduced Ghada Hasan, a local woman originally from Palestine, who gave a powerful and heartfelt speech explaining the horrific situation in her home country, encouraging as many donations as possible.
To kick off the day, a traditional Palestinian dance was performed. Then the new local band Cadhla set the tone with a folk inspired sound and their last song gave a taste of what was to come later in the night by introducing some classic rock to the mix.

To follow them, singer songwriter Eve Whelan, accompanied by Alan Achseon on bass guitar, took to the stage and delivered a stellar performance with her own guitar playing and powerful singing voice.

The audience was treated to a blast of traditional Irish music as the Tipperary Ramblers graced the stage. The Trad session morphed into a country concert as The Benedictine Quartet played some of the classics.
There was another dramatic shift in genre as The Wood Of O performed their atmospheric songs inspired by Irish history. One last genre shift later and Crow Black Chicken finished out the night with their high energy blues rock performance.

At the end of the day, it was announced that €16,000 had been raised for the PCRF. The event was a massive success, and goes to show how much good can be done when a community effort is involved.