Pigeon fanciers aim to raise €15k for St Laserian’s
John O'Brien, standing, and Jack Green, front, from Carlow Charity Pigeon Show presented a cheque to Olivia Flanagan, Tina McDonnell and Carol North from Carlow's Down Syndrome Ireland. Also pictured are Josh, left, sitting in front
A GROUP of pigeon enthusiasts who aim to raise €15,000 to buy a new bus for St Laserian’s School in Carlow town are looking for local businesses to sponsor their fundraiser later this year.
The organising committee consists of four pigeon enthusiasts â John O’Brien, Gerald Sullivan, Jamie Walsh and Jack Green â who each year put on the Carlow charity pigeon show in the Woodford Dolmen Hotel in aid of a different charity. This year, their chosen charity is St Laserian’s School, a school for children with learning disabilities.
The Carlow charity pigeon show sees enthusiasts from across the country come together for a weekend of bird auctions, showing events, talks and socials. The event was so big last year that it took over the two ballrooms in the hotel to house all the attendees. “We had 28 classes of fancy pigeons on show,” John O’Brien, one of the organisers, said.
This year, the show is due to take place over the bank holiday weekend in October.
“The Woodford Dolmen Hotel is almost completely booked out for it already,” John said.
John and other organisers would, ideally, like many small businesses from across the county to donate to the event.
“We would like businesses to sponsor a class or an event,” John said. Last year, the pigeon show raised over €15,000 for Down Syndrome Carlow.
A representative from Down Syndrome Carlow said about the fundraiser last year:
“We were manning the desk outside and taking tickets. People were throwing in extra money and the generosity was off the scales! The craic we had! It’s such a unique and cool set of people that seemed to have this interest in pigeons.”
People can get in touch with the Carlow charity pigeon show via email at Carlowpigeonshow@yahoo.com or through their Facebook page.
