A SPELL of glorious weather brought a burst of sunlight to a field near Castledermot when thousands of sunflowers burst into bloom all at once.
Landowners Seamus, Sean and Philip Dunne, Elaine Bulmer and her son Finn, Marian Kelly and Lily O’Brien
“The flowers came on all of a sudden in a burst. We had some great sunshine, then a drop of rain, so all the sunflowers came together. We had to go as quick as we could to get everything ready,” said Philip Dunne, the farmer who grew the big, happy blooms on his farm in Crookett, just off the main Carlow to Castledermot road.
JJ, Blaithín, Lisa and Lily Kavanagh
This is the third year that Philip has grown the much-loved blooms to raise funds for the cystic fibrosis unit at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, after it was suggested to him as a fundraiser by Elaine Bulmer, a pharmacy technician. Philip, Elaine, members of the Dunne family and a team of neighbours welcomed the public to the sunflower field over the first two weekends in August.
Esther Dagg looks on as her granddaughter Isabelle amuses herself at the sunflowers
The field is located in the appropriately named Crookett, where not even the small, windy roads put off visitors.
“To be honest, I didn’t know if it would work because the roads here are so crooked, but I’ve had to eat my words. It’s only small scale, but it’s really worth it. People love to walk among the flowers and pick their own.
They love getting their photograph taken with them. We got a massive response over the two weekends.
Amy Kenny and Kevin Conlon with their dog Lottie
The generosity of people has been amazing. It was such a simple idea, and it worked,” said a delighted Philip.
Over €12,000 was raised, thanks to the generosity of the hundreds of people who turned up to the fundraiser, and Philip and Elaine will soon present the money to the cystic fibrosis unit at St Vincent’s Hospital, where it will go towards the patients’ comfort fund.
