BREAKING: Shocking news in Tipperary as popular local group to disband

There was shocking news on Monday with the announcement that Tipperary Vintage Rally is to cease its activities.

The group has been synonymous with Santa runs at Christmas and of course with its annual Vintage Rally. Raising thousands of euro for charity, the most current figure raised to date by the group is in the region of €3000,000.

The Chair of the group, Jack Leonard, went on local radio and on social media to explain that due to rising insurance costs they would no longer be in a position to run the various activities.

Citing insurance difficulties for Santa runs and for helpers attached to the activity, Jack said that it was with great regret that they had to cease their activities with immediate effect.

Established in 2008, the Tipperary Vintage Rally has been a major event on the calendar and the Santa runs brought immense joy to children in the area.

"We are under a lot of pressure to run the activities and it is next to impossible to cover the events and the people who assist with them.

"In order to try and cover events we would be 8-10 grand in the red and it is impossible for us to do this. Every euro that we raise goes to charity and that was our objective from the start.

"Unfortunately some of our members have health issues and it is very difficult to get new and younger people involved. Supermac's have been fantastic and I can't thank them enough for their support, which is still there if it was possible to run events. The biggest problem we have is insurance and unfortunately we have to call a halt to our activities," said Jack.

Jack also paid tribute to one of the founders, Steve Thornton, who passed away recently, and he also paid tribute to Stevie O'Donnell for his great work in promoting their activities.

In his concluding remarks Jack also mentioned the fact that the HSE had now come on board in funding the night nurse element of Hospice care and that funding was now for different elements of hospice care and that this raised some questions for them.

However he said that the main problem they had was with insurance and that they had unanimously decided with regret to cease activities with immediate effect.

There is no doubt but that the activities of Tipperary Vintage Rally will be a huge loss to the town and the wider area.

Huge thanks must go to Jack Leonard and his team who worked so hard to bring joy and happiness to the young and the not so young.

They deserve our thanks and appreciation for their contribution to the community.