Tipperary pub set to host coffee morning in aid of Hospice

A Thurles pub is set to set down the pints and serve coffee instead as it hosts its fourth annual fundraiser for Hospice.

The event in The County Bar, which is championed by life-long friends Breda Kennedy and Mary O’Dwyer, was initially conceived when Covid-era lockdowns prevented Mary from hosting her annual coffee morning in aid of North Tipperary Hospice Movement.

Now, the pair are encouraging everyone to support Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning for Hospice.

This longstanding and much-loved national event, coordinated by Together for Hospice, takes place on September 26.

Mary, from Thurles, said that the benefit of these community coffee mornings goes far beyond their goal of fundraising.

"One thing we found in our first event was there was not one attendee that had not had their lives touched by cancer," she said.

"The setting of a pub is so jovial, and the community is very tight-knit, so we find the fundraiser becomes a safe place for people to open up about the ways that Hospice services have impacted their lives.

"I volunteer for the Suir Haven Cancer Support Centre, which falls under the North Tipperary Hospice Movement, and the work is so vital for the community.

"During Covid, I was unable to host my usual fundraiser, and that is when my long-time friend Breda stepped in.

"We have been pals since school, and regularly go on holidays abroad together, and she owns The County Bar with her son – it was a wonderfully kind gesture to keep the fundraising for this important event going.

"From the first year during lockdown restrictions, to the next year spilling rain, the fundraiser in The County Bar has always done much better in terms of attendance than we expect, and thanks to every member of the team, not least Benny Stapleton, Eileen Barry and the local ICA members, every year since it has been better still."

Mary and Breda will host the fourth Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning for Hospice in The County Bar on September 26 from 11am to 1pm.

Together for Hospice, The National Hospice Movement, represents 24 Hospice and specialist palliative homecare providers supporting patients and their families across Ireland.

Funds raised locally stay local and go directly to each local Hospice service to innovate, build new facilities, develop new services and deliver quality improvements and extra benefits for their patients and their family members.

Register to host a coffee morning on Thursday, September 26 - or on a date that suits you – at hospicecoffeemorning.ie,or call 0818 995 996.

If you cannot host or attend a coffee morning, you can make a donation at hospicecoffeemorning.ie/donate.