Cashel sunflower garden was a popular attraction and raised funds for worthwhile causes

The Laffan family of Kingstown, Cashel have been “blown away” by the support shown to their immensely successful sunflower field fundraising project.

The field was open to the public for three weeks and drew visitors from across the country flocking to see the field in full flower.

After his own experience of having a tumour removed from his shoulder, Seán Laffan was looking for a means of giving back to National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh and the Irish Cancer Society.

It was his youngest son Niall who had the idea to plant up a field of sunflowers and invite the public to walk the field with the option of making a donation in return.

“It has been such a positive thing, as everybody loves the sunflowers,” said Sean. “All the children have to get one taller than themselves.”

Niall carried out extensive research into nutrient requirements needed for a successful growth and selected the Giant Sunflower variety to fill the four acre field.

Local contractors Eddie and Mark Hally helped set the sunflowers, a process that involved adapting the corn drill by blocking every second pipe to cater for the unique crop.

The family documented the field’s progress on social media, with a dry spell in June causing the flowers to shoot up to great heights.

“Moira and I got great enjoyment of having them there, especially when they started to flower in the last couple of weeks,” said Seán.

Visitors were invited to take home their own sunflowers, with children particularly enjoying the adventure as some of the flowers stretched past seven feet tall.

Queues even formed outside the gate to see the field, with the age demographic starting from four weeks old enjoying the walk.

The project was supported by Germinal who donated the seeds and family friends rallied behind the project such as Rory Heffernan provided his graphic design skills to market the sunflowers.

Niall’s college friends also lent a helping hand in fertilising the sunflowers that had to be tended to manually as machines would have flattened them.

The project was a spectacular success, drawing visitors from as far as Galway, Mayo, Kerry, Limerick and Cork.

Some people spent hours walking in the field, finding solace in the sea of yellow and sharing their stories of how the chosen charities impacted them.

“I’m blown away by the amount of people who have had the interest in it,” said Seán who enjoyed hearing from the visitors about their own experiences with the cause.

Family friend Councillor Declan Burgess also played a key role in promoting and organising the project.

“The sunflower field was a massive success. People really appreciated the unique quality of this charity event,” said Declan, who congratulated the Laffan family on the project’s success.

“Every visitor is so supportive,” said Declan. “People have been coming from everywhere and they would open up about different things and their own stories.”

As well as raising valued funds for their chosen causes, the sunflower field also became a biodiversity sanctuary as local beekeeper Des Williams provided the family with two beehives.

This time of year would usually see bees sourcing their nectar from ragworth or more mountainous flowers such as heather, however the field provided a unique haven for the pollinators.

The beehives were weighed down with honey and visitors enjoyed photographing their sightings, capturing the bees laden down with nectar on the flowers.

A key to any modern-day project is mastering an online presence and the feat was daunting at first.

Niall said: “It was nearly the hardest part of the project, trying to build up a bit of momentum online.”

Many of the more tech-savvy supporters availed of the field for a photo opportunity, with the social media accounts taking a life of their own for the duration of the fundraiser.

The traffic towards the social media pages snowballed with each visitor as every photo posted drew more attention and interest towards the field.

Now that the field is closed, the Laffan family have been astounded by the overwhelming support for the project shown by the public for the three weeks.

“We had great fun doing it,” said Seán. “It is the positivity and feel-good feeling that emerged from it. There’s not one person who visited and hasn’t had a smile on their face.”