Naas arts community rallies for Celine Garvey in her cancer battle

You would be extremely hard-pressed to find someone in Kildare or, following her appearance on RTE’s Home Rescue, the island of Ireland that doesn’t know Celine Garvey.

Mother to Elanor and known as the manager of The Moat Theatre, KFM Radio presenter and zumba instructor, Celine is the heart of the arts community in Naas.

If she wasn’t hula-hooping on camera to announce a Blindboy show at the theatre, she was organising the Midsummer Arts Festival or taking a class of happy fitness fans through their moves with her ZCTop Zumba partner Zusanna Cisowska. Her energy is only matched by her enthusiasm, and her love of all disciplines of the arts.

So, when Celine began to feel there was something not quite right with her medically, she applied the same advocacy for herself as she does for colleagues and friends and pushed for a diagnosis. After rounds of tests, a lesion was discovered on her liver and Celine was recently diagnosed with CUP – Cancer of Unknown Primary. Though she was between her first and second rounds of chemotherapy, Celine featured in a radio interview with KFM and, always looking out for others, was there to encourage self-advocacy in health matters.

The word was officially out and within hours the arts community rallied around her in force to organise several fundraising events for her treatment and other needs.

Retired Manager of The Moat Theatre, Kathleen Smith has stepped in to fill in for Celine and has put together ‘Celine’s Cancer Quest’ GoFundMe.

Celine’s Zumba partner Zusanna has called on their Zumba tribe to join ‘Celine’s Cancer Quest Zumba Fundraiser’ at St. Mary’s College Naas, on Saturday May 13.

Celine’s home from home, The Moat Theatre, will play host to two events in June to fund raise for the much-loved manager. Playwright and actor Conor Burke has organised ‘An Evening for Celine’ featuring music by CEOLA, spoken word by Rachel Lally and Geoff Finan, and a performance of Conor’s hit play ‘Everything is Grand and I’m Completely OKay’. There will also be a fun interval event and a draw organised by Moat Club members.

Local Singer/Songwriter Pete Kavanagh is behind the ‘Gig for Celine’, which features performances by Rebecca Storm, Paddy Casey, John Forde and many more. Pete says of Celine “Celine’s unwavering energy, warmth and belief in the arts and community is inspirational and heartfelt; I’m honoured to call her a friend.”