IN PICTURES: Ballymaloe chef stars at Laois school's fundraiser

TV chef of Ballymaloe fame was the star attraction when the Parents Association of Mountrath Community School hosted a major fundraiser on October, 27 with over 400 people in attendance. 

Tap NEXT or ARROW to SEE more pictures taken for the Leinster Express / Laois Live. Read more about the event below this picture. 

The doors opened early, and attendees could avail of the large number of stalls that were on site for the evening selling the wares of local businesses and artisans, making this a real community affair.

The driver behind this event is the new Book Rental scheme that the Parents Association has started rolling out this academic year.  This had been on to-do list for a few years, but like many things, was derailed by COVID.  In late July and August, a huge amount of work was done to get this in place.  Books were available for rent to all incoming first year students at a cost of 100 Euro for the year.  This represents a significant saving per student for the families making the move to secondary school.

The goal is to use the funds raised to continue this programme into the future. This will represent a significant saving to the families of all students in Mountrath Community School over time. The Parents Association will also be using the funds raised tonight in the future to put towards other projects that will benefit the students of Mountrath Community School. Such as the proposed Astro turf pitch and student spot prizes, including IPads, which are always well received.

The evening itself was a great success with over 400 people gathered in the main sports hall for the cooking demonstration.  The dishes included a Roast Quail salad, easy Soda “Focaccia” bread, Pork with gentle spices and Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Fool and homemade honeycomb for dessert. MC for the night, Ann-Marie Kelly, did a great job being part assistant and part interviewer throughout proceedings.

The Parents Association would like to thank Principal, Kathryn O’Brien, because without her support this event would not have been possible.  Of course, there were a large number of brilliant spot prizes which were very kindly donated by local businesses. This is doubly appreciated in the current economic difficulties that the country faces. They have been generous in their support not just on this occasion, but whenever called upon in the past.

The very generous sponsorship allowed a huge set of raffle prizes to be given out on the night. The culmination of this was a one-night stay in the world famous Ballyfin House and Demense. This was won by Ms Miriam Scully who happens to be Home Economics teacher in Mountrath Community School.

Finally, a word of thanks to Rachel Allen, who provided an excellent demonstration to all who attended, but also was very generous with her time for all those who wanted to say “hello” and get a selfie after the demonstration was over. The list of sponsors for the event:

Soap Sisters, Edwina’s Crafts, Spar Carrolls Supermarket,Jackie’s Hair Salon, Lloydds Pharmacy Portlaoise, Cupa Jewellers Portlaoise, Reddoor Abbeyleix, All Books Portlaoise, Eddie Phelans Takeaway, Supervalu Parkside, Pantry Portlaoise, Mighty Molls Mountrath, Trax Portlaoise, Mulhall’s Suervalu Portlaoise, Stylebar Portlaoise, Sarah Palmer Beautician Abbeyleix, Dunnes Garden Centre Durrow, Lilly’s Bar and Kitchen, Castle Arms Hotel Durrow, McEvoys Abbeyleix, Dunnes Stores Portlaoise, Q and R Sublime Hairsalon Portlaoise, Feighery’s Butchers Portlaoise, Ashbrook Arms Hotel Portlaoise, Killeshin Hotel Portlaoise, Abbeyleix Manor Hotel, Colgan’s Sports Portlaoise, Shaws Portlaoise, Supervalu Abbeyleix, Catherine Foxall Cookery School, Ballymaloe Cookery School, Ballyfin House and Demesne, First Ireland Spirits, Doogue’s Bar Raheen, Eddie Kirwan’s Bar Mountrath.