Derry woman raises over £600 to ‘pay back’ charity for fantastic care

By Ursula Duddy

A Derry woman who has been through cancer twice raised over £600 in just two hours as a ‘small way to pay back’ the care she received from the Macmillan Cancer charity.

Ruby MacNaught held her third annual coffee morning for the cancer charity at Rath Mór Centre earlier this week.

She was helped by Margaret McGlinchey, who runs the 50+ Club there, to arrange the event and it was attended by members of the 50+ Club and the Unheard Voices group.

Ruby said: “This is the third year I’ve been doing this; the way it started was that, in 2014, I had bowel cancer, then I had cancer again and had lung surgery but thankfully it wasn’t malignant.

“I received such good treatment from the Macmillan nurses that I saw it as a small way to pay pack; when I was sick Gloria O’Connor and Estelle Doherty looked after me and took me through it all from start to finish.

“I went in as a stranger and came out as a friend.”

Ruby also thanked those who attended for helping her arrange the successful charitable coffee morning.

“It was no problem to Margaret, she went above and beyond the call of duty, and the women from the 50+ Club are fantastic women who helped make it the success it was,” she said.

Ruby said that they raised over £600 in just two hours and there was a great atmosphere as Eddie ‘Eccles’ Breslin provided the entertainment with karaoke.

“While I was there, Carol Cunningham who runs the Unheard Voices programme brought along some of the women, Kathleen, Maria and Rose, who are a lot younger than me, so I didn’t have to worry about doing the dishes!” laughed Ruby.

“There was a great atmosphere, great camaraderie and they were all so generous. Thank you to everyone for making it such a success.”