'Bubbles for Ciaran’ family day to be held this weekend

Prizes up for grabs at a 'Bubbles for Ciaran’ family fun day fundraiser in Tullamore this Sunday will be worth about €5,500 according to organiser Deirdre Gallagher.

Prizes have been flowing in from businesses and individuals keen to help the fundraising efforts for the Portarlington family hit by misfortune earlier this year.

Four-year-old Ciaran Treacy died on April 17 last following a two car crash near his hometown when returning from a visit to his grandparents. Ciaran’s brother Sean escaped the crash unharmed. However, his mother Gillian was severely injured, and since attending Ciaran’s funeral on a stretcher has been through multiple operations.

The family, including Gillian’s husband Ronan and two-year-old Caoimhe, are now working on Gillian returning to full health while at the same time preserving Ciaran’s memory. 'Bubbles for Ciaran’ is an initiative set up by the local community to support the family.

Organiser of this Sunday’s fun day Deirdre Gallagher, of Studio One hair salon in Tullamore, said the Treacy family reminds her a lot of her own. “We are of similar age, all self-employed and little Ciaran reminds me a lot of my son Sean,” she explained.

“But the thing that made me most want to get on board was the picture of Gillian, a mother in horrific pain both physically and emotionally, having to attend her baby’s funeral by ambulance and on a trolley. The scene of the little white coffin and the trolley side by side at the hearse made me cry so many times. It affected me more than any other tragedy before. I just couldn’t get the family out of my mind, and I realised I’d be better putting my energy into helping them rather than just crying for them.”

Deirdre had originally planned a coffee morning, but reconsidered when over 20 businesses offered raffle prizes. Now everything is set for a family fun day on Sunday at the Tullamore Dew Visitor Centre, with all proceeds going to support the Treacy family.

Already 650 raffle tickets have gone out into the local community, while Deirdre said donations to the cause are also flying in.

Attendees on the day, which begins at 3pm and will wrap up at 6pm, will enjoy a day that includes limited complimentary Tullamore Dew cocktails, raffle entry, music by Jig Jam and children’s entertainment including a stilt walker, a juggler, loom band making, balloon making, Disney characters and a magician.