Tullamore Lions Club members Pat Lalor and Pat Minnock, with Gortnamona NS staff and pupils and one of Mr Burns's lambs. Photo: Jeff Harvey.

Gortnamona NS gives back to Hooves for Hospice campaign

Tullamore Lions Club was very pleased recently when a school the group supported a few years ago decided to support our Hooves 4 Hospice project in a very novel way.

Gortnamona National School is situated in a very picturesque part of our county close to Tullamore. In 2019, Mrs Burns’ class needed a specialist piece of equipment that the school’s budget couldn’t accommodate at that time. The Lions Club met the cost involved and is delighted that the equipment is being put to good use and is serving its purpose well.

Mrs Burns’ husband, John, a farmer who rears sheep, is now supporting our Hooves 4 Hospice project on his own behalf and on behalf of Gortnamona National School.

This special relationship was marked recently when Lions Pat Lalor and Pat Minnock visited the school and met the pupils in Mrs Burns’ class. The guest of honour that morning was a lamb from Mr Burns’ farm who ably represented the donor and the school.

The involvement of Gortnamona National School is indicative of the most generous support our fundraising project is receiving and the great variety of local fundraising projects that are popping up across the Midland region.

Lions Clubs in the Midlands have joined forces with the farming community, supportive organisations and individuals in a fundraising project, named ‘Hooves 4 Hospice’, that has the potential to raise a sizeable sum of money towards the cost of building the much needed Midland Regional Hospice.

The project involves recruiting farmers in the region to rear an animal and when ready for sale the entire proceeds goes back into the Hooves for Hospice coffers.