In pictures: Music and merriment as amazing €150,000 confirmed by Relay for Life

Click on the arrows to go through the photos by Clive Wasson

It may not have been revealed in the way it was intended – a technical hitch preventing Daniel O’Donnell from announcing it on screen – but the singer and patron nevertheless got the inspiring message across, over €150,000 raised as a result of this year’s Relay for Life.

A huge attendance, made up of team members, survivors, carers, volunteers and committee personnel, gathered in the Mount Errigal Hotel on Monday night to hear the final total and celebrate the achievements of so many in getting there.

This was an occasion to forcibly remind cancer that it’s in a fight – with organisations like Relay for Life Donegal to the forefront in aiming to win it.

As in keeping with the Relay event itself, staged in May, it was also an occasion for music and merriment, and much laughter and emotion.

To get proceedings underway, the Ukulele Orchestra performed ‘Don’t Fence Me In” and ‘Sloop John B.”

Immediately following that, Elbow room became limited when the Survivors Choir – Donal Kavanagh with a foot in both camps – took to the same stage for a stirring rendition of ‘One Day Like This’.

“You were made for bigger audiences”, Relay chairperson, Seamus Devine advised the singers and musicians. Donal, meanwhile, paid tribute to the five members of the choir who had passed away including Corinne, Bernard, John, Astrid and Sean.

One night like this was, due to the main theme involved, going to render contrasting emotions away from the music and the mirth.

Long serving Relay committee member, Ena Barrett, told the huge attendance of teams, survivors and volunteers, that 2024 had been a particularly poignant one for her.

She had gone through the cancer journey some seventeen years previously and revealed: “I got a gentle reminder that cancer can and does come back.”

Later in the night, the prestigious Gordy Klatt award – the father of Relay as Ena indicated – was presented to Stranorlar woman, Eileen Tourish, who continued her remarkable feat of selling hundreds of candles for Relay for Life Donegal since the event was initiated.

“A big thank you to those who never walked past me,” said the women who burnt the candle at both ends to help raise vital money for Relay.

A thoroughly deserving recipient but there was to be another surprise presentation of the Gordy Klatt award – a surprise at least to the woman receiving it.

Seamus Devine took to the microphone again to speak movingly of the moment when Ena had broken the news of her cancer return earlier in the year.

She had taken a backward step from the organisational roles in this year’s Relay for Life but still managed to involve herself – the chairperson recalling this figure in the committee top racing towards the stage at the A.T.U. campus on Relay weekend and shouting: “You’ve got the wrong bloody music on!”.

After receiving the much merited award, Ena spoke of her resumed cancer journey which she maintained was “no fun”.

“It stops you in your tracks and also stops your family and friends in their tracks.”

The money raised through Relay was directed to a number of initiatives including key research.

Ena had lost two brothers to cancer, one forty years ago when there were comparatively few drugs to combat the illness and her other brother, just two years ago.

Commenting on her own treatment, Ena revealed she suffered side effects from the drugs and had not returned to work yet.

On receiving the certificate, she insisted she didn’t deserve it but said she would accept it on behalf of all survivors. But, as anyone involved in Relay for Life can testify, the award was fully justified.

Representing the Irish Cancer Society, Ciara Hughes said it was incredible to see the community spirit that existed in Donegal during Relay for Life when thousands of people turned out for the event.

Pointing to the “amazing job” the committee did in organising the Relay weekend, she referred to the shared vision they had where nobody died from cancer.

The money raised from the Donegal event was directed to a number of different services including the night nursing initiative, transport, and free counselling as well as investment in research. “Thirty years ago three people out of ten survived cancer, now that figure stands at six in ten,” the Corporate Partnership Officer with the I.C.S. indicated. “We won’t stop until that is ten out of ten.”

Representatives from each of the 37 teams were then invited on to the stage including the ‘Shining Stars’ and the ‘Super Heroes’ – names that would undoubtedly apply to all who participated.

Those who had volunteered their services over the weekend in May were also invited to receive well earned acclaim and later, a selection of the entertainers who provided the music and song over the Relay twenty-four hours were joined on the stage by the Survivors Choir.

The richly talented Breathnach family provided a further strand of entertainment during the presentation night, including the youngest member of the clan, Aoife, - the Survivors Choir subsequently amalgamating with them for a rendition of ‘Memories”.

“And to think people are paying hundreds to see Oasis next year and it’s all free here! Brilliant entertainment….,” enthused M.C. for the night, Charlie Collins.

The Roll Call for Relay initiative run through schools in Donegal and organised by Tracy McBride and Mary McDermott, featured on Lee Gooch’s breakfast show on Highland Radio in the weeks leading up to the Relay event.

The presenter acknowledged the Committee duo for coming up with the idea which is now in its second year.

Forty schools in all took part this year in the initiative, Tracey disclosed, with €11,000 raised.

Technology opted for some time out when the big screen at the rear of the stage failed to produce the image of Daniel O’Donnell, who along with his wife, Majella, is a patron of Relay for Life Donegal.

Phone technology came to the rescue when the Kincasslagh crooner was able to announce a final total of €150,025 raised from the Relay initiative. “Congratulations to all involved – it’s a wonderful figure,” the singer proclaimed, comments echoed by Relay Treasurer, Sean Boyce, who described it as a “massive effort” on the part of so many.

At the end of the evening, chairperson Devine acknowledged all who had played a part in Relay for Life and referred to the “amazing total” that had been generated from this year’s event.

Money that will be well spent as the services continue and the fight against cancer goes on.