Auction
A 24 hour auction was held on Saturday 13th June 2009 6pm to Sunday 14th June 2009 6pm in aid of Midfield National School.
When the final bell went at 6pm on Sunday 14th June there was a great sense of achievement and pride in knowing that such a big event had passed successfully. We had achieved our record by auctioning approximately 600 pieces and raising €23,865.
We had great support from the Midfield and surrounding areas and from further a field also. The auction room was never empty, even in the more unsociable hours which enabled us to keeping auctioning right through the night. Our slave auction which ran at about 1am Sunday morning proved a great success and a lot of fun.
Our donated items proved very popular and created a lot of interest including the Panorama Family holiday to Portugal, the Man United Tickets, the U2 tickets and Signed Punch Bag.
Swinford councillor and auctioneer, Joe Mellett, presided at the opening and closing of the auction with attending official referee Chris McHale Roe. We had a number of auctioneers and adjudicators (2 at all times) to see us through the 24 hours. Minister Dara Calleary kindly dropped in also Saturday night and congratulated the Midfield Development Association and wished us continued success.
Sunday proved to be a very successful day with a huge number of people turning out. Alongside the auction on Sunday there were a number of activities for children (Bouncy Castles, Face Painting and Disco), BBQ, Make Overs by Fiona Maloney The Green Room Swinford. It was a great day and it was clear to see the great sense of community there is in Midfield and what a way to end it by achieving our goal for a spot in the Guinness Book of Records and raising substantial funds.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank a number of people.
Our Auctioneers:
Councillor Joe Mellett (who opened and closed the auction for us).
Matt Duggan (Matt contributed a lot of his time to us)
David Tarpey
John McHugh
Vincent McKeon
Derek Reilly
The attending public Representatives:
Minister Dara Calleary
TD Michael Ring
TD John O’Mahony
Councillor Eugene Lavin
Councillor Joe Mellett
TD Gerry Murray
Our Adjudicators:
Michael Smyth, Brendan Donnelly, Tomas Morley, Mary Quinn, Sister Mary Leavy, Maureen Sweeney, Susan Moore, Tony Fahey, Susan Lavin, Jackie Doyle, Theresa Forde, Douglas Kelly, Fr Michael Quinn, Fr Derek Gormley, Charles Kelly, Philip Cawley, Dr Timothy Glavey, John Gallagher, Margaret Brennan, Eileen McHale, Tommy Marren, Dara Calleary, Eugene Lavin, Michael Ring, John O’ Mahony, Gerry Murray
Media attendance:
Tommy Marren (MWR) kindly dropped in early Sunday morning between 9 and 10 and conveyed his support.
Peggy McGing (CRC FM) attended in the afternoon and made some recordings of the event.
Tom Shiel (Connaught Telegraph) attended in the evening also.
Michael Donnelly (photographer) attended on Saturday evening and took some great photos of the event.
The Volunteers:
Philomena Croughan, Marie Boyle, Winnie Muldowney, Gail Smith, Leanne Kelly, Emma Kelly, Aisling Forkan, Kevin Regan, Gary Brennan, Regina King, Maureen Foster, Bobby Brennan, Jack McHale Roe, Ellie McHale Roe, John Dunleavy, Mikey Brennan, Bernard Brennan, Henry Brennan, Rosie Brennan, Paddy Campbell, Patrick Brennan, Jimmy Kelly, Jim Gormally, Mary Kelly, Johnny Kelly, Jacinta Kennedy, David Kelly, Eithne Kelly, Marie Henry, Breda Devine, Marion Maloney, Deirdre Fahey, Martina McLoughlin, Michael Prendergast, Margaret Prendergast, Fiona Ryan, Michael Regan, Helen McLoughlin, Danielle Morley, Erin Foster, Christopher Toner, Catherine Toner, Anne O’Brien, Teresa Gormally, Paula Salmon, Kathleen Regan, Catherina Henry, Ornagh Fahey, Caroline Tunney, Nicki McLoughlin, Sue Fahey, Christine Mulholand, Paddy Gallagher, Steve Granville, Thomas McHale Roe, Grainne Granville, Michael Kilgallon, Mairead Julian, Chris McHale Roe, Ann Brett, Joan Morley, Joan Gallagher, Tom Devine, Catherina Regan, Melanie Brady, Tara Henry, Cormack Devine, Conor Foster, Rachael Brady, Claire Rudden, Martin Kilgallon, Shane Julian, Grainne Julian, Cara Fahey, Andrea Jordan, Kieran McDiamond, Eileen McHale, Kathleen McHale Harvey
Our apologies if we have omitted anyone from our list.
The volunteers warrant a special mention as without these people we would not have been able to run this event. It caught everybody’s attention the support we had not only for the event but the support we had right through the night.
We would like to thank Chris Toner and Aiden McLoughlin for their web site updates.
Security on the night was sponsored by Chris McHale Roe.
We would like to thank all that made and donated cakes, buns etc for resale at our refreshments area at the auction. These proved very popular and were not long selling out.
We would like to thank Seamus Lavin and Bobby Brennan who ran a very successful BBQ on Sunday.
We would like to thank Sean Julian for keeping our volunteers fed throughout this event.
Our face painters need a mention; they made many little kids very happy, Michelle Pidgeon, Sinead Gallagher and Michelle Gavin.
We would like to thank Claire Conroy and Gary Brennan for their assistance in the poster design.
Helen Durkan was our card reader on Sunday afternoon.
Plants Ireland Direct (now Midfield Garden Center)who for the last few weeks have been holding a sale in the car park of Julian’s kindly donated funds to the event also.
For the premises for this event we would like to thank Julian’s of Midfield for the use of the area and thanks for the sponsorship of the kids disco.
There are a number of people we would like to thank for the kind sponsorship of goods and prizes for the event.
B&B Foods Castlebar
Oliver Kellehers Castlebar
OHaras Bakery Foxford
Dawn Milk
Swinford Motors
Swinford Photography
Upper Crust Castlebar
Kathleen McHale Harvey
The FAI
Gay Lally (Passions Remembered)
Debbie Meadows (Cake Celebrations)
Michael Grufferty
Tony Fahey
Michael Ring
Dara Calleary
John OMahony
Adrian Forkan
Aer Arann
Monica Smith & Noreen Kelly
Michael Hall, Maxol Garage Dublin
Tara Café
T.F. Entertainment
Joe Mellett
Kellys Gateway Hotel
Carrs Foods
Stephen Mooney, Londis Swinford
Billy Moran Butcher Swinford
Sean & Margaret Julian, Treanlaur Catering
The Julian Family
Many thanks for all other monetary donations to the Midfield Development Association.
Finally to the Committee and extended Committee members. Firstly we would like to thank the entire McHale Roe and Brennan Family in Particularly Carmel and Mary McHale Roe, Marian Newman and Madeline Brennan, they spent many hours preparing and sorting items for this event. The other members of the Committee included Margaret Julian, Robert Quinn, TJ Kelly, Tony Fahey, Kathleen Brennan, Tony Henry and Vic Hamshaw. Everyone of the Committee worked extremely hard and spent very long hours running the auction. Everyone was determined to make this a success and that it has been.
Again we would like to thank each and everyone for their donated time, food or prizes and also for all that attended and ran the auction without all of these we could not have made this such a successful event. We apologise if we have omitted anybody from our above lists, if we have this has not been our intention.
This has been a great achievement and one that is definitely going down in the history books!
