01/10/2026
Dear friends, neighbours and supporters,
Following our fundraiser on Friday, 25th September, we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make the night such a phenomenal success.
Together, we raised an astonishing €23,315.15 for Kilbride National School Autism Classes and Scoil Naomh Pádraig Autism Classes. We are overwhelmed by the generosity, kindness and support shown by our community. These funds will help provide much-needed resources for the children attending both schools.
First and foremost, a huge thank you to the 12 brave lads who shaved their heads and beards: Shane Flattery, Robbie O’Donnell, James Finnegan, John Barry, Stephen Smyth, Richie Walsh, Simon Cox, Martin Daly, Kevin Burke, Peadar Smyth, Scott O’Leary and Owen Smyth. Well done to each of you for getting involved, being such great sports and raising a fantastic amount for such a worthy cause. You deserve a huge round of applause!
A special thank you to Alan Fox, our MC on the night, who held the whole event together. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to making the night run as smoothly as it did. We are extremely grateful for your support. Thank you also to Willie Fay, who conducted our auction and gave an absolutely brilliant performance.
To Annmarie Kelly and Joanne Kelly, thank you for taking on the task of shaving the lads’ heads and beards, and to Brendan, Sarah and Michelle, thank you for all the time, effort and care you put into organising such a fantastic event.
A massive thank you to Ken and Trevor, who generously donated their gig for the night. Your music and light-hearted entertainment kept everyone smiling throughout the head and beard shaves and helped make the evening so memorable.
Thank you to The Castle Chipper for supplying the food on the night, and to Sean Fox from Foxs bookmakers, Peter Flynn from The Tack Room Athlone and The Old Stand for their generous donations.
A big thank you to PC Office for kindly donating the balloons, which made the venue look so lovely on the night, and to Impact Signs for printing our posters. We would also like to thank all the local businesses who welcomed our charity collection tins and displayed our posters in their premises. Your help in raising funds and spreading the word was greatly appreciated.
We are also incredibly grateful to everyone who donated prizes for our raffle:
Rathcore Golf Club, SuperValu Trim, Souhans of Trim, 41 Fitness, Crinion’s Furniture, Celtic Windows Cleaning, Station House Hotel, Knightsbrook Hotel, Inchamore Farm, The Castle Arch Hotel, Eva Fagan Gaffney, Paddy Rispin Frames, Pat O’Byrne Men’s Clothing, Trim Hardware, Stockhouse Restaurant, Becky’s Clothing, Brogan’s Guesthouse, Chris Leonard’s Hardware, Marion’s Beauty Salon, Head Start Hairdressers, Coffee Works, Once Upon a Thai, Cannings Menswear, Ted Murtagh’s, Kielys Butchers, Carry Out Off Licence, Mim Low and Angie Tuohy.
Thank you all for the amazing prizes that helped make our raffle such a success.
To our auction prize donors, Andy Roche, Richie Walsh from The Judge and Jury, Richie Doyle from Royal & Co, Lisa McCarthy, Trevor and William Smyth, and Alan Fox from Willow Warm, thank you for your wonderful generosity. Your contributions played a big part in reaching this incredible total.
We would also like to extend a very special thank you to Dean Henley, who started this fundraising effort and is continuing to raise funds as he prepares to take part in the Dublin City Marathon on 25th October. If you would like to get behind Dean and support his marathon fundraiser, his GoFundMe link is included below.
The €23,315.15 raised so far is the total from Friday night’s event. With Dean’s fundraising still ongoing, we will share the final overall total after 25th October.
Finally, to everyone who attended, donated, sponsored the lads, bought raffle tickets, bid in the auction or helped in the lead-up to the event and on the night—thank you. Every contribution helped, and we could not have achieved this without you.
We are absolutely blown away by what we have achieved together. Please give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back. Your kindness will make a real difference to the autism classes in these two wonderful schools.
With heartfelt thanks
https://gofund.me/6ad658a80
