By Eoin Mc Garvey
“The Royal Albert Hall wouldn’t be any better than the tent here tonight in Crolly” singer Daniel O’Donnell told the large crowd that came last night for the fundraising event in aid of St Mary’s Church, Derrybeg.
Clannad’s Moya Brennan and friends, Altan’s Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, An Crann Óg, the Colangelo dancers, stage band Matrimony, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Michelle Nic Grianna all joined in at the event that was pulled together in a few days to help bolster the fundraising drive to rebuild the Derrybeg Church.
Séipéal Mhuire was burned to the ground in an early morning fire on Easter Monday, devastating the local clergy and the community in general. The blaze was spotted around 4am by which time it had already engulfed the 53 years old church.
Fire crews from various stations in the county attended but all they could do was dampen down the flames of the by then destroyed building.
It took several days for the site to be made safe before Garda technical officers began their investigations on Saturday in a bid to determine the cause of the blaze.
Last night’s concert was organised to boost the fundraising drive that got underway within twenty-four hours of the blaze.
A GoFundMe page had already amassed in excess of €108,000 as the concert got underway, and other non-online donations have seen the fund reach a quarter of a million euro.
See Monday’s Donegal News for full coverage.
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