A DUNDERROW family whose house was badly damaged by fire on July 10th are holding a ‘thank you’ party for the army of friends, neighbours and even strangers who came to their aid in the aftermath of that devastating fire, writes Kieran O’Mahony.
Their selfless hard graft in the hours following the fire, which saw the roof slated within 48 hours of the blaze, meant that Edel and Nicky O’Regan and their three adult children were able to move back into their home last week.
When a fire engulfed a garage on Thursday July 10th and spread quickly to their home, they thought they would lose everything.
Edel said they hope all the workers, neighbours and friends will reunite at their home on Saturday August 30th.
‘We moved back in last week and all is good. We were very lucky really and the fire crew broke the roof to let the heat out so the heat didn’t travel down. We had more damage upstairs than downstairs,’ said Edel.
‘We really want to thank everyone who came to help us. They had the whole places cleared out by mid-day on Friday and by Saturday morning we had 30 tradespeople on the roof of the house. We didn’t even make one call, people just came to help us. Eli Lilly were fantastic too and they supplied lunch, dinner and supper to all the workers.’
Edel said they want to meet all the workers at their home first before they head to The Fields Bar down the road for a barbeque which will be prepared by Bernard Hurley.
‘We really want everyone to come to this event so we can thank them. We don’t know how we can repay them for generosity.
‘By Sunday they had the roof slated and it was unbelievable. No one prepped these guys for what lay ahead following the fire.’
Edel said they were very lucky and while they lost some of the bedrooms all their electrics were fine and only minor damage was caused to their kitchen
‘We have come from a lot worse including Nick’s kidney transplant during COVID where we were in Belfast for ten weeks. That was a hard time too.’
