Firefighters plan climb to fund EuroDisney trip

FIREFIGHTERS in Cork city and county will be climbing the equivalent of Mount Everest in a bid to raise €100,000 to send 80 seriously ill children on a trip of a lifetime to EuroDisney.

Over the first weekend of September, members of the city and county fire brigades – assisted by the gardai and HSE Ambulance service – will carry out a ladder climb to reach the heights of Everest.

The climb will take place in all of the 23 towns that have fire stations, so it is truly a county-wide appeal to raise funds to enable sick children from the Cork City Hospitals’ Children’s Club to enjoy themselves in Paris.

The climb will move from town to town, collecting money through sponsorship cards, as well as selling a unique collection of one-off tiepins from all the emergency services involved.

The event begins in Mitchelstown on Friday, September 2nd, but moves to Macroom, Dunmanway, Castletownbere, Bantry and Schull on Saturday, September 3rd. 

The climbing crews will be expending a tremendous amount of energy climbing the ladders in Macroom between 12.50 and 1.30pm with the start time in Dunmanway scheduled for 2pm; Castletownbere for 4.10pm; Bantry for 5.45pm; and Schull for 6.45pm.

There will be a bucket collection on the day, so please give generously. And a special bank account for the event has been opened in the name of ‘Climbing for Sick Kids’.

The account was opened under the Cork City Fire Brigade Sports and Social Club and is with a branch of the AIB in Cork. 

All of the money raised will go directly to the charity. 

For every €995 raised, a sick child can enjoy a break at EuroDisney. 

There are in fact two firefighters in Cork City with children who are ill at present, namely Izzy O’Connell, who has a brain tumour, and Aidan O’Brien, who has double kidney failure and is on 11-hour home dialysis, seven days a week. 

It also should be pointed out that West Cork’s Graham Norton will be promoting this marathon effort by Cork’s firefighting crews on his Twitter account.