OLD friends and classmates gathered last week in Clonakilty for a fundraiser for Aoife Beary, who survived the balcony collapse in Berkeley last year.
By BRIAN MOORE
OLD friends and classmates gathered last week in Clonakilty for a fundraiser for Aoife Beary, who survived the balcony collapse in Berkeley last year.
Maeve O’Grady Williams and her husband John hosted a special evening of ‘memoir and make believe’ in MacLiam Lodge, Clonakilty.
Former teachers and past pupils of Mount St Michael in Rosscarbery gathered to hear a reading by past pupil Kathryn Crowley (nee Sheahan) from her most recent publication Room for One More.
Kathryn is a cousin of Aoife Beary, one of the lucky survivors of the tragic balcony collapse in Berkeley, California last year. Kathryn’s book is her second published work and is made up of memoirs from her life – each one accompanied by a short fictional story.
Profits from the sale of the book will go to Aoife’s rehabilitation fund. Kathryn, now a primary school principal in Dublin, told the Southern Star that she was in awe at the determination and spirit displayed by her cousin’s daughter. ‘Aoife is one of the bravest and most determined young people I have the privilege to know. I hope any funds raised from the sale of my collection of stories will help with the significant costs of her journey to recovery and help to make her future brighter in some small way.’
Kathryn read one of her memoir pieces called ‘Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise’ to the gathering of her former classmates and teachers as it depicted glimpses into her life as a boarder in Mount St Michael.
Room for One More is available for sale in bookshops in Clonakilty and Bantry, as well as in paperback and on ebook directly from the publisher, www.emuink.ie.
*****
Click here to sign up to our mailing list and get the best of West Cork delivered straight to your inbox.