The newly selected Donegal Person of the Year, Anne-Marie Ward, has discovered she is really a Gallagher and has been embraced by the clan!
So much so that the remarkable endurance swimmer is to carry out her first official function at the Gallagher Evening which takes place tonight in the Station House Hotel, Pearse Rd., Letterkenny, Co. Donegal at 7.00 p.m. sharp.
This event will celebrate another great occasion, the 1st Gallagher Global Gathering and successful Guinness World Record attempt in September 2007. This was a marathon in its own right. It will also be a celebration of the great global Gallagher heritage in general.
“My granny was a Gallagher”, says Anne-Marie, “and I’m very proud of the Gallagher heritage in which I share. I’m very happy to celebrate that with the Gallagher Clan during the Friday night event and also to acknowledge their efforts both in the past and into the future.
“In particular I would like to acknowledge their success in achieving their Guinness World Record. I’m sure that great effort was put in to achieve that award. It didn’t just happen on the day. As in the case of my own achievements, it required the efforts of a strong team putting in the preparation over a long period to bring things about”.
Her joint recipient of Donegal Person of the Year 2011, Hugh Green, also has a claim to Gallagher heritage – through his mother!
As Hugh is ill at present his sister, Maryanne Kitchener, 85, made the long journey to Dublin to represent the family at the awards ceremony in Dublin on Saturday evening last, the 3rd March 2012.
Adrian Gallagher of the Gallagher Clan met her in the Regency Hotel, the venue for the awards, where she told him of her and Hugh’s mother being one of the Gallaghers who were the original owners of Gallagher’s Hotel on the Main St., Letterkenny.
Along with Anne-Marie Ward there will also be in attendance tonight, the county and town mayors and of course the Gallagher’s own Pat the Cope Gallagher MEP.
Videos, photographs etc .of 2007’s week long events, including the section of the ABC News TV programme that concerns the Guinness World Record attempt in Letterkenny, will be shown. This programme was shown coast to coast (to a potential audience of 200 million!!) a few months after our successful attempt. Did you, your family or friends appear prominently? Come and see.
There will also be live music and dancing and people will be able to mingle and chat with a cup of tea and biscuits.
During the evening a review will take place of what has been happening since 2007 and holding a very short AGM of the Gallagher Clan to set it up for the following year. If anyone would like to get involved at any level they are more than welcome to let the Gallagher Clan organisation know at anytime.
As with all the other events that were held since the first in 2006 It is hopes that those who attend will have a great night of fun, frolics and friendship, though it will also be a night to remember those who attended events in 2007 and who are no longer with us.
Of course that this will be an evening for all Gallaghers and their friends and not just for those who attended 2007. There will be plenty of fun and items of interest to all. So let you all come out and enjoy a great nights craic (and we don’t mean the powder version!!). That will set the trend for the next 20 months or so leading into September 2013.
To add to it all, those who attend will be entered into a draw for an original copy of the Guinness World Record certificate that was presented in 2007.
Tags: