Quiz night for a good cause

Funds will go to Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust

A charity quiz night will take place this Saturday in aid of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

Organised by Tess Brady, Chrissie Murray and Cathleen O’Hagen, the night will take place in the Bridge Inn in Mount Nugent.

The fundraiser is one of many which Tess and Chrissie have put their minds to over the years. Sitting in the cosy Súil Eile cafe in Kilnaleck, the two Mount Nugent friends reminisced on their days of gathering money for various charities. From frying the best homemade pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to getting their dancing shoes on for Strictly, the women fundraise for various local charities, with the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust particularly close to their hearts.

“The funny thing was, I did Strictly in February-March that year and each person had to nominate a charity,” Chrissie said, describing how “if they won” the club would donate €2,000 to that charity.

“My charity was the Kevin Bell,” she recalled.

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust aims to alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families repatriating the bodies of their loved ones who have died abroad in sudden or tragic circumstances back to Ireland.

“There were so many young people from the area in Australia and Canada and I thought, if anything ever happened to those young lads, where do you go?”

“That was my thinking, not knowing that six months later I’d need it myself.”

Chrissie’s son Enda passed away suddenly nine years ago. He was living in England when heart failure took his life at just 44 years of age. The Mount Nugent woman recalled how she contacted Colin Bell on a Wednesday, and they had her son home that Friday.

“He has all the logistics in place.

“We didn’t have to worry about a thing, we knew that he’d be in our home.”

Cathleen, who is another organiser of the event, believes the quiz “will make people aware that the Kevin Bell exists”.

“They’re very good at what they do, they do things overnight and they’ve got all the contacts in different countries.

“They’re just excellent.”

Tess outlined how “quite a lot of people” in the Cavan area have availed of the service, which is why they chose to fundraise for the cause.

Asked for how long she has been fundraising for different causes, Tess quips: “forever”.

“We must bring the pancake day back,” added Chrissie, describing how all donations were voluntary and they raised money for the local school, Ballyjamesduff Cancer Care and building houses in Haiti, among others.

“Why do we do it [fundraising]? Because we’re foolish,” Chrissie laughed.

“We enjoy it actually, I love pancake day. We used to have great fun at those and we enjoy quizzes.”

“It’s nice to give back, it’s nice to share,” added Tess.

The quiz will take place on Saturday, November 9 at the Bridge Inn in Mount Nugent, beginning at 9.30pm. A table of four will cost €40 with further donations welcome. Further enquires can be made by contacting Tess on 087 205 2861 or Chris on 087 773 5780. The pair encouraged everyone to come along for a good night of fundraising and brain teasing, with no Googling allowed on the night.

“We put a bucket of water behind the counter for the phones,” Chrissie laughed.