Sligo Animal Rescue/Donkey Sanctuary Jumble Sale

So yesterday was the big day for the Sligo Animal Rescue and Sathya Sai Donkey Sanctuary jumble sale. Nothing in life goes to plan though and we had a couple of problems. The first one was that I had a warehouse full of jumble in Collooney (thanks to Mick in Signs Express for letting us use his place) and no one to help me transport it to Sligo. Thankfully due to the internet and two of the nicest ladies you could wish to meet Sinead and Vanessa came to my rescue with their vans (who needs men anyway!)

So on Friday we loaded it all up and headed off to Sligo where Steve and Diane had been setting up the hall. As I walked in Steve told me we weren?t allowed to hold the raffle because the hall was a Methodist Hall and it?s considered gambling. I suppose this was my own fault for not checking it out and I really worried about how this would change things.

We carried on regardless though with our jumble sale and above are just some of our wonderful helpers and organisers. All of whom I met through the internet and most of whom I?d never met before our event. Isn?t it amazing how many special people there are out there willing to help! Anyway before I go all mushy I?ll carry on.

Farmer John and Farmer Lucy (and all their little farmers) from Farmyard in your Schoolyard were kind enough to bring along some rabbits, a chicken and her chicks. So the children got to hold them. One lady was saying it?s the first time her son had ever held a rabbit. It?s a fantastic idea. Farmyard in your Schoolyard will bring their animals out to schools and events to teach the children all about them. The farmers cleaned up any bit of mess and made sure everyone sanitised their hands after touching the animals. It really bought people in to the hall as well so a big thank you to them.

During the day people were still bringing in jumble for us to sell. Also wonderful home baking. Again all these people had seen our appeal on the Internet and were so kind to help out. Chapters Coffee House in Sligo were so kind to make us some goodies (and to drive me back to the hall in the pouring rain).

The lovely Niamh arrived with the most amazing cakes. Aren?t they just fantastic. I?m only sorry I didn?t have my camera with me because the phone pics don?t do them justice.

I didn?t get to try a cake as they very quickly sold out but I was told by a little boy that they tasted as nice as they looked (he even said sorry to the donkey before he ate it).

We then had our very own celebrity visitor! This is Dermot Healy, he?s a novelist, playwright and poet. We were delighted to see him, he?s a lovely man

Elaine arrived to do face painting for the children. She was brilliant, some really amazing faces going around the place

It was a wonderful day, with a great buzz around the place. Lovely to see so many smiling faces and the best news of all is that we raised ?1594!! This will be split equally between Sligo Animal Rescue and the Sathya Sai Sanctuary. The raffle is yet to come so please keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates. Thank you to everyone who helped, we couldn?t have done it without you.

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