WATCH: Tea Party Girls all set for Our Lady’s fundraiser
The Tea Party Girls’ fundraiser for Our Lady’s Hospice is back for its third year after having raised nearly €3,000 in 2023.
With a house garden as their venue, six women from Alderwood, Springfield, have been able to bring the whole community together twice and are ready to do it again.
On Saturday, September 21, starting at 12 noon, the Tea Party Girls will host a tea, coffee, and cake afternoon in one of their front gardens on Alderwood Avenue, and every donation from participants will go to Our Lady’s Hospice.
Joan Wallace, Rita Cowap, Liz Russell, Phyllis Boyd, Catherine Curry and Winnie Manzor started meeting up for a cup of tea in each other’s house garden during the Covid-19 pandemic, when outdoors gatherings were the only ones allowed.
In a time of isolation, especially felt by four of them who are widows, the six pensioners found their own way to get the priceless joy which comes from having a chat and a laugh with someone else.
When Covid-19 loosened its grip on social gatherings, they decided it was time to bring the rest of the community to their gardens too, for a good cause.
“We thought of Our Lady’s Hospice because there is hardly a family in the estate who haven’t been affected by a member having cancer or other conditions,” explained Catherine from the group. “Everyone has some sort of relationship with it.”
The Tea Party Girls have been pleasantly surprised by “how generous” and “helpful” people have been.
Their first time in 2022, they raised about €2,000 and last year’s turnout and amount raised were incredible considering the lashing rain.
“We’d love to get even more this year,” said Catherine, as she hopes for a sunnier day this time around. “People have been asking when we were going to have it.”
“I think everyone knows us by now, we’re the ladies having a laugh talking about everything and nothing in one of the gardens,” she added with a laugh.
The six Tea Party Girls haven’t stopped meeting up on a regular basis after Covid-19, and they still have a cup of tea in their garden twice or three times a week, when the weather is good.
While most of the cakes for the fundraiser are made by the Tea Party Girls themselves, local shops and minimarkets are taking part by donating some of their produce.
The initiative is supported by well-known local businesses such as SuperValu Fortunestown, Valley News, the Butcher’s Kitchen, Mix Flowers, St Mark’s GAA Club, Bitchen Kitchen and O’Leary’s Centra.
