Participants in the hugely successful Ardpatrick Strictly Come Dancing pictured in the Charleville Park Hotel.
The Charleville Park Hotel was rocking on Saturday, 1st December, as the Ardpatrick Development Projects group held their first fundraiser, a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ event. The event was a phenomenal success, with over 1,000 tickets sold. Ardpatrick is a small community with just under 400 as its population, but the huge work that was put into the event by the local community has helped to raise almost €60,000 in one night. This money will now be used to purchase land right next to the local primary school, and some fantastic community based facilities will be developed there.
Queues began forming outside the hotel on the night nearly 90 minutes before the first dancers were due on stage. When the entertainment began, the main room erupted in cheers as the 24 performers danced their way onto the stage through the cheering crowd. The top-class entertainment continued for the next two and half hours as each of the 12 couples performed their own individual routines, and everyone was most impressed with the very high standard on show. MC for the night Matt O’Callaghan kept the show moving along smoothly, and the four judges kept the crowd entertained with their comments. A big thank you to Matt and the four judges, Cora Fenton, Ciara Flanagan, Tom Neville TD, and Michael O’Hara. Congratulations must go to Maura Quane and Pat McGrath on winning the overall competition, and to Ciara Moloney and Liam Walsh who won the best dancer award on the night.
A very big thank you too to Tom and Maire Quilty, whose company TQS Integration came on board very early as the main event sponsor. A big thank you must also go to those companies that sponsored dancers, took out advertising in the programme, sponsored spot prizes or supported the event in any way. To everyone who bought sponsorship lines or programme, bought tickets for the event, and voted on the night, we thank you very much. A couple of companies who paid to have advertising in the programme unfortunately didn’t see their ads appear, due to no fault of the organising committee. They are Ballyhoura Beauty, Sarah’s Lash Room, Maurice Powers Solicitors, Tom Neville TD, Tim O’Keeffe, and Aqua Trans International Ltd. For this, the group sends heartfelt apologies and wishes to thank all of you for your understanding.
A group of excellent professionals put the wonderful show together. Antoine and his crew from ‘A-Live’ looked after sound, lighting and stage, and Bridget and Mary from ‘Shall We Dance’ worked tirelessly with the dancers over the past number of months. Local girls Clara, Jade and Elaine were on hand all night to keep our dancers looking splendid, and Clara Cusack from Cutting Edge ensured not a flick of hair was out of place all night.
The Ardpatrick Development Group has a core team of 18 people and they were responsible for organising the event. They have to be commended on their ability to pull off such a fantastic spectacle. Under the guidance of Chairman George Douglas, the group which was formed only in July of this year, will finish 2018 with €60,000 in the bank, ready to move forward with their plans, a remarkable achievement.