It may not have been revealed in the way it was intended – a technical hitch preventing Daniel O’Donnell from announcing it on screen – but the singer and patron nevertheless got the inspiring message across, over 150,000 euro raised as a result of this year’s Relay for Life. A huge attendance, made up of team members, survivors, carers, volunteers and committee personnel, gathered in the Mount Errigal Hotel on Monday night to hear the final total and celebrate the achievements of so many in getting there. This was an occasion to forcibly remind cancer that it’s in a fight – with organisations like Relay for Life Donegal to the forefront in aiming to win it. As in keeping with the Relay event itself, staged in May, it was also an occasion for music and merriment, and much laughter and emotion. To get proceedings underway, the Ukulele Orchestra performed ‘Don’t Fence Me In” and ‘Sloop John B.” Immediately following that, Elbow room became limited when the Survivors Choir – Donal Kavanagh with a foot in both camps – took to the same stage for a stirring rendition of ‘One Day Like This’. “You were made for bigger audiences”, Relay chairperson, Seamus Devine advised the singers and musicians. Donal, meanwhile, paid tribute to the five members of the choir who had passed away including Corinne, Bernard, John, Astrid and Sean.
