‘Laurelolly’ for Crumlin Children’s Hospital

How did a manager, a barman and a group of friends from a local pub become the crew that is now the single biggest non-corporate donor to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin?

Well, it all started when local bar manager Damien Long and senior barman Denis McCarthy of The Laurels were trying to come up with ideas to do something for the community in Clondalkin.

Damien told Closing Time, “As well as the usual fun social things like music and pub quizzes, we wanted to do something bigger, better, something that would get people involved!”.

What the lads came up with was what later came to be called ‘The Laurels Charity Crew’.

This year, a great community effort by this self-same Crew raised over €106,970 for Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin.
The support and commitment of local people and volunteers, The Laurels staff, local sports & business groups, An Garda Siochana and Straight Ahead is (set to remain) phenomenal.

Dave Moore and Pat Kiely – both top surgeons – along with a whole load of nursing staff participated in this year’s fund-raising event.

“This is our fourth year and we’re nearly at €235,000 to date,” explained Damien.