A group of people in the small scenic south county Laois village of Clough have got together to raise funds for the building of a community centre, holding a raffle with a John Deere tractor worth €100,000 the covetable prize.

“Clough Community Vision Committee was set up to develop and build a community centre for our school and village,” said dairy farmer, David Hyland, of the organising committee.

“Funds, of course, are always important and this  year, in order to fundraise we are having an online raffle for a John Deere tractor worth €100,000.”

Tickets are also available to purchase locally at €30 each. The draw will take place on March 17, 2023.

Clough which is situated in the historic parish of Aghaboe, has a population of less than 100. It is one of two villages in the parish, the other being Ballacolla.

“We would like to build a community centre in our village to enhance life for the school and community. We will begin our build in the next 18 months to two years and are looking forward to this,” said David.

“As we haven’t settled on a final design, the cost is not known yet but in the present climate we are sure it will be high. We will access as many grants as we can and continue to fundraise.

Tractor raffle

“We really need support for our raffle to reach our target of 8,000 tickets by March 17 next. Our community is behind us but we are reaching out to our county and further afield for this venture,” said David.

Further information is available from the Clough Community Vision committee members: Anne Peters, David Hyland, Ann Bergin, Joe Hyland, Theresa Ryan, John Finlay and Olga Hyland. Olga can be contacted on: 086 1730034 while David Hyland is on 087 9354441.