Traditionally raffles at Easter offer the chance to win chocolate eggs of all shapes and sizes but one enterprising Co. Galway hurling club has decided to abandon tradition and offer a heifer instead as first prize.
Two year old “Bluebell” a Roan Belgian Blue Cross U-grade heifer, is according to Tynagh Abbey Duniry Hurling Club “something special”.
“She has a striking shade of red and dapples of white. The Roan heifers are are hard to come by. Bluebell our heifer, comes with a good square shape to her, she has a decent end and shoulder, with a fine top.
“She has a very quiet temperament and carries herself really well,” the club said on social media.
According to Tynagh Abbey Duniry Hurling Club there is not a chocolate in sight in this year’s Easter raffle – instead prizes up for grabs include Bluebell, a 10 acre solar fence plus a range of vouchers for karting, hotel getaways and shopping trips.
The hurling club is hoping to raise a total of €25,000 and plans to use all proceeds towards the maintenance, upkeep and insurance of the local community pitches, the astroturf, the Duniry training area and centre, Tynagh clubhouse and the club members’ gym.
The club was formed in 1996 when Tynagh and Abbey Duniry Hurling Clubs in east Galway joined forces at juvenile because of a “decline in population” and then in 2004 they decided to amalgamate at adult level and form the current Tynagh-Abbey Duniry Club.
The club prides itself on being at the heart of its local community not just preparing and fielding teams from under six to senior level but organising and running weekly events from bingo to also managing an astro turf facility and gym for people who live in the locality.
Although Tynagh Abbey Duniry Hurling Club is quietly confident that Bluebell is a prize no one would want to walk away from in its Easter raffle this year it has confirmed that “if you don’t want the heifer you can take €2,500 in cash for first prize” also.