Diocesan News
Bishop Burrows' Musical Marathon Raises over 56,000 Euro
MUSICAL MARATHON: BISHOP BURROWS COMPLETES THE CIRCUIT
The Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Rt Revd Michael Burrows, has now completed his whirlwind fund-raising dash through his dioceses. He played the Harvest-tide hymn 'Come, ye thankful people, come' on the organ (or any other musical instrument available to him) in each of his churches in order to raise funds for the Bishops' Appeal's work in Swaziland; outreach in Seoul, Korea; and for Protestant Aid's charitable work. To date the figure raised is over €56,000, surpassing the amount which the Bishop raised on his 'Rail Run' of two years ago.
The Bishop covered over 3,000 kilometres to reach every one of the 149 churches in his united dioceses and all in the space of 17 days over which it was reckoned he met over 3,000 people.
He was accompanied on much of the journey by the Diocesan Communications Officer Mr Herbie Sharman and was also visited along parts of the way by representatives of the Bishops’ Appeal: Mr Martin O’Connor, Ms Valerie Power (Ferns), Mr Billy Kingston (Cashel & Ossory), Mr Albert Hempenstall of Protestant Aid and Ms Linda Chambers of USPG.
The Marathon started out at the end of August 2009 when the weather was still poor and certainly not favouring the farming community, but by the end of the fortnight the Bishop had encouraged the various parishes to sing the harvest hymn into sunshine. Herbie Sharman said, 'Come, ye thankful people, come' will be forever remembered in connection with this project and will, no doubt, be indelibly imprinted in the mind of the Bishop, not to mention the myriad of organs and harmoniums that were coaxed into action and played and some of which are still wheezingly recovering!
The final act of this 'opus maximus' took place in Kilkenny College on 26th September when representatives of the various charities were presented with their cheques by the Bishop.
ENDS
Bishop Burrows accepting a cheque from the Treasurer of Killeshin Church Ms Emily Bradley
For further information, contact:
Herbie Sharman on +353 (0) 86 2653191