By 
OMAGH Rotary Club has praised the people of Omagh and surrounds for their generosity in supporting the club’s annual pre-Christmas ‘Tree of Remembrance’ charity fundraiser.
Several thousand pounds have been raised through the event with donations going to the Cancer Fund for Children and other Rotary charities.
The annual ‘Tree of Remembrance’ appeal took place over two days in the run-up to Christmas at the ASDA store on Omagh’s Dromore Road.
This cherished initiative gave people the opportunity to write personal messages in memory of friends and loved ones as well as make financial donations.
Each message was then lovingly attached to the tree, creating a powerful symbol of community, reflection, and hope during the holiday season. Those messages will be blessed at an upcoming Rotary meeting by a cleric.
Rotary members displayed the organisation’s ‘Service before Self’ motto by giving their time to collect donations over the two-day period, assisted by Inner Wheel members, representatives of the children’s cancer charity and Graham Construction volunteers.
A considerable boost to the money raised for the Cancer Fund for Children came from the Progressive Building Society community funds with a cheque for £1,000 being handed over by Rotarian and manager of the building society’s local branch, Julia Ellis, for which sincere thanks has been extended by the Rotary club.
Rotary club president, Ronald Oldcroft, praised the wonderful generosity of the public and thanked all who had helped in any way with the annual charity appeal which has raised substantial sums for worthy causes over the years.
He also thanked Asda for facilitating the collection in its foyer.
The club held its traditional New Year lunch meeting at the beginning of the month in the Silverbirch Hotel with guest speaker, Ellie McGuigan.
A student of Drumragh Integrated College, Ellie won the Omagh heat of the Rotary Youth Leadership competition and also excelled at the zone final in Letterkenny against stiff opposition.
