Limerick community singing off same hymn sheet for Ukrainians

CAPPAMORE threw a welcome party for 21 Ukrainians who have made the east Limerick parish home last week and now it has emerged they have fundraised to buy them gifts.

Friends of Abington Church together with the Sliabh Feilim Singers and special guests, including the Mulcair Men’s Shed Choir, hosted a concert in Abington Church.

This concert was most generously supported and the money raised was used to purchase vouchers and gifts for Ukrainian refugees in Cappamore and Murroe parishes.

Members of the Sliabh Feilim Singers visited the Convent of Mercy in Cappamore, now home to eight Ukrainian families, to present them with the proceeds of the event.

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Mary T Ryan, musical director of the Sliabh Feilim Singers, and other members of the choir attended this presentation. Jason Radcliffe, the facilities manager at the convent, and some of the residents gave them a very warm welcome.

The presentation itself took place in what was once the convent chapel but is now a communal room where the residents can meet and chat.

Continuing the musical theme, the residents sang a traditional Ukrainian song which, coincidentally, is part of the Sliabh Feilim Singers repertoire.

The choir members were then treated to tea and the traditional Ukrainian dessert called Napoleon cake which was made by the residents.

This presentation is a symbol of the welcome the people of Cappamore and surrounding parishes extend to these displaced people.

The convent in the heart of the village was generously donated to the parish by the Sisters of Mercy when they moved to Tipperary in June 2019. It was refurbished prior to the Ukrainian families moving in.