PICTURES | Operation Blue Light Heroes launched in Ballymahon

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Another Christmas book for children, featuring local kids as main characters, has launched for charity.

A fundraising campaign, Operation Blue Light Santa, was founded by Longford garda, Emma Kiernan, in 2021. Two books were launched as part of the fundraising activities in 2021 and 2022: Operation Blue Santa and Operation Blue Nose Reindeer. READ MORE BELOW PHOTO

The third book in the series, Operation Blue Light Heroes, was launched amid a flurry of excitement on Saturday, December 2, in Ballymahon. So far, Operation Blue Light Santa has raised €22,300 for charity.

Proceeds of 2023 go to Little Blue Heroes Foundation and St Christopher’s Services.

Local journalist Jessica Thompson has written all three books, with Garda Kiernan approaching her two years ago to see if she would be interested in writing the children’s books.

“I asked Jessica if she would like to write Christmas stories for little children, to coincide with the initiative,” said Garda Kiernan.

“Putting her own spin on it and making it unique was important to us, and a book that would teach children the importance of being nice to one another, especially at Christmas time.”

In this year’s story, there is panic at the North Pole on Christmas Eve as the reindeer all come down with the flu. Unable to fly the sleigh, Santa has to come up with a plan to save Christmas. Local artist Nicole Foster illustrated the books in 2021 and 2022, while Pat Taaffe illustrated this year’s book.

The story features six garda dogs and seven honorary Gardaí from the Little Blue Heroes, Maddie Baxter, Kalvin O’Meara, Zoe Cryan, Rian Sutton, Tobias Godla and the late Max Wenman (RIP) and Luke McCormack (RIP).

The book was funded and supported by Longford Public Participation Network and the Longford Community Safety Partnership, and is part of the wider Operation Blue Light Santa fundraising campaign.

This year’s Operation Blue Santa book, Operation Blue Light Heroes, will be on-sale at Newsround Longford, Jenny's gift shop Ballymahon, Wilder & Gold Ballymahon and the Jolly Boys Christmas market for €10, with all proceeds going to Little Blue Heroes Foundation and St Christopher’s Services.

“We thought it would be wonderful to be able to raise funds for those local, Longford charities who do such admirable work,” Garda Kiernan added.

Blue Santa presented the book to honorary gardaí and made further presentations to Max’s mum Cathy Birmingham and Luke’s parents, Olive and Dave Kelly. “It was a very special moment for garda Rossa Smith, as he was Luke’s garda buddy,” Garda Kiernan said.

“It was a sigh of relief to get the thumbs up from the children involved.”

Mrs Claus then read the story to the children, their families and blue light teams. Santa and Mrs Claus were assisted by Ruby the elf. They were then treated to a party before the book was launched at local Christmas markets.

“Thank you to everyone who supported the initiative this year and previously - we would like to dedicate the article to Little Blue Heroes,” Garda Kiernan concluded.