Longford lady June Belton raises over €4k for charity through her art

September was a big month for much-loved Longford lady June Belton, who launched herself into the public eye when she held an art exhibition in the Backstage Theatre.

And the local artist got to see the fruits of her labour this week when she found out that her auction raised a whopping €4,286 for St Luke's Hospital.

June was inspired to take up painting by her late son, Derek, who sadly passed away after a battle with cancer.

Derek's memory is also kept alive every time June picks up a paintbrush.

“I took up art before Derek got sick. I was always rattling on about ‘when I have time, when I retire, I’m going to do painting’,” June told the Longford Leader in September.

“So he came in one day and threw the Leader on the table and said ‘there - don’t wait until you retire; there’s a course starting next week’.”

June's artwork was displayed in the Atrium Gallery in September, when it was auctioned off in aid of St Luke's.

“Derek spent a lot of his time in St Luke’s, coming and going for treatment.

“There was something magical about Luke’s, even though there was so much tragedy going on inside.

“The grounds were always kept very well - the trees, the flowers… every spring you’d see these beautiful flowers.

“And Derek used to get out of the car and say ‘isn’t it great to be alive?’.

“It meant a lot to Derek and to other patients. And I’m sure to this day there’s people going up there with the same hope that we had as a family.”