Longford Review of the Year March 2024: $140,000 raised in memory of Longford man who died in USA

A total of $140,000 was raised in memory of Longford man who died in USA and was presented to Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

The sudden death of Longford native Kevin 'Skippy' McGuire brought shock and sadness to his community in Brighton, Massachusetts.

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Originally from Carrickedmond, Skippy had lived in the US for over 20 years. After two decades in America, the McGuire family wanted Kevin's final resting place to be Longford.

The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust contacted Kevin's brother, Conor McGuire, to help bring Kevin home to Carrickedmond, Longford to be buried.

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The Trust is a charity set up by grieving parents after experiencing the difficulty surrounding returning their son after he died abroad.

A fundraiser in memory of Kevin for KBRT was set up to 'pay it forward'.

Magical Longford Lights Festival

Thousands of visitors descended on Longford Town over the last weekend of February, to enjoy the hugely successful and visually spectacular Longford Lights Festival for 2024.

Longford County Council confirmed that over 11,000 visitors from near and far attended the event.

The event is a wonderful example of what can be achieved when the local authority and committed cohorts of the community join forces to support our arts community in doing what they do best.

Those thousands of people braved the cold temperatures to venture out and enjoy the burgeoning arts scene in Longford.

Indeed, the scale of this visual arts event is yet to be matched nationwide, with the sheer magnitude of the numbers of artists, community groups and schools a feat of organisation in itself.

This year the festival doubled in size and involved twenty-three artists, twenty-eight art installations, forty-three schools and community organisations and thousands of lights.

It was delivered by Longford County Council in partnership with Mide Arts Group, with funding support from Longford County Council, The Arts Council, Creative Ireland and Longford Tourism.

This project was unprecedented in the amount of employment it gave to local and national artists.

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon said, “I’d like to congratulate Artistic Director Caroline Conway, all of the artists, community groups, schools and volunteers who came together with Longford County Council and Mide Arts Group to create Longford Lights.”

Clash over funding

The Health Service Executive is committed to providing “proactive financial and practical support to enable St Christopher's to continue its value work”.The statement came as the ongoing issue of timely payments of staff wages again reared its head because of the funding arrangement in place with the HSE.

Micheál Carrigy (then Senator) met with the CEO of St Christopher's Services following employee concerns: “There needs to be continued engagement with staff, services users, and families in relation to issues that are continuing to arise.”

The then Deputy Joe Flaherty TD acknowledged the uncertainty over the St Christopher’s service “is deeply worrying for the families of service users and staff”.“ It's critical we provide them with assurances about the future security of the service and jobs rather than trying to score political points,” he said.