There are less than two weeks remaining until D-Day for Ballyglunin Railway Station – that is the target date set to raise enough funds so that the roof of the world-famous structure can be replaced.
And the efforts of a local community group, who are behind the huge efforts to raise €30,000 by June 28 next, have been boosted as the project has now received the full backing of Oscar winning actor Liam Neeson.
The Schindler’s List star has said that the railway station, synonymous with The Quiet Man movie, is showing its age and requires urgent repair. “We must save this iconic building, otherwise it will be lost,” he has said.
As of yesterday, almost €12,000 had been pledged for the restoration of the roof of the railway station but those behind the novel fundraising drive are still a long way off the €30,000 target that they have set themselves.
Mark Gibson of the Ballyglunin Community Development Charity told The Connacht Tribune that the support they had received since launching the fundraising initiative was very encouraging but it needed to ‘step up a gear’ over the next couple of weeks.
It is the long term ambition to restore the railway station to the condition it was in when John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and Barry Fitzgerald arrived there to film scenes from The Quiet Man.
The replacement of the roof on the building is essential for health and safety reasons.
The committee has now embarked on what is described as a crowd funding initiative – whereby at local, national and international fronts – a massive appeal for donations is being launched.
A target time-span has been set out to raise the necessary €30,000 to re-roof the building, a project that will hopefully be completed before the onset of next winter. But Mark Gibson explained that if their target is not reached by the June 28 deadline, then all donations will be returned.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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