 The bungalow is one of nine constructed on the site where the Daughters of Charity, a leading Irish charity for the intellectually disadvantaged, also has a school and Higher and Further Educational establishments for those in its care. Each bungalow, built and fitted-out to a very high standard, will house six individuals - children or adults – accompanied by care staff on a 24-hour basis. Also part of the new facility is a splendid central restaurant and meeting rooms building. Wooden Spoon’s £50,000 donation to RESPECT, the fundraising arm of the Daughters of Charity, covered the fitting-out of the bungalow. Spoon’s connection with the project came about from the annual Four Peaks Challenge, which passes through Dublin as the competitors make their way to Carrantouhill in Killarney, the highest mountain in Ireland and the last peak to be conquered by the teams. And what better place for Spoon to have a very fine project but Dublin, the very origin of Spoon, and for it to be ready for use at the start of the 25th Anniversary?
Her Royal Highness spent over an hour in the central building and in the bungalow, meeting a good many of both the staff of the Daughters of Charity and of their 70 or so guests for the occasion. Among the guests were Fred Hucker and Philip Blunden, trustees of Spoon, Allen Gibson, Chairman of Spoon’s Ulster Region and a contingent of others from Spoon in Northern Ireland, and other friends of Spoon in the Republic. Just like Irish rugby, Spoon makes no differentiation between the North and the South of Ireland. Dermot Desmond, Chairman of RESPECT, spoke to welcome our Royal Patron and Fred Hucker spoke of that momentous day in 1983 when he and the other founders of Wooden Spoon were presented with an actual wooden spoon by their Irish friends to mark that won figuratively earlier in the day by the English rugby team at Lansdowne Road.
Her Royal Highness then spoke of her pleasure at being able to mark the opening, her appreciation of the work that Wooden Spoon does and how very much the project had impressed her. She then unveiled a commemorative plaque before departing for a second charity commitment that afternoon, followed by a visit to Croke Park for the Ireland v Scotland game – as did a good many of RESPECT’s guests! All in all a very memorable day.
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