Cake, laughter, keen volunteers and a very kind-hearted bar owner left everyone who came to the Macmillan Coffee Morning feeling a little happier, and pushed the fundraising total to within touching distance of a huge goal.
A record-breaking year for La Cala
This year’s event at The Blarney Bar beat every previous annual total, bringing in an incredible €12,178 for Macmillan Nurses. Nine years of coffee mornings have now added up to a whopping €48,701. Only a whisker separates that from the €50,000 target.
Anyone at the 2026 morning will tell you the atmosphere was something to behold. The feelings of uplifting warmth, community spirit and love were overwhelming from start to finish.
Most Read on Euro Weekly News
Cakes, salads and prizes
Credit:EWN
Meet Rena, the woman behind it all and her reasons for supporting Macmillan
Rena, a retired nurse with more than 40 years of service began as a healthcare assistant. Her enthusiasm to progress led her to gain her registered general nurse qualification. After several years in the acute setting, she looked for a new direction and moved into community nursing.
Rena went on to complete her Specialist Practitioner qualification in Community Nursing in the Home (District Nursing), which incorporated nurse prescribing. She focused on caring for end-of-life patients, who can have complex and diverse needs, and moved into palliative care teams. Courses on care of the dying patient extended her knowledge, as she then turned to teaching and assessing. At Brunel University she completed her Specialist Practice Teacher and Mentorship course, then taught student District Nurses from Southbank University. So with all this background and knowledge, and the sad and tragic things she has witnessed and supported, she knows better than anyone what a worth while charity it is to get behind.
Retirement has not slowed her down. Rena keeps her hand in by supporting Macmillan Nurses through fundraising and bringing local people together to improve patient care. She approached Jenny, owner of The Blarney Bar, with the idea of a coffee morning and Jenny was eager to try it. There the annual event was born. Rena credits the support of the local community for making it what it is today.
Local bar handed over for the whole day
Jenny, who was unable to be present due to personal reasons was most certainly one of the major areas of the success of the day. She gives over the entire bar and takes only the additional bar costs. Cava for a euro, teas and coffees, salads and everything else all go to the charity. Even though she wasn’t there in person, her generosity most certainly was.
Salad plates sold for €3 each. Tables groaned under homemade cakes, pastries, scones, scotch eggs and several varieties of sausage roll. Under the table were stacks of goods ready to top up the main table, keeping people fed and options for food all day.
Raffle prizes and fun for everyone
Prizes were plentiful. An Apple Watch worth over €300, kindly donated by Rena’s son topped the raffle, and the rest of the impressive goods to be won ranged from cosmetics and wine to teddies, sweets, crisps, tea bags and vouchers. Kind local businesses donated every single one, so there really was something for everyone.
Guessing games added to the fun and fundraising, with competitions to guess the weight of the Christmas cake, name the teddy and work out how many sweets were in a jar.
The volunteers and visitors who made the day
EWN also spoke with Gillian, one of the main coordinators of the day, who pointed out a wonderful collage put together to celebrated the annual event, perfectly positioned near the bathrooms for people waiting to check out the photo and to see the success.
To be updated to include 2026
Credit:Rena
Everyone in a green T-shirt is a volunteer, and new faces joined old hands who return year after year. Their hard work turned the morning into an absolute roaring success.
Guests enjoyed themselves both inside and outside, gathered around the tables. Some had heard about the morning through advertising, while others simply walked past, spotted the buzz and wanted to be part of the action.
Let’s just hope the kind people behind it keep going for many more years, as this is a local event well worth popping in your diaries.