Memoirs of a Ballyhornan Girl

 

Many thanks to all those of you who purchased a copy of the CD, 
the book or who made a donation for the open garden.  
A cheque for £1000 has been sent to Guide Dogs NI. 

A few copies of the CD & book are available to buy on the website.  
Many thanks for your support, Maureen Gill-Sharp.

Thanks to the Down Recorder for their recent article which can be viewed by clicking the link below:


I hope to record a follow up CD next year with more lovely old songs.



*NEW MUSIC CD OUT NOW*
I have just finished recording a music CD:
 'I Stand on a Lonely Seashore' - a collection of 22 old Irish songs.  
You will be familiar with some of the songs and others you may not have heard before.  They were learnt many years ago on my mother's knee and at Dunsford old school in Chapeltown.  
The CD is available to buy on this website (see ordering page).
Priced at £5 each with all the proceeds going to the Guide Dogs NI.
Further details and the track list can be found on the 'Music CD' page.
I hope you enjoy listening to the old songs and thank you very much for supporting the Guide Dogs NI charity.  It costs around £60,000 to train and support a guide dog throughout its working life.

A few copies of the book 'Memoirs of a Ballyhornan Girl' are available to buy at £10 each, with all proceeds going to Guide Dogs NI.

Many thanks to BBC Radio Ulster and Anne Marie McAleese for the lovely piece this week on the 'Your Place and Mine' programme
 which can be listened to again by clicking on the link below:


Many thanks to the Down Recorder newspaper for printing a lovely article which can be viewed again by clicking on the link below:




GUIDE DOG PUPPY THOMAS
I am delighted to report that Guide Dog puppy Thomas was born on 1st August 2019.  Thomas is a Labrador x Golden Retriever whose parents are Hartmann and Queenie.  His birth certificate is shown below with a recent photo of Thomas at about six weeks old.
Many thanks to everyone whose kind generosity in buying a book and attending the open garden, enabled Thomas to be sponsored. 
I am sure you will agree that Thomas is very cute and will make a great Guide Dog for someone in the future. 
I will post further updates on Thomas as they are received.


OPEN GARDEN - AUGUST

For any of you who missed the open garden event in July, Maureen's Secret Garden will be open to visitors for the month of August. 

Small groups are welcome to tour the garden by appointment, for a donation to Guide Dogs NI.  See contact page for details.

Copies of the book 'Memoirs of a Ballyhornan Girl' are still available to purchase for £10. 

OPEN GARDEN - £600 raised for GUIDE DOGS NI

Many thanks to everyone who attended the open garden on Sunday.

A cheque for £600 has been sent to Guide Dogs NI Belfast HQ.

The day was a great success and despite the weather forecast of heavy rain, we were extremely fortunate as the afternoon stayed totally dry.

Many thanks to all the people who made donations, bought books and plants.  Thank you to all the local businesses who displayed a poster, made donations and supplied the refreshments.

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers from Guide Dogs NI pictured below, without whom the day would not have been possible.

It was lovely to welcome all the guide dogs and ambassador dogs who attended including Hartley, Eva, Quinn and Rex.


The Guide Dogs NI volunteers who made the day a great success

OPEN GARDEN

The garden will be opening to the public in order to raise money for Guide Dogs NI.
Covering an area of over half an acre, the garden consists of a series of rooms including a cottage garden, parterre, wildlife pond, woodland garden, raised sea view garden and long borders.  There are fifteen different seating areas in the garden, including a summerhouse, gazebo and arbor, where you can sit and enjoy the many flowers and shrubs.  The garden is wildlife friendly with birds and butterflies in abundance.  Enjoy wandering around this secret garden paradise and take in the lovely views of the Irish Sea and the Isle of Man.

The garden will be open on Sunday 28th July from 2pm to 5pm.  
An entry fee of £5 per person, to include light refreshments, will go to the Guide Dogs NI charity who will be in attendance at the event.
There will be a plant stall and signed copies of the book will be available to purchase.

Parking is available at the Ballyhornan beach car park.

I look forward to meeting you and would like thank all the volunteers in advance for their kind help and support for the event.


An aerial view of the back garden showing the long borders and parterre.


BOOK UPDATE

I'm delighted to say that £2000 has now been sent to the Guide Dogs from sales of the book.  

Many thanks to everyone who has bought a copy.

We are now well on the way to reaching my target of £3000 for the charity.

A number of people have been asking for copies of the first book 'Moonlight on Ballyhornan Bay'.  Unfortunately it sold out some time ago.  I will look into ways of either putting a copy on the website or perhaps printing a loose-leaf copy to send out.  The file is just too large to send by e-mail.  Will keep you posted!

Enclosed below is a recent letter received from the Guide Dogs.

I was very touched to read the letter from young Rebekkah in Belfast and the huge impact that her Guide Dog Iggy is making on her life:

£1000 has been sent to Guide Dogs from sales of the book.

Many thanks to everyone who has bought a copy, both locally and far and wide!

Just received a lovely thank you card below this morning:

*NEW BOOK OUT NOW*

Memoirs of a Ballyhornan Girl

by Maureen Gill-Sharp

I was so overwhelmed by the response to my first book 'Moonlight on Ballyhornan Bay' back in 2012, that I decided to write a follow up book 'Memoirs of a Ballyhornan Girl'.  Copies were sent all over the world to countries including America and Australia.  Many thanks to all of you who bought the book and for your kind letters of support.

I hope that you enjoy reading my new book and I have decided to donate all the proceeds to a charity very close to my heart-Guide Dogs.

I would like the money raised to go towards training a Guide Dog.

Once again many thanks and I do hope that you support this very worthy cause, Maureen Gill-Sharp.