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Famous Adare lady Dolly O Neill celebrates her 100th birthday

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1 year ago

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Dolly O Neill pictured at the St Patricks Day Parade with Betty Hennessy, Dolly’s niece and full-time carer and Richard Lynch, I Love Limerick. Picture: Dolf Patijn/ilovelimerick.

Dolly is the longest serving member of the Adare TIdy Towns community

By I Love Limerick correspondent Ava O’Donoghue

Dolly O Neill
Dolly will celebrate her 100th birthday with a special Tea Party in her honour on Sunday, June 26th at 3 pm in the village hall.

Famous Adare lady Dolly O Neill will celebrate her 100th birthday with a special Tea Party in her honour on Sunday, June 26th at 3 pm in Adare village hall. She officially turned 100 on Monday, June 20.


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The village is delighted to host such a special event for a very special lady, or more so “Adare’s favourite person.”

The beloved Dolly is considered an Adare village treasure who has garnered love and respect from those in her community. Throughout her life, she has been a friend to all in her area.

Dolly has lived in Adare all her life and has continued to dedicate her time to Adare and has voluntarily given so much to the community, playing an important role in the Adare Red Cross, Adare Irish Countrywomen’s Association, Adare Tidy Towns, Active Retirement, and Adare Sheltered Housing to name but a few.

Dolly O Neill is the longest-serving member of the Adare Tidy Towns, becoming a stalwart of the local group since its inauguration in 1964 and she has worked tirelessly to keep Adare the special place it is ever since.

Dolly’s constant contributions to the town awarded her the special Supervalu Tidy Town Hero Award, an annual competition that encourages communities to come together to make their place a better place.

Dolly made a special appearance at the Adare St Patrick’s Day, the first parade in Adare in 23 years taking on the role of Grand Marshal.

The role of Grand Marshal was very deserving for Dolly as she has been the pride of Adare in all her years.

Trish Derwin of Adare St Patricks Day committee commented, “Dolly is a true inspiration to Adare with all her hard work throughout her life. She has been a member of the Adare Red Cross for more than 60+ years. She is a long serving member of the Adare Tidy Towns since it was established back in 1964, where she played a very active role in keeping the village blooming with the beautiful flowers and the tireless work she put in over the years to keep the village looking its best. In 2014 Dolly was awarded a special honour of “Supervalu Tidy Town Hero Award” that she so justly deserved but like her character is very modest about this award. Dolly has also served as a eucharist minister at Holy Trinity Abbey Adare. In June 2020 Dolly was the ribbon cutter for the re-opening of Raincín’s newsagents, a 3rd generation independently run newsagents which goes to show you how much she is thought of in Adare.

No words can describe the love and respect the people of Adare have for Dolly and the many friendships she has made throughout her life and will continue to do so.”

The Tea Party is a very special event, and all are welcome to come to honour the life of Dolly and this fantastic achievement.

Happy Birthday to Dolly from everyone on the I Love Limerick team!

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Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.