The Florbsies -Dearbhla, (9), Aoibhín, (7), and Caragh, (4) Forbes and Emma,(10), and Aidan, (8) Flynn.

It’s not ALL doom and gloom these days, here’s a story that will melt many people’s hearts.

Last Saturday,17th July, on the hottest weekend of the year, during the longest spell of sunshine in living memory, a dream came true for five young people in the Longwood housing estate on Dublin Road in Drogheda. 

Three sisters (Dearbhla, 9, Aoibhín, 7, and Caragh, 4) aka 'The Forbes' Girls' along with their very good friends and neighbours (Emma, 10, and Aidan, 8) aka 'The Flynns' came together as 'The Florbsies' to hold a fundraiser they have been planning since before Covid!  Yes! THAT long! 

The Florbsies decided they would hold a Bake Sale for their neighbours and close friends in aid of charity.  Like all good events though, there was much work to be done ahead of the day.

They spent months discussing, researching, listing, planning, sketching, writing and practicing a variety of recipes. 

But, thanks to Covid, they had plenty of time to practice and they embarked on a LOT of tweaking of recipes and of course tasting, until they were sure they had the perfect recipes for success. 

They had a professional flyer printed and hand delivered it to each house in the estate and made all their signs and bunting and posters themselves before they set about 'THE BAKING'!

They then embarked on upwards of 30 hours of baking in the sweltering 25-degree-plus heat in the Forbes and Flynn households with everyone, including the ever-supportive Nanna's providing a helping hand.

 The heat may have made the baking uncomfortable and keeping the cakes cool but it was tremendous for encouraging people to come out and support them! 

Friends, family and neighbours came out in force, and were tremendously complimentary of the efforts and professionalism involved on the day by the five children.

Many neighbours also commented on the wonderful opportunity that the event afforded for a long overdue socially distanced catch up.  The cakes and bakes were a great success, with a number of requests for recipes coming in afterwards... watch this space for the book release date! ;-)

The fantastic feedback and massive sense of achievement of such a successful event was wonderful for the Florbsies but the really exciting part came when the time came to of break open their donations box. 

They had never seen so much money before and it took some time to count and they were completely overwhelmed to realise they had raised almost A THOUSAND EURO!!!

This amazing amount of money is to be divided between their two chosen charities,'The Irish Cancer Society' and 'The Children's Health Foundation Temple Street'.

Both charities are delighted to receive the support in such trying times for fundraising, and even happier to hear that this event was the outcome of five socially conscious children getting together to make a dream come true.

'The Florbsies' along with both charities would like to take this opportunity to thank very sincerely all those who gave so generously.  It might be a little while before the oven is switched on again though!