DONAL Smith, the driving force behind the fund-raising Cheltenham Festival evenings in the Minerstown Tavern, has been in touch to give a final tally following this year’s Chinwag at the Tyrella pub.

“I’m delighted to report that we managed to raise another £300 for our Minerstown Tavern Cheltenham Chinwag pot for the Jonjo Bright Trust courtesy of our Easter Monday raffle. The first prize, a beautiful limited edition Annie Power print kindly donated by Jane Wills Equine Portraits, was won by Michael Smith from the East Down Hunt Club.

“We had hoped to get £100 from the raffle, so to get three times that amount was unbelievable, and is all down to the kindness and generosity of everyone who purchased tickets. The power of social media was also clear to be seen, with two of our Facebook page followers from England, Annarosa Martin and Paul Newman, also bagging prizes.

“That brings this year’s total up to £1,300, not bad at all especially considering we weren’t going to run at all this year.

“Loads of individual thanks are needed - which I’ll get round to in due course - but, for now, just one huge one to everyone who helped in any way, shape or form to help us raise the amount we did.

“We hope to be in a position to present the cheque to Jonjo at the evening meeting at Downpatrick on Friday, May 19th, and it’s hoped that all our guest panellists from the Chinwag on March 4th (Noel Chance, Colin McBratney, Declan Lavery, Pamela Ballantine, along with Jamie Codd who was unavailable that day), will be in attendance for the handover.”