The kind of festival worth celebrating

FRIVOLOUS friendliness, generosity, and spontaneity are the hot commodities on offer at the second Random Acts of Kindness Festival being held in Clonakilty on Jul 19-25.

A range of wacky events and interesting activities have been organised for the weekend and to get things started, people of all ages remembered the kindest act they have ever experienced.

16-year-old Eva Doyle, from Glasheen, said her friends throwing her a surprise 15th birthday party was the nicest thing anyone ever did for her. “I had kind of said to my friends that nobody would be around for my birthday because it is in the summer, so they organised a secret birthday party on the sly,” Eva said.

“Apparently, it took them weeks to organise and I never suspected a thing. It was in my house and everything which just made it more bizarre!

“They had this plan to get me out of the house; we all went to Fitzgerald’s Park for the day enjoying the sun.

“After a few hours, people started making excuses to head away: Mass, dinner, etc. Then one of my friends asked me to stay out with her for another while. I thought nothing of it.

“Around 6, she suddenly said we should go. When we got to my house, she had a secret doorbell ring to let everyone know we were here. My mother said she had gotten new furniture in the sitting room and would I come take a look.

“When I walked into the room I burst into tears. All my girlfriends were there. The room was covered in balloons and banners, and there were sweets, cakes, pizza, crisps — everything you could think of.

“Everyone had made birthday cards for me and there were loads of presents.

“We had a great time just chilling out, we watched Mean Girls, and we took loads of photos, including a big group photo that everyone has a copy of now.

“It was a great day, I felt so special and loved.”

Ciarán Daly, 25, from Kerry, said his dad, Noel, was the one who stood out as doing something extraordinarily nice.

“When I was 18-19, I was studying hotel management in Tralee IT. I was living at home on the farm in Rathmore and I got a job with hotel experience working for an agency. They would send me to different hotels every weekend to work in weddings and functions. I would be working until 5am or 6am and my dad would always come and collect me no matter what time I was finished.

“He collected me for over two years and never mentioned it or made me feel bad about it. If I was cross, or there had been a barney earlier in the day, he would still be there when I finished. I could always rely on him to pick me up.

“He is a quiet man, wouldn’t be one for talking, but going home he would tell me different things about the farm and I would tell him things about my night. It was our time to catch up.

“Sometimes I would get into the car and there would be a few drunken people he had picked up to bring home. He would forget to lock the door, you see, and people thought it was a taxi. He never minded taking them home.”

John O’Dea, 30, from Rathcormac, recalled a Good Samaritan experience, some years ago, that happened him when he was stranded out the country with a punctured bike.

“I was cycling out by Carrigtwohill early one morning when my tyre went flat. It was raining and worse, I had no phone.

“Nowhere was open, as it was so early, and I was living in Cobh, some 15 miles away.

“I had just resigned myself to a long walk home in the torrential rain, when a car pulled up behind me and an English man — Paul — offered me a lift. I gladly accepted.

“When I got home, I asked Paul where he was going and he said he was actually heading to Midleton, 30 miles in the other direction, but when he saw me at the side of the road, he turned around.

“‘Sure I couldn’t leave you on the side of the road in the rain,’ Paul said with a gentle smile.”

Mary Newman, in her 50s, from Ballyvolane, said her parents’ paying for her wedding was the kindest thing anyone ever did for her.

“I am the eldest in my family, I have five siblings so it wasn’t easy for my parents to afford a wedding, but they wanted me to have a special day.

“My parents always worked hard to make sure the five of us always had what we wanted and that is one example of it. My husband and I were delighted by their generosity and it is a day that I will remember forever.”

The RAOK festival was set up by the Clonakilty Macra last year. Festival organiser Ger O’Donovan says its aim is to promote good news: “We are sick of hearing bad news; this is about fighting back against the everyday negativity that gets people down.

“Community involvement is a huge part of our organisation and we decided to organise a bit of fun.”

Ger said a key part of the festival are ‘kindness cards’ that are passed on with an act of kindness in an attempt to get as many people as possible involved in the RAOK idea.

“We are giving out cards with every gift and we are hoping people will pass on the card with an act of kindness of their own. The person who receives the card will hopefully carry on the idea by doing something nice for someone else and passing on the card again.

“The emphasis is on the little things. They are the ones that make a difference to people. It is small things that get people through the day.”

Festival events include a sports day, a rain party, a street party, a bubble-blowing ceremony, and hundreds of random prizes ranging from hampers to cinema passes, to a hot cup of tea.

There will also be a sandcastle competition on the beach.

The RAOK festival takes place on Jul 19-25 in Clonakilty. For more information log onto: www.raokclon.com.