€20 million bonanza for nursing home

IT may be one of largest charitable bequests in Ireland’s history - a €20m bequest from an 84-year-old bachelor.

The beneficiary is a nursing home where the octogenarian spent his final years. The registered charity plans to use the money to secure its future and enhance the lives of its 120 elderly residents.

Sydney Northridge, a gentleman farmer, died in 2002 and left 11 acres of zoned land on the lower slopes of the Airport Hill on the edge of Cork City to St Luke’s Home in Mahon, Cork City.