The story behind a Cork woman's bid to buy Rory Gallagher's guitar

For Sheena Crowley, the online fundraiser was a no-brainer

Sheena Crowley, owner, in Crowley's Music Centre. File picture Denis Minihane.

Ireland has garnered a reputation as being one of the world's most generous nations when it comes to donating to worthy causes.

For six straight years, this country has topped the donor league compiled by the online fundraising platform GoFundMe.

The  Irish Examiner has revisited some of the biggest GoFundMe campaigns from last year to see how the money is being spent, and the positive impact it is having.

'The aim was to stop Rory's guitar going to a private collector'

For Sheena Crowley, an online fundraiser was a no-brainer. “The news broke on July 8, and I set up the GoFundMe straight away,” she says.

The news in question referred to the decision by the surviving relatives of feted blues guitarist and Cork man Rory Gallagher to put his various instruments and paraphernalia up for auction.

Sheena had a particular interest in the situation — a music shop owner, she's the daughter of the Cork man who sold Gallagher his iconic Fender Stratocaster guitar more than 60 years ago. 

Rory Gallagher playing in 1970. File picture: Fin Costello/Redferns

She saw the auction as an opportunity to bring those items back where they belonged, to Ireland, and one step further, to Cork.

To that end, the fundraiser had a target of €100,000. That was never going to be enough to secure the main guitar in question — which was likely set to fetch €1m minimum — but the fundraiser coincided with a concerted campaign to raise awareness as to what was at stake in the auction — one which bore fruit when it mattered.

The GoFundMe itself raised almost €77,000, more than €64,000 of which was used to purchase Gallagher’s instruments at the London auction, along with running the campaign and organising a separate fundraising concert.

“After fees we had about €50,000 to spend at the auction, so we bought four guitars and an amplifier, which was the fruit of more than 600 donations,” Sheena says. 

“The auction itself (at Bonhams on Bond Street last October) was incredible. We were there with my friends, and there was a group from Ballyshannon (in Donegal, were Gallagher was born), and another from Dublin.

“I got in touch with Donal (Gallagher, Rory’s brother), and he just said ‘best of luck’,” Sheena says.

Bass guitarist Gerry McAvoy (right) with Sheena Crowley of Crowley's Music Shop at Cork Airport in September 2024 to take part in a concert at the Cork City Hall to raise funds to purchase Rory Gallagher's famous 1961 Fender Stratocaster guitar. Picture: David Creedon

“We knew the guitar was going to go for a million, and at the end of the day we didn’t get to the full amount, but we were constantly campaigning, and in the end we did reach people.” 

One of those people was concert promoter Denis Desmond, owner of MCD Productions, who eventually acquired the guitar for just under €1.1m, before donating it to the National Museum of Ireland and assuring the world that the instrument “will end up in Cork”.

“He was in the campaign, he knew what the story was,” Sheena says of Desmond’s actions, adding that she’s been assured the guitar will be making its way to Cork in time for the 30th anniversary of Rory Gallagher’s death this summer.

“We had more than 600 donors, so we were very happy with that. It was brilliant. I always said that if a million people gave a euro we’d get there easily. But for me, the main thing was to stop the guitar going to a private collector, to someone who would just have it as a sort of trophy,” she says.

“At the end of the day Denis Desmond wouldn’t have happened without the GoFundMe. And the Gallaghers' message was ‘well done for what you did’.”