A Tyrone family rescued by Bundoran crew last year have returned to the lifeboat station to deliver the proceeds from a successful fundraising event. Ryan, Fianche, Cahir, Beth and Marc McCallion from Drumquin raised €5,000 through a coffee morning attended by around 300 people, after three family members were rescued from a rip current. Tony McGowan, Bundoran’s Lifeboat Operations Manager, says: ‘We are overwhelmed by this generous donation from the McCallion family and we want to sincerely thank them and everyone who supported their coffee morning. We were happy to be of assistance to the family and delighted that the rescue resulted in a good outcome.’ The station also received a donation of €6,000 from Avolon Aerospace Leasing Co in Dublin, to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the death of brothers Brendan and Thomas Patton, and their cousin Eddie Donagher, in a fishing tragedy in Donegal Bay. The cheque was presented to the station by Brendan’s daughter Brenda, an employee of the company. Tony says: ‘This was an awful tragedy and we are grateful to Brenda and Avolon for thinking of the station in this way. This is a huge sum of money, which will go towards equipping our lifeboat and station and enabling our volunteers to continue saving lives at sea.’