THE family of the late Margaret Greene were overwhelmed with the support shown to them following a memorial tractor run held in her memory in Kinawley last Sunday afternoon.

The tractor run was a great success for the family, with more than £10,000 raised so far, and the final total to be revealed soon.

The run was held in aid of the Northern Ireland Hospice, which supported Margaret and her family before she died on May 13.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Margaret’s daughter, Filicia Doonan, said: “It went really well – it went better than we expected, as Kinawley is a small community, but everyone came out for it.

“We didn’t think we’d get the turnout we did. We expected maybe 60 to 80 tractors, but there were at least 160 tractors there.”

Filicia continued: “We had to have the tractors start parking in the village as we just ran out of space at the Community Hall.

“People came from everywhere, including Tempo, Trillick, Boho and Milltown, Cavan. We even had strangers we didn’t know coming, as they wanted to just support it.”

The run began with Margaret’s great-nieces, great-nephews and other children from the community leading a short run on their ride-on tractors and machinery in the village centre, before a lorry took over as the lead vehicle, followed firstly by vintage and then by modern tractors.

The run was a poignant day for the family, and all felt a mix of emotions as the run began.

Filicia said: “As the run was in memory of mammy, we took it past her grave, and then we brought it past her home house, where daddy [Brendan Greene] was waiting to see it all. He really enjoyed seeing it all.”

The family were grateful for all the work of the Northern Ireland Hospice.

Reflecting on their decision to donate to the hospice, Filicia said: “You will never know when any family will rely on them. Up until and after mammy died, they were so good, and gave us support as a family. We just wanted to give something back to them.”

The Greene family – Niall, Filicia, Petrina and Terry – are grateful to all those who helped ensure the smooth running of events, and they thanked everyone for their support on the day and leading up to the event.