'Community spirit is still alive and well': Tipperary village rallies to clear heavy snow for funeral
Around eight tractors helped to clear the roads of heavy snow in the village of Clonoulty on Sunday to ensure Bridie Hammersley received the "send off that she deserved"
A Tipperary community has come together during the recent heavy snow to help a family ensure a beloved grandmother received the "send off that she deserved".
Bridget (Bridie) Hammersley, from the village of Clonoulty in Tipperary, passed away peacefully on Thursday, January 2. With her funeral set to take place on Sunday morning, Bridie’s loving family feared that heavy snow could impact the day.
But in a beautiful display of community spirit, people came together from all over the village, clearing roads and the church with tractors, while others grabbed shovels and helped to clear the snow.
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In a post on X on Sunday, Bridie’s grandson Timmy wrote: “At 8:30am this morning there was no way Bridie's funeral could safely go ahead, but by 10:30am Clonoulty was nearly the safest place in Munster to bury someone. Community spirit is still alive and well.”
Speaking about the community effort on the radio, Timmy shared how "unbelievable" the response from the community was, adding that the roads were probably “cleaner than they ever had been”.
“So the snow started very heavily on Saturday evening maybe at about 10pm,” Timmy Hammersley told RTÉ’s News at One.
“Then we woke up on Sunday morning at about 8am, it was clear, it had been snowing at that stage for maybe 10 hours and really we were kinda concerned, really concerned actually, can we go ahead with the funeral, is it actually safe to go ahead with it?
“And that was obviously a very stressful thing for us, my grandmother had died on the previous Wednesday and we were kind of a few days getting ready, a few days preparing and we were all set for the funeral but then I suppose the weather took a turn.
“We put a call out, friends of ours put the call out pretty quickly, and just the work I have to say then that went on, particularly between 8:30am and 10:30am, it was unbelievable really.
“Tractors, about maybe eight tractors clearing snow, clearing roads, clearing the church and then numerous people then out with shovels, I suppose, really got the village, I’m gonna say. My grandparents' house is in the village, the church is in the village and the graveyard is in the village.
“Really getting the village to a stage where it was actually safe to have a funeral. I think actually a good few people said the roads were probably cleaner than they ever had been really.
“Obviously, it was still snowing really strong, but at the end of it then we were able to have a funeral and give her the send off that she deserved.”
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