National ‘hero' award for Tuam hairdresser's charity work

FORMER Tuam Person of the Year Della Dolan has been honoured for her charity work by national magazine Woman's Way where she has been named Local Hero for March. Nominated for the award by her friend and fellow fundraiser Margaret Monaghan, Della is featured in this week's issue of the magazine where she says the joy of helping people means she has no plans to curtail her fundraising work. [private] Tea dances The weekly tea dances she organises in the Ard Rí House Hotel have raised almost €500,000 for a wide selection of local charities in recent years and also provide a popular social outlet on Sunday afternoons for senior citizens in the greater Tuam area. 'I started the tea dance four years ago in the interest in helping the under­privileged,' she said. 'Over the years I've done a number of things for charities like walks and then I started the dancing in 2007. 'The dances are so enjoyable and the people who attend come back week after week. The men and women mix and we do a taxi dance so that people will mix with everybody. There's no point in you going in there thinking that there will be just couples in there, it's not like that. 'I'm going to continue it until I'm in my grave. I love it because I love to see the happiness of people and I love to see the joy.' As well as featuring in the magazine, the popular hairdresser received a €100 voucher for Lidl as well as a copy of the Lidl cookbook Home Cooking. [/private]