Cadbury Roses and Friends of the Elderly announced the Mayo winner of the 2011 Grandparent of the Year competition. Maureen McAndrew from Belmullet was nominated by her 18-year-old grandchild Holly McAndrew. Her loving entry was highly complimentary of her grandmother: “My granny is a kind and loving person and a great parent and grandparent. She is a remarkable woman who was a young widow and had a hard life but always cared for her 10 children. My 16 cousins and I are very grateful to have her in our lives! She deserves to be grandparent of the year because she looks after us all with her prayers, home-made brown bread, chicken soup and a few euro on pension day! She might be 85 but she is always great fun to be around and I am very thankful to have her!”
National Grandparents Day, held on the last Sunday of September each year, encourages all grandchildren across Ireland to visit their grandparents and say thank you for all the love and support they have given over the years.
Commenting at the announcement Shane Guest, Kraft Foods Ireland, said: “A big congratulations to all our winners. It is wonderful to see the great relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren. We hope that this competition encourages grandchildren, young and old, all over Ireland to spend more time with their grandparents. We are delighted to be involved again this year with Friends of the Elderly who promote such a worthy cause.”
As well as an overall winner Cadbury and Friends of the Elderly will also be awarding county winners with a delicious Cadbury Roses Hamper and a €€200 voucher courtesy of the Irish Professional Photographers Association. The competition attracted huge interest from all over the country with hundreds of heart warming entries illustrating just how special Irish grandparents are.
Speaking on the winners announcement, Dermot Kirwan, Friends of the Elderly said: “We are delighted to announce the county winners of the 2011 Grandparents of the Year Awards. We received hundreds of nominations highlighting the great relationships all over Ireland between grandparents and grandchildren.”
