A popular travel programme featuring a curmudgeonly comedian attempting to complete a bucket list has inspired local DJ Rita Scott to offer one Mayo parent an adventurous prize.
A bucket list is a checklist of ultimate life goals and adventures people dream of doing. In the programme An Idiot Abroad - The Bucket List, comedian Karl Pilkington sets out to complete some of the most common items people have on their bucket lists.
These include taking a hot air balloon ride, learning to surf, scuba diving, meeting a movie star, eating in a Michelin star restaurant, and getting a tattoo or piercing.
“I was watching the programme and I thought it would be a great prize package to offer someone,” explained Ms Scott, who presents a lifestyle and entertainment show called The Crypt on Westport Community Radio. “I just started contacting lots of different companies and asking them to sponsor prizes of ‘bucket list’ items.”
The prize with six bucket list adventures will go the parent of a child with disabilities because Ms Scott has first-hand experience of the outstanding work of carers.
“My own mother is a carer and I see how much work and commitment it takes to do what she does,” she explained. “Carers have very little time for themselves. They are on duty 24-hours-a-day, and even to pop out to the shops for a litre of milk or go to the hairdressers can be difficult.”
The price includes a weekend at Donegal Adventure Centre learning to surf and a half-day scuba diving courtesy of Scuba Dive West, followed by a night’s bed and breakfast at the Pillo Hotel, Galway, with a delicious evening meal.
The winner will also receive a €200 tattoo voucher and a €50 piercing voucher courtesy of AWOL, Galway.
Also on the list is a meal for two at the Michelin star Aniar Restaurant in Galway and a champagne hot air balloon ride in Trim, Co Meath, courtesy of Irish Balloon Flights.
Finally, the winner will get to spend a day on a movie set next summer for the filming of Somebody's There in Connemara.
Friends and families who would like to nominate a parent for the prize can listen in to The Crypt tomorrow (Saturday ) on Westport Community Radio (98.7 fm ) from 12 noon to 1 pm for the competition launch.
