I'll let Steven Harper do the talking here. He wrote a great report on our Eircooled facebook page and here it is:
Barrretstown (Saturday past) the story below
so all 8 vws arrived, signed in and then the madness began!
We all drove past the canteen, lights flashing, horns beeping, us gingerly waving, not knowing what to expect.. only to be greeted by a wave of kids jumping up and down in front of the glass windows looking out at us, like as if they were moshing at a rock concert.
Our job was to chauffeur them from the canteen to the disco.
They came out in waves of about 20 kids per go with their minders. 2 kids per car A plus minder, and we took off. Always obeying the speed limit of 20 km/h and fully ignoring the kids laughing and excitements and shouts of “go faster” in the convertibles, they loved it, it was like a roller coaster with hands up in the air and horns always blowing, and in the the buses it was the same as they told their chauffeur (Trev and Andy) to turn up the tunes! It was a short trip of only 2-3 minutes but the joy and laughter was infectious. We brought the kids to the disco which was in the building located next door on the other side of the courtyard, but we drove the scenic route to get there, (around and around the car park) on arrival they had the red carpet rolled out, loads of staff dressed up in funny outfits and other staff members dressed as The paparazzi photographers, and excitedly taking video and photos, as the kids in style posed on the red carpet for pics and then enter the disco for the night to get high on fizzy orange juice and sweets.
I can honestly say, as we pulled up and waited for the next wave of kids to come out each time, we (the vw drivers) were all laughing and equally full of excitement, it was just so funny and so much fun, we were also like kids again.
Ok back to the kids, they are from all over, grease, Spain, Portugal America and Ireland to name just a few countries. Barretstown run a free program, each being a week long, and it’s all totally free. Well it’s free for the kids and parents, but still requires funding to run it for the year, and so we were constantly thanked for coming up and taking part. Between Barretstown it’s self and it’s hospital outreach they help 6-8000 kids per year which is amazing.
I for one was extremely proud to have taken part again. Yes it’s an evening of my time and it cost fuel to get there and back but to see the smiles and happiness on the kids faces is totally worth. Along with the aircooled vw club, The Porsche club and Subaru club also do runs.
2019.
Absolutely a brilliant evening out, if you get a chance please do it next time ( 1-2 more dates this year check this page for details)