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Top mum award for Fionnuala
28.06.11
by Caoimhinn Barr, Inishowen Independent
A Muff woman is over the moon after being named
Woman’s Way Mum of the Year 2011 at a special awards
ceremony in Dublin.
Fionnuala Marston, who wins the coveted title, a
cheque for €2,500 and vouchers to the value of
€4,000, was as shocked as anyone to find herself in
the final fifteen of the nationwide competition
before scooping the overall title in front of
hundreds in the capital.
“I couldn’t believe it. Listening to some of the
stories of the women there I thought I had no chance
of winning. I felt like a fraud even being in the
final,” Fionnuala said. |
After receiving her
prize from Minister Joan Burton at the Westin Hotel
on Monday afternoon, Fionnuala is now getting
nervous ahead of an appearance on the Miriam
O’Callaghan Saturday Night Live programme.
The Scoil Naomh Brid school secretary didn’t even
know she had been entered into the prestigious
contest until a few weeks ago.
“My mother-in-law Kath entered me into it after
seeing an advert in the Woman’s Way magazine last
March. She thought it was a Mother’s Day competition
and because she heard nothing from the organisers
she presumed I hadn’t qualified,” Fionnuala
explained.
However after receiving a call from the popular
magazine Kath was forced to spill the beans to her
extraordinary daughter-in-law.
“She came into the school and told me that she
entered me into a Mum of the Year competition and
that I had to go to Dublin for the final. |
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Fionnuala Marston. |
I was amazed,”
Fionnuala added.
Mother to two teenagers - Nathan (19), Gemma (17) –
Fionnuala, who is married to Keith, has recently
become a grandmother too following the birth of baby
Adam.
She left school aged just 14 before working at a
number of local factories including Fruit of the
Loom. After deciding to go back to education,
Fionnuala gained a business degree while working at
Scoil Naomh Brid.
Daughter of Mary and Tony Hargan, the marvelous Muff
mother, originally from Quigley’s Point, is also a
football coach, despite coping with a severe form of
epilepsy she developed in her late teens. Woman’s
Way editor Aine Toner said the fact Fionnuala would
not let her circumstances dictate the rest of her
life was inspirational.
"She is full of real get-up-and-go and we’re
honoured to award her our Mum of the Year Title for
2011," she added. |
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