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By Sean Moriarty

The residents of Woodlawn Park estate have been brought closer together as a result of COVID-19 restrictions - as several residents took park in an impromptu social distancing sing-along on the estate’s streets during last Saturday night’s national 'Shine a Light for Solidarity' initiative.

The success of the “off the cuff sing-along” has prompted Woodlawn residents to organise a community barbecue and get-together once the current crisis is over.

Saturday night’s street sing-along was organised by Pam Brosnan who is one of the Community Alert coordinators on the street and had access to residents’ mobile numbers.

She sent out a text message to everyone in her contact list who live in the estate, encouraging them to come out at 9pm on Saturday night as a mark of solidarity towards frontline health care workers and those who have died from COVID-19.

Her husband, Tim, a well-known local musician provided the entertainment, he played the accordion as many more residents joined in for a 15-minute sing-along.

He was joined by neighbour Eileen O’Mahony and her grandson Jack who also played the accordion from a distance.

“It was off the cuff,” Pam told the Killarney Advertiser. “I just sent out a text and asked everyone to show solidarity for our health care workers and for those families that have lost loved ones. You never know how these things will work out. I convinced Tim to play a few tunes and the next thing, a neighbours’ grandchild up the street joined in. It was lovely and great to see so many people out chatting on the street – while distancing of course – but we all decided that we must do more things like this when this is all over and we are already talking about a community barbecue.”