Laois man Gary Dunne teamed up with his old pal Ed Sheeran and X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary to raise a huge sum of money last night.
The trio raised £250,000 for the London Irish Centre by means of a raffle to get to see Ed play a fundraising show at the iconic Camden building last night.
The event was organised by Portlaoise’s Gary Dunne. He is Head of Culture at the London Irish Centre in Camden and is a well respected musician.
Sheeran, whose family roots are in Co Wexford, is both a patron and friend of the centre.
The money raised will go towards a new capital campaign to set out a new vision for the centre.
Speaking to RTE, Sheeran said: “It’s brilliant, not just ‘pure Irish’, but people from all sorts of different heritage and lineage to be proud of their roots and support places like this because it does such good work.
“I’m honoured to be here today, and I’m glad it’s raised a lot of money.”
Ahead of the show, Sheeran was reunited with his old friend, fellow singer-songwriter Gary Dunne, who is the Director of Culture at the London Irish Centre – and someone who helped shape the direction of Sheeran’s music.
“Gary taught [me] the loop pedal that I use,” recounted Sheeran. “Gary was the first person I saw use a loop pedal and I got him to play a gig at my house when I was 15!
“It was kind of like, ‘If you come over, my friends will all buy a CD!’ So he came around and then he taught me how to use a loop pedal. And we’ve been friends ever since then.”
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