Cork woman's thatched cottage home destroyed in fire - GoFundMe launched

A GoFundMe has been launched for Margaret, the elderly woman whose beloved thatched cottage near Inch, Killeagh, in Co Cork was destroyed in a fire in March.

Margaret, who arrived in Ireland from the UK 20 years ago, had been living happily in her thatched cottage - with her rescue donkeys, dogs, and ducks - until the devastating fire.

The nearly-86-year-old was "so very lucky to get out alive" as the fire took hold "so quickly," the GoFundMe launched by Margaret's friend Bernie Fleming states.

It notes that one of Margaret's neighbors acted quickly to get her "little lurcher Misty and yorkie Freddy out safely."

Cork Beo reports that Margaret's two rescue donkeys - Dolly and Daisy - and her flock of ducks were thankfully unharmed as they lived in the surrounding lands.

While Margaret and her pets made a lucky escape, the GoFundMe says Margaret "lost absolutely everything. All her possessions. Everything she ever owned. All her memories were gone. It was a terrible ordeal for her."

Margret's cottage before the fire.

Margaret has no relatives in Ireland, forcing her to go back to the UK to stay with her brother temporarily, but she now wishes to return to her own place again.

According to the GoFundMe page, Margaret had no insurance on her thatched cottage home.

"It was a thatched house and the company she was with prior weren't covering homes with thatch anymore," the fundraising page notes.

Margaret cannot afford to rebuild it, so  she is hoping  to get a mobile home "for which she has only a tiny budget."

The mobile home is "far from ideal" for Margaret, who has health issues and has been hospitalized a few times in the past year.

The GoFundMe is aiming to raise €6.5k to help Margaret get "a good mobile home that would have heating, double glazing and maybe even insulation if possible as she would need all this and more in wintertime."

Within five days of being launched, the GoFundMe page is closing in on its goal.

Margret's cottage before the fire.

"It is going to be very difficult and so very sad for her when she returns again to the ruins of what was once her beautiful home," the page says.

"So really appealing please to your generosity and kindness for any few euros atall you can afford to help get Margaret a little place where she will feel comfortable and happy again in due course with her little dogs as it's her dearest wish to get back to them."