Ray Davies, the former Kinks songwriter, will play a concert at The White Lady Hotel in Kinsale on Friday to raise funds for his daughter Eva’s national school.
Davies, who has written legendary Kinks hits “You really got me” and "All day and all of the night,” and later classics like “Waterloo Sunset,” is a frequent visitor to the school and agreed to help the school principal, who is desperately trying to raise funds for renovations.
Though the school has received a grant from the Department of Education for refurbishment, it has to raise €45,000 on its own to build a remedial room.
“He visits the school every time he comes over and he told me that if he could do anything to help, he would,” explained Ballinadee National School principal Alice Kingston to the Irish Times. “I filed it away in the back of my mind. We really needed to build this room and money is tight in a recession, so I rang him in desperation.
To her surprise, Davies agreed and will play with Cork guitarist Bill Shanley at The White Lady Hotel, which will host the gig free of charge.
“He told us that he did not want a big fuss and he’d prefer to do it quietly and we took him at his word,” continued Kingston. “But then, when we found the tickets weren’t selling, we realized that nobody knew about it. It is a great coup for us and we want Kinks fans to know about it.”
The school hopes to raise €16,000 on the night, which will go a long way to providing the proper facilities for the five teachers and 116 pupils who attend the school that is located between Kinsale and Bandon.
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