Dear Sir or Madam, My Son Brandon is twelve years of age and autistic. He attends St. Mary's Special School in Drumcar, Co. Louth. My daughter, Georgia, is seven. She has Spina Bifida and Hydracephalus, and epilepsy. I am wondering if as a sponsorship gesture, in view of the childrens disabilities, O'Gills could could possibly award Georgia a small item from your jewellery range as we do not have the resources to buy her any item from your stock. As her speech and communication skills are extremely limited, she has to play alone a lot but has shown much interest in jewellery and we hope to encourage her in her little hobby and possibly encourage her to make her own jewellery in years to come. With this objective we are obtaining occupational therapy for her as she experiences some difficulty with fine motor skills. Having two children with special needs incurs a lot of extra expense, and we can seldom afford an expensive item and that is why I am approaching you to request a jewellery item. I will understand perfectly if your response is a negative one as I am sure you must get a lot of requests for this sort of thing but if there is anything you can do to help us in this regard, I can assure you that it would be greatly appreciated, and is likely to help Georgia engage in her harmless little hobby more effectively. If you are so kind as to facilitate us, I would be most grateful. I can provide by fax a medical report outlining the difficulties both our children face, if required. I work in Dublin - I mention this on account of the postal strike - I could collect the item. Thanking you in anticipation. With kind regards, Yours sincerely, David.

What we decided was that Georgia should have a Claddagh ring and a Trinity Knot pendant, to give her two pieces of jewelry to wear and enjoy, as well as giving her pieces that reflected Two strong Celtic symbols.

We went to Dave and Georgia's house in May and presented her with the 2 presents, and Georgia was very excited. We met the rest of their family, and were made very comfortable with coffee and sandwiches. Georgia was a vibrant, energetic, and lovely child. Only slightly shy in the beginning, she opened up to show the exuberance and vivacity that all children have, by dancing and singing a little. She spent much of the rest of the visit, while the adults were chatting, drawing pictures.

We received the following a few days later from David, with his wishes to share his experience with other o'Gills visitors:

My seven year old daughter, Georgia, has Spina Bifida and related complications and while she fights her illness bravely I wanted to arrange a special 'magic moment' for her, not only to make up for the excitement experienced by so called 'normal' kids which she misses, but also to acknowledge her determination which she has shown literally since the day she was born. I found the O'Gills website and contacted them to ask if they would consider donating a small item from their jewellery range. I must say I received personal service in every respect. A donation was made of a silver Claddagh Ring and a Trinity Knot pendant. The donation was hand-delivered by a member of O'Gills staff and the quality of the jewellery exceeded all my expectations. Georgia was taken totally by surprise but visitors to the site will see from the photograph that Georgia did, indeed, experience her magic moment! David

We at O'Gills were pleased, and privileged to meet Georgia and her family.

If you have any questions concerning our charitable donations, or would like to suggest another charity for us to donate to, then please email us at info@ogills.com.