A Cavan woman has, so far, made 1,100 St Brigid’s Day crosses, and she’s not done yet.
Patricia Cooney from Ardlougher started her project in 1983 and has been making and selling crosses every year since.
But it’s not for personal profit.
Patricia says that she always intended to donate any proceeds to charity.
When she saw the Sightsavers ads about children in Africa - who were losing their sight - it broke her heart to look at it.
She wanted to help in some way and making the crosses and selling them both locally, and across the globe has helped her to do this.
Her son lost his sight in one eye when he was a child making her passion for this charity grow and her cross making continue.
"It’s hard to get good rushes…but I have good neighbours," Patricia told Northern Sound, before adding that her friends and family "all roll in" to find the perfect green rushes and deliver them to her house each year.
Outside the house she keeps barrels and buckets, which she fills with thousands of crosses because they "have to be kept outside or they’ll dry up".
Despite saying that she would stop on the 1st of February more requests have come in from Dublin in recent days and as she says herself, "I just can’t turn them away".
She added that her son Sean is convinced she’ll be going until March.
While Patricia does enjoy making the crosses, she is happy when things die down too.
She said there was one night this year where she went to bed with cramps in her hands.
However, she is an extremely positive person and is very grateful and appreciative of the generosity of people, who often donate more than the cost.
When asked would she keep going for another few years making the crosses, Patricia smiled and said: "We never know what is going to happen in life… maybe not this year, but maybe next.
"I’d have to order more elastic bands though."
