In 2018 active fundraising continued towards the roof repair target of €150,000. There were several enjoyable and well attended fundraising events. The opera singer Eugene Ginty and his friends – singer Sandra Oman and harpist Ciara Taaffe gave a wonderful concert in April – made more memorable from having been postponed from March due to the snow storm named Emma. Dorothy Alioth and her singers gave a lovely concert in May and also sang at the Christmas carol service in December. The garden party was again in Collon House in September, supported by the Lourdes Brass Band and was well attended. The Friends group joined with other village groups during the summer to prepare a Collon presentation for the 2018 “Pride of Place” competition. Judges visited Collon village in August 2018 and were shown around 10 village venues, including Collon Church. A video presentation was done by drone, and a power-point presentation was given backed by a 10 page booklet. The Friends joined numerous other groups for the final event at the local GAA Club – Mattock Rangers. Friends later helped to represent Collon at the Pride of Place finals in Cork City Hall in November at a gala dinner organised by Louth Co Council and attended by groups throughout the country.
In October the Friends group received excellent news that the roof repair project had been approved for a grant of €80,000 under the Town and Villages Scheme 2018. As a result of this grant Friends were delighted to complete the year by declaring they had successfully achieved the fundraising target of €150,000.