Archive News
Memorial Walk defies the weather to go down a storm
Date Published: 14-Sep-2011
Just as the world stopped to remember those who had lost their lives on 9/11, Galwegians too gathered in recent numbers for a remembrance event of an even more personal nature – the annual Memorial Walk in aid of Galway Hospice.
The estimated 2,500 who turned out would have been forgiven for staying away on Sunday afternoon what with the tail end of Hurricane Katia lashing the walk route along South Park and the Prom, but this is an annual event lovingly enshrined in the Galway psyche and the weather has never affected their commitment in the past.
There were warnings beforehand about the wind, slippy seaweed along the Prom…and the danger of hypothermia if you stood still for too long before returning to the starting point for well-deserved refreshments!
This was the sixth year that Galway Hospice has organised the Memorial Walk – with media partners the Connacht Tribune and Galway Bay FM – and it is a chance to both remember those who have gone and at the same time raise money for those who will use the wonderful services and care of the Hospice over their final days.
Most of those who participate wear a tee-shirt with the name of the person in whose memory they are walking emblazoned on the front – some even added a photograph – and that more than anything serves to show that, though they are gone, they are back and very much part of the event, if only for this one day.
So while the six and a half kilometre walk commemorates those who have died, there is no air of sorrow or sadness – instead there are smiling faces and stories of happier times to lift the mood of all.
The walkers were from all ages and all parts of the county; some were in wheelchairs, children were on scooters, and many brought the babies in buggies or the reluctant dog on a lead.
Over its six years, the Memorial Walk has enjoyed blazing sunshine and driving rain but Sunday’s storm was just about the worst day they could have feared – and still the participants gathered in their thousands to defy the elements.
Clad in the plastic ponchos provided by hospice staff, they headed off into a gale from Claddagh Hall to the end of the Prom before ‘enjoying’ the benefit of a wind at their backs on the return journey.
See full story and page of pix in this week’s Connacht Tribune.