On Saturday, 11th June, approximately 500 people will take part in a charity event called ‘Walk and Talk For B’, in memory of Breda Gallagher-Friel who sadly lost her five-year battle with cancer in August last year.
The walk will begin in Newtoncunningham, where Breda, her husband Karol and their children lived, and will end approximately 80km away at Breda’s home place at Inver Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
Mother-of-three Breda Gallagher-Friel, was well known throughout the community and loved nothing more than going for a walk and talk, something her husband Karol hopes to encourage people to do more often.
Karol said: “We hope this event motivates and encourages people to do two of the most basic things; walk and talk to each other.
“Breda was a huge advocate of getting out walking with people, meeting up with friends and she always encouraged people to talk about and share their feelings. Breda was so proud to be from Inver and loved having the beach on her doorstep, so it will be great to get as many people there as possible on the day to celebrate her life with all the tea and gin in the world.”
The 80km walk can be done in various ways, as singles or teams and can even be done virtually from any location if people are unable to travel to Donegal.
Discussing the walk, Karol said: “We’ve all been trying to get in as many steps in the lead-up to the event as possible. We have a Strava account, and we can keep track of all the steps people are doing for the cause and we can see people are challenging themselves.
“We don’t expect people to complete the whole challenge on their own and are hoping people take part in relay teams.”
The funds raised will go to Cancer Care West, Donegal Hospice, Marie Keating Foundation, Solace Donegal and The Good and New Cancer Charity. A host of well-known faces have been supporting the event with a series of videos posted on social media from Daniel O’Donnell, to Noel Cunningham and Danny Quigley.
Karol added: “Not only do we want to raise much needed funds for a range of cancer support charities, but our mission is also to support each other and get out walking and talking for our mental health. We would love to see people just getting out more and being more active and we hope to build a walk and talk community in B’s memory that will continue long after the walk on Saturday, 11th June”.
Due to the high numbers, registration is now closed for the event, however, donations can still be made at https://www.walkandtalkforb.com/
