Tadhg McGillicuddy of The Forge Restaurant wishes to remind people about this weekend’s early, very early, Darkness into Light Walk on this Saturday morning, May 11th. at 5am.
Walkers are being advised to gather outside ‘The Forge’ on the Back of the Forge and well within the Latin Quarter at no later than 4:45am.
Parking was quite scarce in the vicinity last year and the rain didn’t help in that regard. The old railway yard will be available of course and if you can park on Lower Main Street in the quietness of this Saturday morning and walk down to the designated start at The Forge you’ll be doing your bit.
Be Visible in the Darkness
Intending walkers are also being asked to be as visible as possible as it will be dark at that hour of the morning but the light will come.
Hi-vis vests, at least are a requirement if you intend to take part in the walk. Small flash-lamps or the flashing lights type favoured by cyclists.
Just bring your presence and your own personal light to the event on the morning. Tea, coffee and home baking will be available in a post walk community huddle at The Forge and all proceeds from this will also go to the charity.
A Tinge of Sadness
This weekend’s walk – the third annual in Castleisland – will carry a heavy tinge of sadness as its invited 2023 Grand Marshall, Gerard ‘Gerdie’ Murphy has been lost to the community in, ironically, the kind of circumstances which necessitated light being brought to bear on the darkness in the first place.
The untimely and tragic loss of his brother Fergal just two months previously was weighing heavily on Gerdie’s mind on that damp May morning last year. But that was just the kind of morning it was.
A Minute’s Silence ?
However, he smiled through the pain of it all as he blasted on his shrill referees’ whistle and cajoled the gathering into formation with good humour and faced them for Tralee Road and led them on their way behind their Garda patrol car escort.
A minute’s silence might be an appropriate memorial on that special Saturday morning for Gerdie and all those who have felt that unbearable pain.
And especially for those who live through and really feel and understand the weight of every implication and syllable of the morning’s event title: Darkness into Light.
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