From Cork to Carrickmore

Wednesday, 19 August 2009 15:44

Congratulations to Yvette Fox and her remarkable team of 17 who completed a walk from Cork to Carrickmore, covering a distance of over 280 miles in just under ten days to raise over £100,000 for a number of charities including Marie Curie and Macmillan Cancer Care. Yvette, who is a pharmacist at Donnelly McAleer Pharmacy, became involved with a group back in October to brainstorm a few fundraising ideas to support people living with cancer. The walk was first completed 23 years ago, with three of the original walkers participating again this year, Yvette told NIPinF. So many families have been affected by cancer in some way and when we talked about walking 270 miles, we knew we had a big challenge ahead so we needed a big target. When someone suggested that we try and raise £100,000 we all agreed. Training started during the late autumn and a committee was established to help with fundraising drives, publicity and organising the logistics of the trip. We set up the committee of volunteers to ensure that we not only stayed focused but also to guarantee that all of the money we raised would go be donated straight to charity, Yvette added. We began the walk in Cork City on 10 July and arrived home in Carrickmore nine days later, having travelled through places such as Thurles, Athlone, Ballinagh, Clones and Monaghan town. We stayed in various football clubs and community centres, sleeping on air mattresses and sleeping bags which didn't provide the most comfortable nights sleep but it was free! We had a core support team of ten who came along with us for the duration and they were incredibly helpful. They cooked, collected money, drove the vehicles and generally looked after us very well. Their incredible achievement was well supported by Northern Ireland pharmacy, thanks to donations of very necessary supplies. We were delighted to help Yvette, who is a pharmacist at Donnelly McAleer Pharmacy, and her team by donating some supplies for their walk, said Jean Rothwell, regional manager at Phoenix Distribution. To have completed such a tremendous challenge is a huge achievement. More information can be found on www.c2c4c.ie and donations are still being gratefully accepted. Yvette added: Weve raised in excess of our £100,000 target but more is always welcome! Thank you to everybody who has donated to date and I would like to extend our special thanks to Phoenix Healthcare, Fortuna, McAleer Medical Hall, Pomeroy; Hartes Pharmacy, Carrickmore; MB Donaghy Pharmacy, Castlederg;McCaughey Boots Chemist, Belfast and McElroy Pharmacy, Dunboyne, Co Meath for all their donations with medical supplies and money.