Fifth annual Offaly Canal Camino Way walk a great success

ON St. Patrick's Day last Laz Molloy, Mark Plunkett, Paul Galvin, Ricey Scully and friends hosted their 5th  Offaly  Camino  Canal  Way  20 KM  sponsored  walk in aid of Self Help Africa and for the charity's work in Ukraine and Ethiopia. Close on €20,000 has been raised so far with still more funds to be lodged.The organisers would like to thank everybody who took part and helped raise funds for the Ukraine  appeal, especially the many participants from many parts of the midlands and beyond and the children from various clubs and schools in  Offaly.
The event had a  great  turnout of participants who completed the 20km  walk  along the  Canal  from an 8am start at Tullamore along the canal to Cappincur, Ballycommon, Daingean on to Croghan with the final few steps up Croghan Hill where Mass was said by Fr. Greg Corcoran, parish priest of Croghan.Everyone finished the  Canal  Way  Walk  in plenty of time to be at Mass at 1pm on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate their  great  achievement of having completed the walk.
The  walk  brought the participants through the beautiful countryside admiring the colourful fields and impressive views. After a long few hours walking everyone reached the last leg of the route making their  way  through the village of Croghan to the Molloy's house and Peter Moore's farm  where everyone had a lovely spread of food with a much-needed hot and cold drinks and burgers as well as chocolate crepes and cold beverages supplied by the Molloy family and residents of Croghan village. 
Laz Molloy the event organiser, along with his wife Frances and his daughter Aislinn and Fr. Greg, represented the cause with heart-warming speeches at the start of the  walk.Ronan Scully of Self Help Africa thanked all those who had supported the 5th annual charity  walk  in any way, especially Laz Molloy, Aislinn Molloy, Mark Plunkett, Paul Galvin, Ricey Scully, Grainne Walsh and their families who organised this  Canal  Way  walk  for the work of Self Help Africa who work in 15 countries in Africa and in Ukraine and in 4 other countries across the world.
Ronan also thanked the people of all ages who participated in the  walk  and people and volunteers who helped out in any  way  to make it such a successful event. A big well done to everyone who supported the  walk  in any way.
They are already looking forward to next year where  hopefully  it will be as successful if not more successful than the  great  event it  was this  year!! If you would like to support the work of Self Help Africa or organise a fundraiser for the charities work in many countries in Africa please contact Ronan at  ronan.scully@selfhelpafrica.org  or go to  www.selfhelpafrica.org  or contact Ronan at (087) 6189094