Light shines out of the darkness on 10th anniversary of walk in Limerick

WIND the clock back a decade and a small crowd of people clad in yellow tee-shirts gathered at the University of Limerick for the city’s inaugural Darkness into Light walk.

“We had so many phone calls from people, saying we had the time wrong, with people saying we must mean 4pm as opposed to 4am. But I said no, it IS 4am,”" recalled Nora Conway, one of just 150 people who took part in 2009.

Nowadays, Nora is the clinical manager of suicide prevention charity Pieta House’s centre in Mungret, and Darkness into Light is an now an international fundraiser, drawing hundreds of thousands of people, and raising millions of euros.

This year, it’s estimated close to 10,000 people will gather outside Thomond Park at 4.15am on Saturday, May 11.

A far cry from the low-key, but emotional gathering ten years ago, thousands will also symbolically walk from the darkness of depression into the light of wellness, and dawn at a number of other locations in Limerick and Clare.

Walks will take place in Kilmallock, Murroe and Newcastle West, while there will also be events in Shannon, Sixmilebridge, Killaloe and Mitchelstown.

It’s always an emotional morning, with people lighting candles in memory of loved ones who have died by suicide, wearing tee-shirts bearing names and clutching photographs of loved ones.

People pay to take part in the walk, or indeed take it upon themselves to fundraise, with all money raised locally, being pumped straight into Limerick’s own Pieta House centre.

It is only through the event - which is Pieta House’s main annual fundraiser - that so many services can be provided locally.

Nora told a special launch event in St Mary's Cathedral this week: “I want you to know that you enable us to help people choose life and not death. To move from self-harm to self-care and find a way through the journey of grief.

“How fortunate we are to be able to provide an immediate response to people who are high-risk, to offer people in crisis 12 sessions of counselling free of charge. To people who have lost a loved one to suicide, we are so fortunate to offer them 30 sessions of counselling free of charge. For these people to trust us in their journey, to offer them hope and to hold it for them until they can hope for themselves,” she added.

At the cathedral, the new Pieta House chief executive Elaine Austin was on hand alongside Mayor James Collins, metropolitan mayor Daniel Butler, Limerick hurling captain Declan Hannon - armed with the Liam MacCarthy Cup - and the local organising committees to launch the landmark 10th annual Darkness into Light fundraiser.

Mayor Collins said: “There is no more beautiful and poignant a sight than seeing the sea of yellow tee-shirts winding its way along the quays and over the bridges of the Shannon in such a peaceful procession. The peacefulness of the walk makes it all the more powerful and deafening. The thousands of people who have taken part in the event over the past number of years know the significance of it - many have been blighted by mental illness in their families and friends, or even themselves.”

Cllr Butler described mental health as “the great leveler”.

Explaining, he said: “No matter where you’re living in Limerick, what age you are or whatever it might be, it’s a leveler. It’s the conversation we can all have, it’s the common language we can all use in the day-to-day lives we lead.

For us to have a organisation like Pieta House, it’s a resource you can forget about unless you need it.

“It silently works away in the background helping people turn their lives around".

As is tradition, the launch event featured a number of songs from the purple-clad Unity Gospel Choir. All the Pieta House walks take place at 4.15am on Saturday, May 11. For more information, you can telephone 061 484444, or go online to register at dil.pieta.ie.