AN IRISHMAN has celebrated turning 90 by completing a 165km walk across Ireland in memory of those forced to flee the country during the Great Famine.
Jim Callery completed the National Famine Way walk, which runs from Strokestown in Co. Roscommon to Dublin, yesterday, which is also his 90th birthday.
He raised an impressive €57k for immigration charities along the way.
"I'm delighted with how the fundraising walk on the NFW went,” he said after completing his mammoth challenge.
“I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and the support from family and friends was amazing,” he added.
“I feel younger and fitter now than when I started."
Jim Callery, founder of the National Famine Museum, pictured in Dublin after completing his walkCallery, who is the founder of the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park, finished his walk at EPIC, the Emigration Museum in Dublin.
He was met there by his wife and two sisters, Eileen O Connell and Nanette Callery, who are 96 and 94 years old respectively.
The nonagenarian took on the walk in honour of Strokestown's Missing 1,490 Famine emigrants, who were forced to leave the Roscommon town at the height of An Gorta Mór – or The Great Hunger – in 1847.
Evicted from their homes, and guided by a landlord’s land agent, those migrants left the Strokestown and were bound for Canada.
The walk took them through Ireland to Dublin and on to Liverpool in England, before making their way to the other side of the world, although half of them would perish along the way.
In 1979 Callery was responsible for saving Strokestown Park House for the nation and for setting up the National Famine Museum there.
Callery completed his challenge on his 90th birthdayThat same year he was awarded a European Heritage/Europe Nostra Award, which is a yearly celebration of outstanding heritage achievements in Europe.
His citation explained ‘the restoration and establishment of the world renowned Irish National Famine Museum & Archive by Mr Callery has been the largest act of private philanthropy for cultural heritage in the history of modern Ireland’.
The National Famine Way traverses six counties and is a collaboration between Waterways Ireland, the Irish Heritage Trust and the county councils along the route.
The local authorities involved are Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Fingal, and Dublin.
The symbol of the National Famine Way is a pair of children’s shoes which are displayed at the National Famine Museum.
The trail is also waymarked by bronze replicas of these shoes, which serve as a poignant reminder of the journey the 1,490 evicted tenants made.
Callery's fundraising page is still open for donations here.
