Walk was an emotional journey from Tuam to Bessborough
A COMMEMORATIVE walk to honour the children and babies who died at the Mother and Baby Homes in Tuam and Bessborough was met with great enthusiasm and community support.
The three-day walk started from the site of the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home at 7am on Friday, August 21 and arrived at the site of the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Blackrock, Cork city on Sunday, August 23.
Led by Mayo woman Anne Fahey Ronayne, the 220km walk was completed by a group of ten volunteers who took turns walking a few kilometres, passing on the lantern signifying the light from Tuam.
The walk was organised in partnership with ‘A Little Light of Love’ team, who had previously carried a lantern from Co Mayo to the Tuam home site each year since 2020, before the site closed for excavation works.
“It was a very emotional moment and passing the lantern to the next person was an embrace of passing on the light,” Ms Ronayne told The Tuam Herald.
“Every member carried their own stories and the support from the many survivors, local communities and businesses made the initiative way bigger than we could have imagined,” she noted.
After every few kilometres the walkers spoke the names of all the babies along with their age and the day they died, to acknowledge and honour them.
The walk ended with a very emotional welcome of the team by survivors and local communities in Cork.
“We got to visit the memorial garden within Bessborough that has been created to honour the babies and we offered some flowers,” said Ms Ronayne.
“The lighted lantern that we carried from Tuam was gifted to Bessborough. It was a symbolic gift which solidified what we had started to do,” she added.
Anne has previously completed a challenge of climbing Knockma Hill a total of 796 times between January 2023 to July 2025, in honour of the 796 children and babies who died at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home.
“I felt like I had a compulsion to do something for those babies and my family and friends came along to support me. It all worked out beautifully,” she concluded.