A CHARITY fundraising walk this weekend along one of the most stunning landscapes overlooking Galway Bay will also remember the life and times of a man who passed away very unexpectedly after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The late Paul McNamara, originally from the Claddagh in Galway city, was a man who loved the great outdoors and especially a walk along ‘The Green Road’, starting out at New Quay in Co. Clare and providing spectacular views across Galway Bay.

Early last year, Paul’s widow Mina, teamed up with a group of friends to put in place a fundraising walk last July along this route – which also takes in Corker Hill – to raise funds for two very worthy causes.

A total of €17,124 was raised in last year’s walk, which remembered and celebrated, the life and times of Paul who died on July 7, 2022.

Sunday’s walk (July 7), starts out from St. Patrick’s Church, New Quay, at 1pm with the Burren on one side and Galway Bay on the other.

However, Mina McNamara told the Connacht Tribune, that all donations were purely voluntary and anyone who wanted to join in on the walk would be most welcome, regardless of whether they made any donation or not.

“Paul loved the outdoors and this area especially and I thought it would be lovely to remember him at this time of his anniversary each year.

“There was though great generosity shown last year with all funds going to NLN Quest Brain Injury Services and St. Anne’s Brain Injury Unit, University Hospital Galway,” said Mina.

Anyone wishing to donate to those two worthy causes can do so on the GoFundMe iDonate page; or by scanning the QR code on the poster (see alongside) for Sunday’s walk: or participants can also make a donation on the day.

Tea and light refreshments will be provided on the grounds of St. Patrick’s Church, New Quay (less than four miles from Kinvara) after the 8km walk which starts and ends at the church. As a casual walk, it should take about an hour and 15 minutes to complete.

It will though be a happy and a sad day for Mina McNamara – a staff nurse at Galway’s Bon Secours Hospital –  as she recalled last year, that day of July 7, 2022, ‘when everything changed in life for her with the passing of her soulmate and the man she loved’.

“That awful day, my world stopped turning and part of me died with Paul – my soulmate and best friend. Being a nurse, the one person I needed to save the most, was the very one I could do nothing for,” Mina recalled.

Originally from Kilfenora in Co. Clare, Mina had lived in Keansella, Kilcolgan, with Paul for a number of years and both loved being out in the fresh air of the Claddagh, South Galway and North Clare.

“Paul loved cycling, walking and his home in The Claddagh where he grew up, as well as our home in Keansella, Kilcolgan, and he brought joy and laughter into my life as well as anyone else he met,” Mina told the Connacht Tribune.

Quest Brain Injury Services is a community rehabilitation service for people across Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, who have sustained what’s medically described as ‘acquired brain injury’ (ABI).

Brain injuries are quite common, with as many as 10,000 people in Ireland affected every year – Quest focuses on providing practical and social support to people with this condition.

Pictured: Niamh Stack (second left) of the Galway Convention Bureau with Leigh Bacon, We Are MEaT; Claude Foubert, VERT COM, and Simon Gidman, Tourism Ireland, at the Meetings Show in London.