Jim Halley: a tireless worker for the Lourdes Pilgrimage Fund.
Jim Halley is highly respected gentleman in the legal world. A practising solicitor for 34 years, he operates from his office on Tramore’s Main Street.
He is currently deeply involved in putting the final touches to a Gala Concert which will take place this Thursday (October 1st) and all of the proceeds will go directly to the Lourdes Pilgrimage Fund (for the Waterford & Lismore Diocese), an organisation that Jim has been a member of for may years.
The concert will be staged in Tramore’s Holy Cross Church and a capacity attendance is expected at the seaside church.
“I was born in Dungarvan but I suppose you could say I returned to my roots when I arrived in Tramore because Cahill’s Newsagents are relations and I came back in 1984,” said Jim.
My wife Mary and myself love Tramore and we have always been happy here: there’s a wonderful community spirit in the area and that’s very important.”
He added: “We have three daughters. Aoife is a solicitor in New Zealand so she’s followed in the family tradition. Rachel is a music teacher in the Ursuline School and Laura works with a solicitor in Dublin.”
He then spoke of his long involvement with the Lourdes Pilgrimage. “I joined in 1973 and although I did take a short break for a while, I returned 15 years ago and I have been here ever since.
“Many of the members have been involved for a very long time. Our current President is Tom Deegan; he succeeded Dr Liam McCann last year. There’s a wonderful bond between all of the members but raising funds to get volunteers to Lourdes has been an ongoing problem now for some years.
“Currently we have something in the region of 350 volunteers available to look after and care for 115 invalids. That’s the number we take over to Lourdes every year and needless to say it’s an expensive business trying to raise the money for that amount of volunteers.
“Many of those volunteers pay their own fare but unfortunately many of them require help due to the economic climate which may be showing a slight improvement but not sufficiently enough to get us through the next Pilgrimage which takes place every year between June 6th and 11th.”
Jim expanded on what exactly is involved in this undertaking which goes unnoticed by people who may not be directly in the annual trip to Lourdes.
“The cost for an individual volunteer is somewhere in the region of €735. That includes transport, hotels, meals and a little bit of spending money. The staff are broken into different categories.
“We bring nurses who do an incredible job and really what they are doing for the six days is taking a busman’s holiday. The same applies to the doctor’s who give up their time to travel each year.”
Jim continued: “We have hand maids, a Pilgrimage Choir (under the guidance of Mary Dee) people who do a lot of lifting and shifting and we also take around 80 youths from the diocese and 20 leaders who in turn look after those young people.
“It’s a massive undertaking and the planning for the following year’s pilgrimage begins immediately after we come back from the one we have just completed.
“Many of the volunteers take time off work to help us and as I have already eluded to they simply cannot afford to lose out financially even allowing for the fact that they look forward to helping in sick people every single year.
“Another fact is a lot of our regular volunteers are getting older. Many of them are now into their 50s and we would love to see new people coming on board to help us next year and the years to follow.”
Jim then outlined the details of Thursday’s Gala Concert in Holy Cross Church. “We approached Monsignor O’Mahony and he was kind enough to give us permission to stage the concert in the church.
“We then went about getting the best possible acts and I believe we’ve come up with a line-up that is absolutely superb.
“Glenn Murphy recently sold out the Theatre Royal with his ‘One Enchanted Evening’ concert, he’s a rising star with a massive future and he was only to happy to help us out and agree to perform.
“We also have the local Male Voice Choir and the Soul-Song Gospel Choir. Caroline Reid-O’Brien, Dominic McGorian, the Cathedral Vigil Choir, the Presentation Secondary School Dancers, Damien O’Brien and the Scoil na Mara Choir and the High Hopes Choir
“We will also have a special performance by the Dulcet Trio. It’s vital that we try and reduce the cost for the staff and if we can manage to do that we may get new people to come on board for next years Pilgrimage.”
People without tickets can simply turn up on the night also as no one will be refused admission.
Jim is passionate about his involvement with the Waterford and Lismore Pilgrimage to Lourdes, as indeed are the other long serving members.
“We are very aware that many people look forward to the trip each year and in many cases it’s what keeps them going from one year to the next.
“They get solace from the Pilgrimage and that is very important to those of us who continue to serve but sadly it’s not getting any easier to fund the wonderful people who give up their time to help the invalids and the sick people who require their help.
“Don’t get me wrong, however. The volunteers enjoy the six days also and many friendships have been made down through the years and that’s why we would love to see new people coming on board.
“We can promise them an enjoyable and fulfilling week and one which they will want to repeat many times afterwards. The annual Pilgrimage is enlightening, enjoyable and exciting. It’s full on, of that there is no doubt but everyone comes back a much better person for the experience.”
This Thursday kicks off the real planning for next June and it promises to be a wonderful night in The Holy Cross Church.
Tickets for Thursday’s concert are still available from the Parish Office in Tramore,
Jim’s office on Main Street, Tramore and from Maria Grant who resides in
Grange Heights in Waterford. The contact numbers are: Jim Halley (087-9898936)
Maria Grant (087-4119530) and Isobel Flynn (087-2417640).
