Four siblings are returning to the Isle of Man from Ireland to take on the Parish Walk in memory of their late father.
Accountant Jim McDonald, and his wife Mary, moved to the Isle of Man with their young family in 1987 and lived here until 2004.
Last year, in May, he died after battling progressive supranuclear palsy.
Now, his four children - Elaine, Paul, Eoin and Fiona - are returning to take on the Parish Walk in his memory and to raise money for PSPA Ireland - a charity very close to the family's heart.
They've already raised €13,500 - around £11,400.
Fiona and Eoin told Lewis Foster they're hoping to complete all 85-miles:
as you say we're flying over from Dublin half of our team are traveling today and the rest of us tomorrow. We are doing the event as a fundraising event for our dad who died last year and the reason we're coming to the Isle of Man is because we moved there as a young family back in 1987 and lived there for years and years together. There's four children, two parents and us four kids actually moved back to Ireland where we originally came back from to go to university and then eventually mum and dad followed on and that's our parents Mary and Jim MacDonald. Do you want to take over their own? Yeah so Lewis we're participating in the the 2024 parish walk in memory of our father Jim MacDonald who as Fiona said passed away around this time last year in May 2023. We all grew up in the Isle of Man and it's a place where we feel a really strong connection to even though we all live in back in Ireland now. So there's four of us Fiona and who you're speaking to on the line now as well myself and then my sister Elaine and my brother Paul were all participating in the parish walk in memory of dad and we really felt that it was an appropriate event for us to honor dad's memory and also to reconnect with the Isle of Man a place we're so so fond of and we wanted to raise money and for a charity that really helped and with that in his final years and with mum as well as in supporting dad so that's the the charity we're doing this for PSPA Ireland who were we're trying to fundraise money for. And Fiona you've told us a little bit about your dad over email but just explain a bit of his history because it seemed he made quite an impression during his time on the Isle of Man. Yeah and the dads and mum moved over as young parents and dad was working in Ireland as a charity accountant and moved over to work to take a job opportunity in the Isle of Man during a recession which I'm sure was was fairly global but hit Ireland very hard so the job opportunity or an opportunity came up for us as a young family to move over to the Isle of Man and they certainly made the most of us the Isle of Man as I'm sure you know was just such a special place and they really got involved in the community and dad was working with an accountancy firm and then he went out on his own with a partner and then he with with some people that he'd mess so an opportunity in residential property building and was instrumental in finding Dandara homes which have been a main provider of new homes in the Isle of Man and in terms of Isle of Island life I think it's fair to say when my dad led the way and us just fully immersing ourselves and making it home and moving from Ireland from all of our family we made family friends for life and we really loved our time together there and so I think it was it's fair to say when we moved we were all all leaving a big piece of home behind when we left the Isle of Man and it was a very special place to all of us and and we were so lucky that we managed to to build a great life there and have a great time growing up Oh and what does the Isle of Man mean to you in in terms of your memories as well and of either of you had the had the opportunity to to visit much since since you left as youngsters yeah it'd be you know I mean so many fond memories from growing up in the Isle of Man and actually so many memories linked to the parish walk as well I actually we went to St Mary's primary school in Douglas so that's kind of where my memories start way back in the in the mid-80s back in in the Isle of Man in Douglas and one of my primary school teachers in the Isle of Man a guy called Gordon Vale he actually won the parish walk back in 1990 and and I was a pupil in his class I remember I remember Gordon well as my teacher then and that was one of the parish work walk first came into my own consciousness and but yeah with many many fond memories in the Isle of Man we were members of Manx Harriers and we're really really involved in in a lot of sports you know great schools in the Isle of Man as Fiona said we met all of our you know childhood friends connections there and of state and contact with many of them come back to Isle of Man not as frequently as I'd like to to be honest and we've all got young families here now and so we have visited and intend to visit more with those families but it's it's not too far away from Dublin so we make it back on every couple of years to revisit and reconnect with the Isle and so coming up to this this weekend then the parish walk I I'm I'm taking it you neither of you taken part in the parish walk before what are you expecting that's correct um neither ourselves or our own or Elena or Paul our brother and sister have taken part so we we are challenging ourselves to finish so we're all expecting to finish but we know that that is a very tough tough challenge so we've been training um training a lot individually and then we've done some group walks and we do have a good baseline level of fitness but um I think one of the main things we're expecting and really really looking forward to is the community feeling and the support and seeing the islands um on foot and just kind of soaking all that up um but it is it's going to be a huge challenge and so I think personally I I just am preparing for pain preparing myself mentally now um you know after all the kilometers are in the legs now so it's just about mental preparation but yeah just really looking forward to to that um community atmosphere and yeah like I said it's open at all up yeah absolutely I mean we haven't underestimated the challenge we're fully aware of how difficult it is to complete to complete the parish walk um so we're not coming in blind we've done as much preparation as we can and we do expect a long long day many ups and downs literally and then you know the emotions I think you go through on a long event like this and as you're trying to mentally stay strong and and push through we're all we're all expecting that and anticipating that and I'm actually looking forward to having to deal with that now as we get very very close to the start line so um you're very very excited now to to get onto the island and to get to the start line and to to start walking and as well as apologies I was going to say as well as the the the physical of course strain that the the parish will will take um on you this year it is as you've mentioned just over a year now since uh since you lost your dad there's going to be I imagine quite an emotional element to to your return this time absolutely yeah that's actually what I was about to add in there um it is you know for all of us it's a hugely important thing to be undertaking to to remember dad to remember the amazing time we had as a family there how much he loved us sort of immersed himself in life there um and how much fun he has and uh I think you know we'll obviously get a flood of those memories we're going to be meeting up with family friends, go friends um and sharing memories and keeping dad top of mind as we're as we're going around and that's obviously a huge huge most facing factor for us and to to complete um and to really kind of pay tribute to dad and to thank everyone for the support that they've given us so far in fundraising for for this um for this event like Owen was saying it's for PSP Ireland which is um a charity that supports people with the condition that dad has um PSP um which is is progressive super nuclear policy very rare neurodegenerative condition and that is it takes hold slowly but surely and this um it really affects uh your body and your mind and everywhere you could imagine in terms of things slowing down and and degenerating so um I certainly know as I'm going around I'll be keeping dads in my mind and when dad's early days when he got his diagnosis he said you know no one told me this is going to be easy and I'm going to be keeping that my my mind as we go around that he had that strength so surely we can have that strength now to complete this challenge and to try and give back to the to this charity that really helped us so much 100 couldn't have said it better myself Fiona thank you for making it to the end of the Manx Radian newscast you are obviously someone with exquisite taste may I politely suggest you might want to subscribe to this and a wide range of Manx Radia podcasts at your favorite podcast provider so our best bits will magically appear on your smartphone thank you so much for watching! 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