We were contacted by Sharon Harkin from TKMaxx about a month before we ran their first fundraising Firewalk for Enable Ireland.  She was the new fundraising champion and wanted to do something a “little” different.  It really only took one phone conversation and plans were afoot for two Firewalks – one in Dublin and one in Limerick.

The Limerick Firewalk was on Thursday 26th March at Cobblestone Joe’s in Limerick City.  It’s a fantastic old pub that now has the beer garden completely enclosed.  This is where the participants would do the training, the Glasswalk and the Firewalk.

TKMaxx Firewalk Limerick

When we arrived we built the fire out the back of the pub on rolls of grass so that the fire would not damage the tarmac below.  Once it was lit one of us looked after it while the other set up the beer garden for the Glasswalk and the indoor Firewalk.  As we were expecting 40-50 people we would have to two Glasswalks.  We also laid out grass for where the embers would be laid out for the Firewalk.

Meanwhile, outside, a few homeless people approached Charlie who was looking after the fire and asked if they could stand near him for some heat.  Of course he said yes and engaged in some conversation with them while one of the women made use of the fire to dry her wringing wet coat.  This was a first for us and served as a gentle reminder how fortunate we are.  It was great to see these people also getting benefit from the event.

TKMaxx Firewalk Limerick

With about an hour of burning left for the Fire the training began and before long people were taking on the Glasswalk.  The Glasswalk is what most people were nervous about but they all took it in their stride (boom boom).

We had a short pause while we brought the embers in using wheelbarrows.  It was definitely much hotter preparing the Firewalk inside!  It was all ready within 20 minutes and our first Firewalker was ready to go.  All 43 people walked over the Fire with quite a few people walking over it 3 or 4 times.

Indoor Firewalk

All in all it was a great night!

Well done to all who take part and for raising money and awareness for Enable Ireland.