Charity to benefit from Offaly's 'Walk in a Frock'

If you’d pay money to see 24-year-old John Grennan from Tullamore walk from Clara to Tullamore in a wedding dress, then your luck is in.

John is the organiser behind ‘Walk in a Frock’, planned for August 9 next in aid of Feileacain, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association of Ireland.

Six months ago John and his wife Amy got married in the famous Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. In a smart move, Amy decided not to give her beloved her own wedding dress for the charity walk. Instead he sourced the strapless creation, complete with a veil, in a charity shop.

“It’s white,” he said, describing his dress, “but I’m pretty sure it’ll be black by the time I’m finished.”

John decided to organise the event, which will culminate in The Lantern pub later the same evening, after coming across Feileacain support meetings in his workplace - the Central Hotel on Tullamore’s Main Street.

He also has personal experience with stillbirth however, as he and Amy’s first child Anna-May was stillborn on May 13, 2009.

Seven of the twelve men who have committed to the walk so far have personal experience of losing babies, while the remainder have allowed themselves to be talked into it.

The group, which includes one who plans on wearing a mini-skirt, a boob tube, and heels, will leave from the church in Clara at 1pm on August 9. They plan to arrive in Tullamore at about 4pm, before parading around the town and ending up at The Lantern.

Donations to the cause can be made via participant’s sponsorship cards, via bucket collectors in either Clara or Tullamore on the day, or by buying a €5 ticket for nighttime entertainment - including Tae Lane, Celtic Blondes, a 4D DJ and a raffle - that night in The Lantern.