Mother-of-three Breda Gallagher-Friel (42) passed away at the Donegal Hospice on August 3 last following a five-year battle with cancer.

Breda, who was well known throughout the community, loved nothing more than going for a ‘walk and talk’ and now, her husband Karol and their children Daithí, Katie-May and Odhran, have launched a fitting event, Walk And Talk For B, in her memory.

On June 11, just days before Breda would have been due to celebrate her 43rd birthday, the family are taking on the challenge of an 80km walk from Newtowncunningham to Breda’s native homeplace at Inver Bay.

Speaking to the Donegal News Karol Friel explained that he had began planning the event last year.

“I started planning this last year and I was hoping to do it as a fundraiser for various charities so Breda was aware of it but for obvious reasons I had to postpone it but it will now mark her birthday and also be before the first anniversary.

“The idea is to walk from Newtowncunningham which is where our children have been brought up and where we have lived for 15 years to Breda’s home house in Inver where her parents still live.

“We don’t expect people to complete the whole challenge but we are hoping people may take part in relay teams,” said Karol.

Depending on the Covid-19 restrictions, it may not be possible for a large group to gather to complete the walk, so people can take part in the event virtually in another location for those not able to travel to Donegal.

Despite the target of the walk on June 11, Karol is hopeful the event will encourage more people to get out walking on a daily or weekly basis.

“Breda was a very big advocate of getting out walking with people, meeting up with friends, talking and sharing feelings,” said Karol.

“We would love to see people just getting out more and being more active as a result of this event.

“We have a Strava account and we can keep track of all the steps people are doing for the cause so we want to see people challenging themselves and encouraging others to get the steps up,” said Karol.

The family are planning to fundraise for several charities and more information on this will be announced closer to June 11.

The family have set up an Instagram page walk_and_talk_for_b and all information on the event and the family’s preparation for the walk can be found there.