A teacher who drove a vintage open-top tractor along the Wild Atlantic Way has raised over €25,000 for the people of Gaza.
Wesley College Dublin woodwork teacher Pat Murphy spent two weeks driving at a top speed of just 24km per hour along the 2,800 km-long coastal route.
He took his restored 1962 David Brown tractor for the journey between Malin Head in Donegal to Ireland’s most south-westerly point at Mizen Head in Cork.
The father-of-four, who is from Corofin, Co Galway but lives in Sallins, Kildare, initially set his fundraising goal at €5,000 on his GoFundMe web page, but ended up with over €25,000 by the end of October.
Pat Murphy, right, holding his cheque with Joanne Arnold from Concern with Wesley College Head Boy Sam McMullin and Head Girl Mia Keane after the Wild Atlantic Way tractor run
He has given the money raised to the Irish humanitarian agency Concern Worldwide for the work it is doing in Gaza through a partner organisation.
Pat says he chose Concern because of his past involvement with them as a volunteer in Rwanda in 1995 and 1996 after the brutal genocide that occurred there.
“I have been supporting Concern for over 30 years and always admired the great work that they do,” he said, after meeting Concern to give them his cheque.
“We hope our novel idea of a vintage tractor run will inspire others to help people in need too,”he said.
“The main challenge along the drive was the rain and wind because the tractor is open top so there was nowhere to hide,”he said.
“I had really good weather gear, but it was hard going at times. My journey was made enjoyable because of the beautiful scenery along the way,”he said.
“We met loads of interesting people and tourists from around the world were fascinated with what we were doing,”he added.
Concern’s community fundraising manager Joanne Arnold, thanked Pat for his “incredible contribution and selfless act of goodwill”.
“We are immensely grateful to Pat Murphy and all who supported him,” she said.
Pat was accompanied by his friend Tony Harrison, who drove a camper van for them to sleep in each night, and his pal Brendan Joyce brought the tractor to Malin Head and collected it when they reached Mizen Head.
