<div>My sister Yvonne and I are cycling to St Armel, Morbihan, France from Newry, in memory of our Daddy, Jimmy Smyth, who passed away on 29th May 2022, almost two weeks short of his 93rd birthday. Daddy developed dementia in the last few years of his life, our family were blessed to have been able to care for Daddy in his home and most thankful for the assistance of Marie Curie in his final weeks.
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<div>Dementia is a cruel disease that robs your loved ones of their memory, mobility and dignity, discriminating against no-one. Daddy loved his family, had great wit, enjoyed the craic, a glass of wine and daily walks with his beloved dog Holly. He was so interested in all sports, music and literature, and would normally have three books on the go at any one time. Dementia robbed him and us of all of this. As someone said to me in recent years, you grieve twice with Dementia, first, when memory loss begins and secondly when they pass in this life.
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<div>Daddy loved France, and visited St Armel, on many occasions with all his family and had a long-standing friendship (over 40 years) with the village and its local people.
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<div>Not long after our mother passed away with cancer in 1983, aged 52, Daddy unashamedly asked people to support a Newry Musical Society fundraiser (of which he was a member for almost 40 years) for much needed monies for the Newry Hospice. He told sponsors that they would no doubt encounter, at some point, cancer directly or indirectly in their lives. So, I unashamedly ask you to support Yvonne and myself with our Fundme page <a href="https://gofund.me/d03e680f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://gofund.me/d03e680f" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://gofund.me/d03e680f</a></a> to raise well needed funds for Alzheimer's Society, Dementia NI, Marie Cure and the Newry Hospice. 100% of all donations will be divided equally between these charities. We know first-hand just how important it is to have the support when you most need it and many people out there will need that too.
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<div>We started our training in February for our 6-day cycle, approximately 348kms in Ireland and 200kms in France. We are planning to leave Newry on Saturday 24th June, boarding a ferry in Cork on Wednesday 28th June, arriving in France on Thursday 29th June and then onto our final destination St Armel, Friday 30th June 2023.
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<div>We intend to keep this blog updated with our training progress and cycling adventure, both in Ireland and France and hope you can follow us and cheer us on virtually. We welcome all donations, small and large, and know it will make a difference to Dementia NI, Marie Curie and the Newry Hospice. -- All travel, accommodation and food will be paid by ourselves to ensure maximum donations to our four chosen charities. --
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<div>We, the Smyth Family are indebted to the care and support Daddy received from the numerous services, friends and extended family.
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<div>In our Daddy's words, Pax Vobiscum.
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<div><a href="https://cpesmyth.wixsite.com/bike2france" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://cpesmyth.wixsite.com/bike2france" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://cpesmyth.wixsite.com/bike2france</a></a>
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