About Patrick McLaughlin
A brief historyPatrick McLaughlin, also known as the Melodious Marathoner, was born in Derry City in the north of Ireland. He started learning the Irish language in St. Columb’s College, Derry and in Rannafast in Donegal. Later, when he was a student at Galway University, he used to spend his vacation on Inisheer, one of the Aran Islands. Patrick has been a resident of Quebec since 1972 when he enrolled at McGill University in Montreal in the post-graduate counseling psychology programme. Currently, Patrick works in association with Donancy Consultants and is responsible for the Employee Assistance Programme at the Montreal refinery of Petro-Canada. 
Why he does it allHis purpose in adopting such a different if amusing active participation was to ultimately create funds destined for the building of primary schools on one of the islands of Fiji where his sister, Patricia McLaughlin, a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, is in charge of operations. The young children in the villages where she hopes to erect these schools have no access to education since the Government do not have the available funds to provide such an amenity. When these young Fijian children, from different cultural and religious groups, are old enough to walk the distance to the nearest school, their education level is already a few years in arrears. The provision of basic education skills at an earlier stage of their development will better prepare them for their life' s journey. An Irish twistHe is a great lover of traditional songs in Irish, especially those in the ‘sean-nós’ (the old way) style. He has a great interest in the Irish language which he taught for ten years in Montreal The following proverbs, in the original Gaelic, with English translation, reflect Patrick's personal philosophy and is followed by a brief biography:
Rugadh Pádhraig i nDoire i dTuaisceart na hÉireann. D’fhóghlaim sé a chuid Gaeilige i gColáiste Cholmcille (Doire) agus i Rann na Feirste i nDún na nGall. Níos déanaí, nuair a bhí sé ina mhac léinn i gColáiste na hOllscoile i nGaillimh, bhíodh sé ag caitheamh a laetheanta saoire in Inis Thoir. Taithníonn go mór leis na hamhráin ‘sean-nós’, mar a deirtear. Tá an-suim aige i dteanga na Gaeilige, teanga a bhí á mhúineadh aige ar feadh deich mbliana i Montreal. A note from PatrickI hope that, in your busy schedule, you will find the time to look over this site. There is, I believe, sufficient information on walkasong.org to provide you with an overall idea of the purpose of my project. I have been involved for about four (4) years now in attempting to raise funds for the building of pre-schools in the area of Nausori, Fiji where my sister is working. 
At the end of May, 2004 when I participated in the National Capital Marathon Walk in Ottawa, Canada, I realized a long-standing ambition of completing a full marathon, 42 kilometers (26 miles), while singing and playing various musical instruments all the way. I intend using this event, and similar future events, for publicity purposes - particularly among the Irish communities around the world. The reason for such rather unorthodox fund-raising attempts stems from an awareness that I have to do something very different which will really draw attention to my project. As the Melodious Marathoner, I hope to be able to stand out amongst so many other worthy causes and appeal to the generosity of donors. You can help - find out how to make a tax-credited donation today. Click here now. Read more about our fundraising Projects |