Charity climb to Carraun
A recent charity climb to the top of Carrauntoohil brought together a diverse range of people to raise awareness and funds for two of Cork’s favourite charities - Cork Penny Dinners and Cork Simon.
Over 70 people including two community gardaí, along with a range of people including some homeless people and formerly homeless and people in addiction recovery all climbed the Kerry mountain together in difficult conditions. Over €7,000 has been raised so far.
The climb was led by the Two Norries, James Leonard and Timmy Long, who recently celebrated the first year of their podcast The Two Norries, which is aimed at people struggling with poor mental health, trauma and addictions and their goal is to inspire people to change and to educate those who have an interest in topics related to drug use, recovery, desistance and social class.
The climb was lead by Graham Tobin of Venture 2 Adventures and Garda Lorraine O’Donovan and Garda Marie O’Neill.
James is from Cork city’s northside and spent over ten years in addiction which led him to prison and hospital many times. James finally got sober in 2013 and has spent the last seven years in education. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Youth & Community Work, a Master’s Degree in Criminology and is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Sociology & Criminology, UCC.
Fellow northsider Timmy lived a chaotic life of addiction, crime and prison but managed to get sober in 2011. He learned to read and write at the age of 32 in prison and was diagnosed with dyslexia. Today Timmy is a qualified carpenter and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Management from CIT.
Guests on their podcast include addiction expert Dr Gabor Maté, a Hungarian-Canadian physician who volunteered his time to speak with James and Timmy. Other incredible guests with inspirational stories range from James’ wife Gillian Butler, Senator Lynn Ruane to former Mountjoy governor John Lonergan.
An iDonate page has been set up at: https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11397663_the-two-norries-do-corran-tuathail.html.