Rocks of Hope to line Kinsale Darkness into Light parade

A DUNDERROW family who have been lighting up the Kinsale area with their colourful painted rocks for the past three years  as part of 'Kinsale Rocks', have now turned their attention to helping raise funds for Pieta ahead of this weekend's Darkness Into Light charity event.

Maeve Edwards and her children, Ruby (11) and Jimmy (9) have spent many long  hours during their spare time in recent weeks  painting over 1,000 bright yellow ‘Rocks of Hope’ for the Blue and Amber parade that takes place this Saturday morning at 4.30 a.m. They even received donations of over 100 painted rocks from various people in the Kinsale area who heard of their kind hearted initiative.

‘I just thought it was a good idea and we started a month ago collecting and painting the rocks which we got in Garrettstown Beach and we belted on getting them painted in time,’ Maeve told The Southern Star.

‘We are going to take into the town line the walls of Kinsale on the route that the emergency services will follow at sunrise on the morning of Darkness into Light.’

Ahead of the event, photographer  Denis Collins wonderfully captured a drone shot of  all 1,000 rocks lined out in their garden to spell the word 'HOPE' in their garden earlier this week and the family have already raised over €1,000 for the charity since they set up their own fundraising page.

The emergency vehicles parade has in itself become a talking point since last year’s parade of vehicles with flashing blue light that drove through the town before dawn.

It is expected that the event, organised by Kinsale Youth Support Services (KYSS), will have an extra 100 vehicles taking part in the route this weekend and which follows the usual ‘Darkness Into Light’ route that people would normally take.

See 'Darkness into Light Rocks of Kinsale Hope'  on Facebook or more information on how to donate and 'Kinsale Rocks'