Over the past week, hype has been building nationwide about the cross country fundraising drive by the Ballylanders and Anglesboro Drive to Survive crew.

Since last Friday, two Model T Fords, two mini buses, recovery vehicles and service vehicles have been making their way from Angleboro through Mitchelstown, Fermoy and Cork before going onto Kerry and up the country.

In each town and village, they have carried out bucket collections and have had vast media coverage, as the Model T’s and four bag pipers in the convoy have captured the imaginations and enchanted the hearts of those who have crossed their paths.

Secretary of the Drive to Survive Committee, John Curtin spoke to The Avondhu on Wednesday as the vehicles were making the way to Portlaoise and Tullow before taking the road homeward, bound on Thursday to finish up in Ballylanders around 7pm on Thursday evening.

The group was set up in memory of John Gallahue by his son Dan and their aim is to raise funds for hospices around Ireland, with the beauty being that every county they have fundraised in will get the funds raised for their own area’s hospice.

John described the trip as a great success throughout, saying that the goodwill of people along the way has been ‘amazing’.

“It’s been gruelling, but a fabulous experience. We are all driving by 9am until 8pm or 9pm that night, so they are long days, but I hope we will be coming home to a big welcome on Thursday and we will be stopping off in Mitchelstown in the afternoon around 4pm,” John said.

“The reactions and fundraising have surpassed all of our expectations,” he added.

Everyone who is travelling also put in their own money for travel, accomodation and food expenses, so John emphasised that everyone has paid their way so that all of the money raised can going straight to the hospices. They are hoping that more than 40 people will be returning home to Ballylanders on Thursday and, as they travelled through the country, they were amazed by the amount of people who joined them for smaller stints along the way.

“Whether we raise €100 or €100,000, that’s money that wasn’t there for the hospices last year or last week,” John told The Avondhu.

The convoy will be arriving into Ballylanders to coincide with the pattern day and there will also be a balloon release, with more than 500 balloons being released to remember loved ones at 7.30pm on Thursday.