Tuam Home Vigil

Galway Independent
October 26, 2016

http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/topics/articles/2016/10/26/4129043-tuam-home-vigil/

A candlelight vigil in memory of residents of the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home will take place next Wednesday, 2 November, All Souls Day.

The vigil will begin at 7pm at the site of the unofficial burial grounds on the Dublin Road in Tuam and proceed to the Town Square. The vigil, organisers say, follows in the footsteps of the “home children”.

Research by Tuam historian Catherine Corless indicates that the remains of 796 children, most of them infants, may be buried at the site. A preliminary site excavation by a team of specialist archaeologists, requested by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, is ongoing and expected to be complete by mid-November.

The vigil is part of a series of events recognising the legacy of Mother and Baby Homes, which includes a national art project titled ‘Tuam Spirit Babies’ by artist Sadie Cramer.

Touched by the Tuam Babies story, Sadie invited the general public to contribute to an exhibition and received responses both from Tuam and further afield. “Not only is the vigil a memorial for the deceased but it is a manifestation of support for the ‘survivors’, in their quest for justice and recognition,” she said.

She added that this recognition could be for the conditions experienced at the ‘Home’, ill treatment when children were eventually fostered, difficulties in accessing their own birth and medical records and the broader questions surrounding illegal adoptions and other such issues in Homes around the country.

The exhibition ‘Tuam Spirit Babies’ will be launched at Tuam Town Hall on Wednesday 2 November and will run until 17 November.

Also on the night, there will be guest speakers and the screening at 8pm on the second floor of the Town Hall of a film shot in Tuam. ‘Children of Shame’ is a 52-minute documentary by Saskia Weber and Nicolas Glimois which was first shown on France 2, a French public channel. The film, which will receive its Irish debut on the night, traces the journey of unmarried mothers and their children.

After proceedings in the Town Hall, the Corralea Hotel opposite the Town Hall will open its function room for refreshments. Earlier in the day, a remembrance event will also take place at the summit of Knockma Hill at 11am.

A new group combining survivors and relatives of deceased from the Tuam Home, ‘United Survivors’, will also be officially launched on Friday 4 November. See ‘Tuam Spirit Babies’ on Facebook for more details or email tuambabiesfamilygroup@yahoo.co.uk. For further information on memorial events go to ‘Tuam Spirit Babies’ on Facebook.