Going back to that fateful day

Sister's fundraiser 25 years after family tragedy

A woman, who lost numerous family members in a fatal accident at Swann’s Cross in Monaghan 25 years ago, will honour their memory this weekend by completing the women’s mini marathon.

As she takes on the 10km route, Christina Weldon will be thinking of her sister Catherine Curtis (31), her nephew and niece, Wayne (10) and Shauna (5); as well as Catherine’s sister in law Jamie (14) and nephew Garry (13) who were also killed in the tragic accident in 2001.

The family, who had been living in Co Meath, were going on their holidays to Bundoran but had called in to see Christina’s parents in Latton, Co Monaghan, on the way.

Catherine’s husband Tommy, who was driving, was not familiar with Swann’s Cross, where the regional roads connecting Clones and Cootehill (R183) and Monaghan Town and Cootehill (R188) meet. The junction was notoriously blind back in 2001 when the family car collided with a milk tanker.

Tommy and the couple’s four-month-old baby Chloe were the only survivors in the car.

In the intervening period, road conditions have improved with the addition of lines, signage and the installation of a roundabout at the junction.

This Sunday, May 31, Christina and her daughters, Abbie and Katie Weldon, will participate in the Women’s Mini Marathon in Dublin to mark the 25th anniversary of their departed loved ones.

Christina’s reason for doing the marathon is twofold: “It’s very much a charity event and something I can do with my two girls as well. While I’m doing it to remember, it has become a way of highlighting, not even road safety, but the aftermath, the pure tragedy and terror that you’re plunged into when somebody dies on the road.”

Christina had justed arrived back into work in CombiLift, Clontibret, on that fateful day, Tuesday, July 24, 2001, when she received the bad news.

“I had gone into Monaghan Town at lunchtime. The accident happened around 12 o’clock. I actually saw the ambulances approaching from the Ballybay Road. I had a mobile phone but I didn’t have it with me. When I got back out to the office, they told me that my mother was after ringing to say that there had been a bad accident and that I needed to go home straight away.”

Three died at the scene, her niece Shauna, Tommy’s sister Jamie and his nephew Garry. Catherine and Wayne both underwent major surgery but, sadly, their life support machines were turned off a few days later.

The family made a decision to bury all five victims of the accident together in County Meath.

Christina still has a great relationship with her brother-in-law Tommy and his daughter Chloe. Tommy was in his early thirties at the time of the accident. “His tragedy was the biggest of all. He lost his wife, his two kids, his sister and his nephew,” Christina acknowledged.

“It was a very dangerous junction. My brother-in-law wouldn’t have known how dangerous it was, that wasn’t the first fatality. It wasn’t that many years after that the roundabout was complete,” she added.

There is a plaque at Swann’s Cross, placed discreetly in the wall. Christina thanked former TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin for supporting her campaign for a permanent memorial, which bears their names and the date of the accident.

Christina has very fond memories of her slightly older sister: “We were Irish twins! We actually started school together. She started when she was four. I was three-and-a-half. She wouldn’t go on her own. We were in the same class through national school in Latton but, when it came to secondary school, I wasn’t allowed to go. I was only 10, which was fair enough!

“We were best friends; we went out together. Actually, my husband’s also from Nobber and we met through Catherine and Tommy. Tommy and he were best friends, so there was that connection too.”

Christina explained that every time she hears of a road fatality she is brought right back to those awful days.

She likes to raise money for the Irish Road Victims Association (IRVA), which offers counselling and practical advice to families left reeling after the death of a loved one on the roads.

Back in 2001, Christina doesn’t remember much in the way of support for grieving families: “You just kept going. I had a child who was a year old, she was my focus at that stage. You couldn’t give up; you had to get up in the morning.”

Once again, Christina’s charity of choice for her fundraising mini marathon is the IRVA. Online donations have exceeded the €7,000 target, but it’s not too late to donate!

Search ‘Christina Abbie & Katie Weldon’s Fundraising Page’ on iDonate.