All are welcome to annual Paupers’ Graveyard patron

THE ANNUAL patron at the Paupers’ Graveyard in Coolcotts will take place on Friday, June 15 at 7.30 p.m. and all are welcome to attend.

The event is held every year to honour the memory of ‘The Forgotten Ones’, the destitute, or mentally and physically challenged men, women and children who were buried in the graveyard. Many of them were inmates of the Wexford Union Workhouse, formerly the old Wexford Hospital.

Those buried in the graveyard received no obituary or proper funeral, and were buried in shallow graves with no headstones. Burials took place at the site from 1852 up to 1939.

The annual patron was first held in 1990 when former councillor Padge Reck, Ray Nolan and other members of Wexford Memorial Trust committee organised it.

The Wexford Male Voice Choir and the Holy Family Confraternity Band will perform during the ceremony. Refreshments will be served in Coolcotts Community Centre, O’Leary Road, immediately after the event. All are welcome to attend.