John & Philomena's Candlelight Fund

My parents - by Michael

Both my parents were lifelong supporters of CAFOD.

We created a Candlelight Fund in memory of my mother Philomena in 2017, which my father John supported through a regular monthly gift. When he died last year, I asked Maggie to change the name of the Candlelight fund to include him.

The name of the fund took some thought. My father was born in Dundee in Scotland. His father had the same name – John Lawson Galloway, so to avoid confusion my father was brought up being known as Lawson. He met my mother, who was born in Armagh in Northern Ireland when they were in training together in the NHS. My mother, Philomena was training as nurse and was part of the guard of honour when Aneurin Bevin visited Park Hospital in Manchester on the launch of the NHS on July 5th 1948. At that time my father was training in paediatrics at Park Hospital.

When they married, they moved to Thornaby-on-Tees when my father started work as a GP. At that time mum was known to her English friends as Phyl while back in Armagh the family called her Mena. In later life my dad decided that he wanted to be known by his first name John. All very confusing!

In the end we called the fund by their full names. The fund provides a great way to remember happy times and to reflect on anniversaries and other important dates. It also recognises their lifelong support for CAFOD.