A Story of family upheaval, separation, institutionalisation, survival, self-discovery and ultimate triumph over adversity.
ISBN: 979-8876854063
The Runner is Pat Ward’s deeply personal account of a life marked by difficulty, endurance, and, ultimately, transformation. The book captures a pivotal moment in Irish history and reveals the lesser-known stories of those who were raised in Ireland’s Industrial Schools. Pat’s journey through life is one of loss, discovery, and redemption, with the unwavering support of his family and close friends.
“My achievements in the Royal Navy gave me a confidence and a self-belief that had been totally lacking theretofore. It was the Navy that taught me to view most failures as temporary setbacks on the road to success. “
-Pat Ward, Author of “The Runner”
This is the story of Pat Ward’s journey which starts in 1950, when at three years old he and his five years old brother Val were taken from their family and sent to Letterfrack CBS, a notorious Industrial School run by Christian Brothers. Four years later they were transferred to St. Joseph’s CBS in Galway and they remained there until they were 16 years old. This story covers Pat’s life experiences, the struggles, the hardship, his resilience and self-development, his reconnecting with three other siblings, and his ultimate success as a businessman.
The book takes readers through an emotional journey that may leave the reader drained initially, but which goes on to be uplifting and triumphal. The book is sprinkled with humour that can surprise the reader given Pat’s start in life.
My name is Pat Ward and I am the author of the book “The Runner”.
The book was launched on 6 June 2024 at the Salthill Hotel in the presence of 60 invited guests. The book was originally published by AmazonKDP, with most copies bought on Amazon websites in the UK, Germany, Canada and the USA. Some copies have also been bought from Charlie Byrne’s bookshop in Galway.
I was delighted at the wonderful turnout for the book’s launch and at the expressions of support and goodwill received that night. It has left me with a warm afterglow. I have also been very surprised and highly delighted with the numerous comments received about the book. Many came to me via text messages, phone calls and emails. Many readers have posted reviews on amazon.co.uk with 5 stars. I am truly grateful to everyone who has provided feedback on the book.
I decided to set up this website because of the continuing curiosity and interest in the book.
I think the best way to introduce the book is to reproduce an edited version of the speech I gave at the book launch in June 2024.
Pat Ward
Author of “The Runner”
I returned to live in Galway in 2012, almost 50 years after leaving. I didn’t know anyone in Galway at that time, but many people went out of their way to welcome me back to Galway – my spiritual home.
In addition to being a story about my life, this book is also a history of the Ward family covering five generations. Three of those generations are represented here tonight by myself, my sister Pearl, my son Paul, my daughter Kerry, my eldest brother’s son Anthony, and two of my other brother Val’s daughters Michelle and Claire. We also have my three grandsons here tonight.
This is a Unique Book Launch. Most book launches involve an author and a book and guests, but few if any of those guests will have played any role in the book.
This book is about my life for sure, and most of you know the outcome of that story, but that outcome is not the real story. The real story is the journey I took over close to 75 years, and what makes this book launch so very special is that most of you here tonight have been fellow travellers on parts of that journey. Many over recent years, some over 30 years, some over 50 years, and my sister Pearl who was there when I took my first baby step.
Starting This Book Was Very Difficult.
The following is loosely based on the Introduction in the book.
I have been asked on numerous occasions to write a story about my life but I held off doing so mainly because of a dread of revisiting my childhood. The initial requests for the book came from my siblings, but they understood and accepted my reasons for not taking on that project. As the years went by the requests came from friends who felt that the book might serve as an inspiration to others, but I resisted their entreaties. I also baulked at the notion of writing a book with a title like “Pat Ward – My Story”, or any other title with a direct reference to myself.
In February 2023 I reached a new milestone in my life when I retired, and although it would give me the time to write the book, I was still reluctant to do so. In April 2023 a golfing buddy, John Rabbitt, asked me to meet up with him for a coffee. John brought up the topic of writing a book about my life. He knew about my reluctance to do so, but he had a suggestion to make.
John explained that during our numerous rounds of golf I had told stories or talked about events in my life that he and our friends had found interesting. He then surprised me when he showed me a sketch he had drawn based on one of my stories. He entitled the sketch “The Runner”. John said that he thought “The Runner” would be a good title for a book about my life and the more I reflected on it the more I warmed to the idea. However, I was still reluctant to write the book.
About that same time my only remaining brother, and a hero in The Runner, Val, became seriously ill, and having retired I had more time to visit him in England. In the course of those visits and our phone conversations the issue of a book arose again. I told Val about the title suggested by John and shewed him a sketch that John had drawn.
Val immediately knew the significance of “The Runner” and he said it would be a great title. I finally decided to write the book and give it the title “The Runner”, as suggested by John Rabbitt.
However, there’s more to that story.
I had told my golfing buddies a story about how a Christian Brother would take the boys from St. Joseph’s School for a walk around Salthill or Barna on most Sundays, and John said that he remembered those outings from when he was a young boy living here in Galway, and he used his amazing memory and artistic skills to draw a sketch on a small notepad to depict that scene.
John and I agreed that the sketch could form the basis for a front cover for the book, but we needed to find someone who could make the sketch suitable for a book cover. I decided to write to the arts department at the ATU inviting students to take up the challenge of converting John’s sketch into an image for the book cover. Just one student offered to take up the challenge, but that was all we needed. The student’s name is Bahar Turan and she hails from Turkey and is studying here in Galway.
Bahar and I met up for a coffee to discuss the project and I then took her on a tour of Salthill to explain the context for John’s sketch. Over the following few weeks she brought that sketch to life. Here is the final image that is used on the front and back covers of the book.
This truly is a work of art, and I hope this book helps to launch Bahar on a great career.
I added the sun in the top right-hand corner to symbolise hope – the Runner is running towards a brighter future.
I am indebted to John Rabbitt for his inspired suggestions of the title and the sketch that gave me a key to unlock this story. I had now reached a point where for the first time in my life I actually wanted to write the book, but to do so would require me to face some demons head on, and I found myself stalled as I struggled to make a start on Chapter 1, the chapter which dealt with my childhood.
At about that time my daughter, Kerry, did some background checks on my mother and my grandmother, and that information gave me an opening for Chapter 1. I had taken the first step. I then needed to take the next step, and the next step, and the next step as I faced into the darkest phase of this project.
My wonderful partner Margaret Desmond was hugely supportive throughout that period and helped me to take those faltering steps.
I dreaded the thought of revisiting my childhood and writing about some of my experiences from that period of my life. I didn’t know how to deal with Letterfrack. I had brought down a shutter on that part of my life specifically to avoid revisiting it. I decided to leave that shutter in place and move on to my life in St. Joseph’s. As I started to write about my early days in St. Joseph’s, especially about the encounter with Dennis and his subsequent departure and then about the meeting with my mother, tears started to flow. I found the experience very painful and emotionally draining, and I had to step away from my laptop on numerous occasions and take a break. Those breaks could last for hours or days, but I needed those respites. Margaret was a great help to me during that period.
I could not bring myself to write the names of the four Brothers that I described in the early part of the book, so I decided to make them anonymous and simply refer to them as A, B, C and D.
I found myself in a flood of tears when I started to write the story about Sweeney. I have been haunted by that scene for most of my life, and writing about it tore at my heart.
It took me three months to write Chapter 1, but writing that Chapter proved to be cathartic. I had to a large extent purged my demons. Their vice like grip on me that had lasted over 70 years is no more and I am finally free of them.
I had to let go of my past and venture forth to an unknown future. I couldn’t be sure of how things would pan out in England, but my achievements in the Royal Navy gave me a confidence and a self-belief that had been totally lacking theretofore.
It is interesting to look back and ask myself. “What gave me the fortitude and the determination to keep striving to better myself?”
I don’t have an answer, but something innate may account for it. Is that an example of the human spirit in action?
On completion of the first draft of the book, my son, Paul, suggested some changes to the arrangement of some of the mini stories and this had a very positive impact on the flow of the overall story.
Margaret is a scholar, a retired teacher. She put on her scholar’s hat and became editor in chief as she carried out a critical review of the book. Her impact on the book was wonderful, giving it a polished and professional finish.
The title of this book is “The Runner”. I aspired to be one of them, but you’ll have to read the book to see if I achieved my dream.
