How Macroom Remembers
April 6th, 2009 by Steve Bowbrick
Wow. This is special. On the face of it nothing remarkable here: another classical-model doc about the turbulent birth of the Irish Republic. But it's a thing of beauty: a layered masterpiece that builds and builds: real radio craft from Peter Woods, an RTE staff producer since 1995. There's real tension and lots of quietly recorded sadness and bitterness. A reminder too that the horror that unfolded in country lanes and back streets all over Ireland in the first decades of the Twentieth Century still haunts many, especially the old men of West Cork. Sobering and moving stuff.
The MP3's here and on the programme web page you'll find some more audio and pics of the area and of the annual ceremony remembering the Kilmichael ambush. More pics of the ambush site here.
Picture by Conor O'Neill (CC).
October 8th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
That was fantastic – thank you for posting / hosting. I am from near Macroom but really never knew much of the history. I never really understood the Fianna Fail / Fine Gael divide too, although my family were definitely Fine Gael. I don’t think anyone ever asked / asks why.
Some of the comments on the show were comical, such as the “interlude for a cup of tea”.