RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1’s Countrywide launches book at the National Ploughing Championships Today
In association with the Irish Farmers Journal and Ballpoint Press
Earlier this year, a call went out on RTÉ Radio 1’s Countrywide (Saturdays, 8.10am) and in the Irish Farmers Journal for people to share their stories of growing up in rural Ireland.
Over the summer, people’s penned recollections were sent in to Countrywide and the Irish Farmers Journal in droves. Radio and print joined together to publish this treasure trove of stories, from 50 different authors, in a book published by Ballpoint Press: Around the Farm Gate.
Around The Farm Gate was fittingly launched at the RTÉ stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois today, Wednesday 23 September at 12.30pm.
Damien O’Reilly, presenter of Countrywide, says of the book: “The stories published in Around the Farm Gate are a brief snapshot in time as they capture the activities of people striving to earn their daily bread in different settings across the country As time moves on and technology advances daily, we are become an increasingly urbanised country. As such, we at Countrywide teamed up with the Irish Farmers Journal and Ballpoint Press to preserve these tales of rural Ireland for posterity, so that future generations can have an accurate retrospective of how life was and how things worked when Ireland was primarily a rural and agricultural society.”
This book offers a rare glimpse of our recent history, encapsulating and preserving the traditions of several generations in a rapidly disappearing rural landscape.
The collection is a collaboration between Countrywide on RTÉ Radio 1, the Irish Farmers Journal and Ballpoint Press Ltd and is being launched at the National Ploughing Championships on Wednesday 23 September at the RTÉ stand: 12.30pm
ENDS
RTÉ Radio Communication Manager, Maureen Catterson, will be on the ground at The National Ploughing Championships all week.
Please contact her to arrange interviews or photos at the launch.
For further information:
Maureen Catterson
RTÉ Radio Communications Manager
T: 087 780 0737