Crookhaven Village Community Spirit, Co. Cork, Ireland 1975
Retired journalist Pat Murphy on the fabric of life in and around the village of Crookhaven in West Cork.
A journalist, author, linguist and raconteur Pat Murphy lives in retirement in the village of Crookhaven on the Mizen peninsula in West Cork. His cottage ‘Castle Murphy’ is situated close to where he was born in 1897.
Pat Murphy pays an early morning visit to the local creamery which draws people from around the area together.
The papers, the post and parochialism, an inward spiral of communication.
The community has an innate neighbourly spirit,
Everybody tries to help everybody else and important roles are filled voluntarily.
When a need exists, somebody steps in to help without being asked or appointed to do so. Pat Murphy’s particular set of skills, and the fact that he owns a typewriter, means he assists his neighbours with insurance and pension matters.
Also, Pat Murphy is frequently summoned to O’ Sullivan’s Bar to chat to foreign visitors where his knowledge of eleven languages comes to the fore.
Foreigners may brighten the social lives of the locals, but they are not short of entertainment in their own right. Frequent gatherings are held in homes where songs and ballads are sung. The area has its own share of ballads and one tells of the coming of the bus to Goleen.
Five miles away, Goleen is the capital of the peninsula, providing a transport terminus, a telephone exchange and shops offering a wide variety of supplies.
It is our Switzerland and our Saudi Arabia, having both a bank and petrol pumps.
‘My Own Place’ is a documentary series in which prominent Irish personalities take an affectionate look at the place they were born or brought up in, or at some particular place that has significantly influenced their thinking.
The episode of ‘My Own Place’ was broadcast on 22 October 1975.
Credit to : CR’s Video Vaults
