Pat Ward was born in 1894, in the Blue Stack Mountain area of Donegal. He’s typical of  many of the older generation which was Irish speaking and which was among the most isolated in Ireland.

In the year 1895 the first train linked Ballybofey the nearest town on the eastern side of the Cruacha with the Glenties the nearest town to the west – the two towns about 26 miles apart. But whatever the railway may have done for the towns, it made little difference to the isolated glens to the south. Most of the people never saw it or made use of it...the odd letter their only contact with the outside world arrived no more frequently either.

Because of their remoteness, a way of life had survived in the Cruacha Gorma which had died out even in the strongest Gaeltacht areas of Donegal. The crafts associated with the carding and spinning of wool lived longer, Brigid Mac Loone spoke of her small spinning wheel and these traditions...

Pat Ward, Eddie Gibbons, Maire Ui Cheallaigh, Joe Gibbons, Dominic O Ceallaigh, Brigid MacLoone and Paddy Campbell speak of the great traditional music, crafts, language, storytellers and ways of life in the Cruacha Gorma.

Produced and presented by Pronsias O Conluain

First broadcast 31^st May 1980

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