NATIONWIDE WEEK 7
MONDAY 16TH FEBRUARY
PRESENTER RICHARD DOWNES
EMIGRATION PROGRAMME
On Nationwide this evening, the programme explores the enduring links between Ireland and Canada. The team meets a group of Canadians whose great, great grandparents left the Ballyhoura region in search of a new life in Ontario. Meanwhile, in County Galway, Nationwide meets a man who left his homeland of Canada and settled in Leitir Fraic.
Two centuries ago, eleven ships carrying emigrants departed from the port of Cobh bound for Canada, they were part of a resettlement project organised by a British government official and known as the Peter Robinson Settler Emigration Scheme, which took place between 1823 and 1825. Last year, some of the descendants of those emigrants returned to Ireland to mark the 200th anniversary of this journey that changed the course of their families' history. Reporter Marian Malone met several of them during their visit to the homeland of their ancestors in the Ballyhoura region of North Cork and South County Limerick.
The programme also tells the story of a Canadian step dancer who made the west of Ireland his home more than a decade ago and has since immersed himself in Irish culture. Now living in Connemara, Nathan Pilatzke has introduced his Canadian step dancing style to the Irish traditional music scene. Reporter Tommy Stenson travelled to Leitir Fraic to meet him.
Website: www.ballyhouradevelopment.com
Website: www.nineships1825.com
Website: www.cobhheritage.com
WEDNESDAY 18TH FEBRUARY
PRESENTER RICHARD DOWNES
PROGRAMME ON THE CHOCTAW NATION
This evening’s Nationwide explores the links between Ireland and the Choctaw Nation of Native Americans which has flourished in recent years. Nationwide travels to Choctaw lands in the United States to learn about life in the community today and to experience one of their traditional sporting games, which is not too unlike hurling. Also in Cork city, the team meets a Choctaw student taking part in a scholarship programme at University College Cork.
The monument of Indian feathers in Midleton stands as a tribute to the generosity of the Choctaw Nation, who sent financial aid to Ireland during the Great Famine. A similar monument featuring both Celtic and Choctaw designs was unveiled in the Choctaw homeland in Oklahoma. RTÉ’s Washington Correspondent, Sean Whelan, attended the unveiling and has been finding out about the Choctaw people and their lives in the United States today.
FRIDAY 20TH FEBRUARY
PRESENTER BLÁTHNAID NÍ CHOFAIGH
MUSIC & FOLKLORE PROGRAMME
On this evening’s Nationwide the focus is on music and heritage as the team hears about a new project to gather and archive the music of County Clare. Plus, in County Mayo the team meets an instrument maker who has spent 50 years hand crafting wooden flutes, a skill which he is now passing on to the next generation.
Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, is home to the Irish Traditional Music Archive’s first satellite centre, with renowned concertina player and TG4 Young Musician of the Year 2017, Liam O’Brien, appointed as Digital Access and Development Officer. In this programme, reporter Marian Malone meets the ITMA team in Clare as they assist Liam in cataloguing over 10,000 Clare-related items from ITMA’s Dublin collection. She also visits the Burren Centre to speak with Kilfenora Band leader John Lynch about the initiative.
Also on the programme is the story of a man in County Mayo who made his first flute from the spoke of a cartwheel in his garden shed almost fifty years ago.Five decades on, his handcrafted instruments are being played in sessions and on stages around the world. Determined to ensure the craft continues, Michael Cronnolly is now passing his skills onto his grandson. Reporter Tommy Stenson recently visited his workshop in Killasser.
Website: www.flutes.ie
