The Boating Postman, Owey Island, Ireland 1973
Ойын-сауық
Four times a week the postman crosses to Owey Island by boat from mainland Donegal to deliver the mail to the few who remain living there.
Single handed in a currach, postman Neil McGonagle visits the dwindling population on Owey Island to maintain the island’s contact with the outside world.
Getting ashore at Owey is particularly difficult as Neil must land on slippy flags and rocks. He used to make the journey using a paddle, but for the last 12 years he has been assisted by an outboard motor.
Born on the island the house Neil McGonaglehe grew up in and more than half of the houses on the island are empty and boarded up. The one-room schoolhouse closed in 1971 but Neil recalls the time when it was thriving and there were enough children attending to have two eleven a side football teams.
The post office where Neil sorts the mail is one of the few remaining signs of life on the island, but he can see there will soon be no need for a postman.
The young people are all leaving; there are some old people that won’t leave, that would rather stay on.
But Neil reckons eventually the old people will have no option but to move to the Donegal mainland. The last two families, the McGonagles and the O’Donnells left Owey in 1977.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 19 February 1973. The reporter is Cathal O’Shannon.
Пікірлер: 50
I am on owey island now with William Agnes. This is my 1st visit here for 18 years. It is great to see the island being restored to its former glory not least dad's old house. 26/8/21.
Enthralling as always! Cathal O'Shannon was a gifted journalist. His empathy and unforced curiosity engaged the audience from the very top of whatever piece he was working on. And his genuine respect for the people whose lives he revealed shines through his work. Marvellous stuff!
@lydialily846
3 жыл бұрын
Couldn’t agree more Liam & his voice alone wud capture you ..
I'm not even Irish and I enjoy these videos. Cheers from the Canadian hinterland.
@lydialily846
3 жыл бұрын
It’s a very different Ireland 🇮🇪 now ... Thank you for your lovely comment ...
@masterofnone8400
3 жыл бұрын
❤️❤️❤️🍀🍀🍀🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
@keithwhittygmail
3 жыл бұрын
Ahh us Irish give everyone a smile. Glad you get one from these movies 😜👍
@keithwhittygmail
3 жыл бұрын
@@lydialily846 Freedom is not stolen its given away. We must strive for it, sometimes figjt for it and evem die for it. Ireland has chamged becaise the people have for gotton theirnroots and will follow money rather than pride. The divil himself is in our homes and puts greed in our heads with no thought to its influence.
@wonjubhoy
3 жыл бұрын
My dad is from there.
And a mere six years after this was film, the year-round/full-time population on Owey Island was zero. Sad when small, unique communities die out.
@wonjubhoy
2 жыл бұрын
I think it was 1974 when it was abandoned and of course that was sad. I was there last week and seeing people live there now made my heart burst with joy. So much work has been done to modernise the island.
@Lastkingofulster
11 ай бұрын
The last on the island were the Manus', my dad is from there and I go there every summer
Love these little films☘️🇮🇪
Fantastic footage and story. Thank you!
CR's video and audio is always amazing quality no matter how old the film is!
Both sad, and beautiful...
I'm half Irish , there's been some debate about which half , and these videos get me straight back to my grannys fireside . Great , great videos
Totally amazing
Beautiful Country
Brilliant channel 👍
I love when CR opens the vault.
I noticed he said that all the doors are 'barred & bolted', and it showed a few doors that were.... Cripes! I didn't realise there was a high crime rate on Owey Island🏝️, Where's Jack Lord the detective when needed, leave Hawaii Jack and come to Owey to sort out the crime.... Cue the music🎶!! 😜
@keithwhittygmail
3 жыл бұрын
There wasn't thats why there was twine on one door amd the others would be to keep nosey people out.
Amazing
Now that's a postman,, I would be happy to get 1 letter a week...😂
That was grand, wonder if he was the last postie on the island...
Go raibh maith agat as seo a phostáil, Owey had a cablelink to the mainland too eventually I believe, for some deliveries.
He used to paddle through those waters? I don’t have any experience with things like that but seems like it’d be risky business paddling through those waters
That's a pretty kool job
History in the making
Is that a seagull outboard motor? Best small outboard motor ever built!
@brendancarroll9376
3 жыл бұрын
Yep. It’s a seagull
@antoanto5301
3 жыл бұрын
I use to help a fisherman back in the 80s, he had one that lasted for years!
👌👌👌
Sad.
Why were the buildings barred and bolted?
What does he do when they have to take the roads in?
@timber8403
3 жыл бұрын
@anonuk.. lol.. he would have to come ‘round south of Yemen...
This man sailed the 7 seas to bring mail and parcels to people all over the world, he never talked much about his many great feats, Neil really spoke about the time he and his little boat was swallowed by a giant whale, later the whale got hit by a big wave and coughed Neil and his boat out on to the stormy sea, He never complained, he always delivered the post with a smile and a cheerful short story to tell
@Theeirishman74
Жыл бұрын
You are a bellend
No life jackets in the 1970s
No Life-Jacket or radio, back to the days when 'Men were Men'.
@Lastkingofulster
11 ай бұрын
Owey men didn't need them, because they knew the land as the sea,my dad can tell when to leave the Spink (where the postman landed) during a swell based on the waves
Is the man narrating this Peter Sallis