Vanishing Ireland

Vanishing Ireland co-founder Turtle Bunbury looks back on how a dream to travel around Ireland on a tractor developed into a best-selling book series, a social media platform for the Irish Diaspora and, thanks to SuperValu, a podcast series bringing the voices of the old world into the 21st century.

Music by Liam Mulvaney

"Journeying to her West Cork school on the back of her father's milk cart is among the earliest memories of 91-year-old Freda Jones, a much admired organist living near Baltinglass, County Wicklow. She recalls her childhood days alongside the Schull to Skibbereen railway line before she left for boarding school at the Collegiate School, Celbridge. She also tells how she was obliged to give up her teaching career in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, following her marriage in 1957."

"Journeying to her West Cork school on the back of her father's milk cart is among the earliest memories of 91-year-old Freda Jones, a much admired organist living near Baltinglass, County Wicklow. She recalls her childhood days alongside the Schull to Skibbereen railway line before she left for boarding school at the Collegiate School, Celbridge. She also tells how she was obliged to give up her teaching career in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, following her marriage in 1957."

Con 'Durrihy' O'Sullivan, who was a teacher in Castletownbere for over four decades, applies his superb 80-year-old memory to recalling the geography, the poetry, and the banter of the Beara peninsula, as well as dancing at the Silver Slipper and how he had to change trains 12 times to get from Kenmare to his school in County Laois.

Priests on horseback, women in snugs and serving as a waiter to the King of Siam in Switzerland are some of the recollections of this week's Vanishing Ireland podcast interviewee Oliver Reed. Born in Athlone, County Westmeath, the 81-year-old recounts his school days and his work as a waiter, bank porter, farmer and more.

Music by Liam Mulvaney

In the latest episode, 97-year old Philip Lecane, of Cork City, says he stopped the ageing clock when he was 21. He is certainly one of the most energetic, inquisitive and youthful nonagenarians on the planet. He talks of how his forebears arrived in Cork from Jersey and took command of the city's fire brigade. He ran the family's newsagent's shop, established in a time when newspapers were the only real source of public news. With an impeccable memory for detail, Philip recalls how the forward-thinking Sister Benedict taught him to build castles with beach sand in the classroom, and he discusses the brilliantly named Sister Santy Claus, and the priest who counselled mourning widows to wear 'rejoicing' red instead of sombre black.

Music by Liam Mulvaney

Bareback riding into the Irish Sea, tasting ice cream for the family dairy and watching cattle being driven through the streets of Dublin are among the golden memories of this weeks interview with Miriam Moore of County Monaghan. As well as her childhood in north Dublin during the 1940s and 1950s, Miriam recounts her experience of working as a nurse in the days when hospital wards were ruled by no-nonsense Matrons.

Music by Liam Mulvaney

This week's interview features 77 year old Jack Roche, who spent his working career as greengrocer in Dublin's Liberties on the city's southside. He recalls the lively days of buying fruit and veg at auction and transporting it back to Meath Street by horse and cart, an age when cabbage was the top-seller and pineapples the stuff of dreams, and when the older generations' toothpaste of choice was a cocktail of soot and salt.

Music by Liam Mulvaney