Youghal man John McGrath who lived in the Clock Gate from 1939 to 1959 speaks about his memories of those day and other stories. The tower built in 1777 was part of the towns fortifications. It served the town as a gaol and a public gallows until 1837. It then became a family home until 1959 when the last family left, which was the McGrath family.

Having grown up in the Clock Gate, John left for Britain during the 1950’s as did many of his contemporaries. There he observed the post-war housing improvements in Britain, thus, on his return he urged his parents to seek more comfortable and conventional accommodation. They reluctantly left the clock gate in 1959. The McGrath home offers a glimpse into the social, political, and economic changes experienced during the twentieth century.

The Clock Gate is undergoing extensive renovations and near completion of this phase of the refurbishment & development works.

Click on the HD Video (45 mins) below to hear the extraordinary story of “The McGrath’s of the Clock Gate”.

Photos and related videos below

Local actress Ruth Hayes stars in Mark Cogan’s new Irish short film “Partly Cloudy”. Ruth has appeared in several films during her career and also stars in local productions in town. Ruth runs the Chatterbox Dance Studio in Youghal, which provides an outlet for young people to express themselves through the medium of dance in a fun and friendly environment. Click on the the trailer below.

Mark Cogan’s Partly Cloudy from Medicine Hat Films returns us to the world of Fiona, Doc and Damien, who were last seen in the award winning short film Heart.

Fiona is bridesmaid to her demanding sister Gillian as well as coping with her overbearing mother Dolores and easily distracted father Jim. The bonds of family are tried and tested as tempers flare and underlying tensions threaten to ruin Gillian’s big day. Once again Fiona turns to her two closest friends, Doc and Damien to whom she often feels closer than her own family. The film is a bittersweet comedy/drama.

The shortscreen “Partly Cloudy” may be viewed on the RTE Media Player up until 31st May 2013 – CLICK HERE

The Duke of Kent, Prince Edward, accompanied by the British Ambassador Domnick Chilcott, visited the Youghal RNLI station today ( Friday 3rd May 2013). The Duke was welcomed to the Youghal RNLI by Fergus Hopkins, Youghal RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager and Tadgh Kellegher, Chairman of Youghal RNLI. The Duke was then given a tour of the station where he chatted with members of the crew, station personnel and the fundraising committee. The Duke who holds the title of President of the RNLI also visited lifeboat stations in Helvick, An Rinn, Tramore and Dunmore East in Co Waterford. This was the second time the Duke of Kent paid a visit to the Youghal. He last visited the station back in 1998.

Click on the video below – Audio courtesy of Community Radio Youghal CRY 104fm

Actor, writer and chef Peter Gowen, 55, is originally from Youghal. He lives in London with his wife, Anna and 14 year-old son, Jack.

“There’s no time to do anything in the morning. I’m up at 5.30am, I have 15 minutes to shower and then I’m out the door. Breakfast doesn’t happen. Basically I’ve two lives, because when I’m not acting, I’m a chef in London. It’s in corporate fine dining, cooking for bankers, hedge fund managers and VIP clients. I also work as an events chef, setting up field kitchens and delivering canapés or three-course meals.

Acting is a tough career. Mick Lally, who was a friend of mine, once said to me: ‘the tide comes in and goes back out and when it does, you’re never quite sure when it’ll come back again’. That’s an actor’s life. Sometimes there’s a surge and other times, there’s nothing. You abandon your life to an insecure financial future. So having the cheffing job is almost therapeutic, if I get an acting job I’m happy and if not, well, that’s okay too.

I was always the clown in the family. There were nine of us and in a large family everyone has a niche. Mine was acting the eejit. I also wasn’t very good at school and coped by being the class clown. I failed disastrously in my Leaving Cert. It wasn’t the most glittering academic record, but going to a ‘traditional’ Christian Brothers school meant I couldn’t engage with what was going on. I was anxious all the time.

My parents were upset by my exam results as my sisters before me were in Trinity and UCC and they expected me to sail into something like architecture. Instead, I ended up crashing. I was so embarrassed that I went to London, but I soon realised independence didn’t amount to much. It was 1975, and I worked on a building site- exhausted by the work and the cold- and living in a squat, with heroin addicts and weirdoes. For a young man, it was huge learning curve and decided to go back to school at the Cork Commercial College, which sounds quite grand but it actual was a semi-detached house in Bishopstown. I got a decent Leaving Cert, and ended up at Trinity after all.

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As I had just 10 hours of lectures a week, I did some work for the Players Theatre. My first acting role was in Kennedy’s Children, and I played the barman. I didn’t say anything but I got mentioned in the reviews, much to the annoyance of the other cast members. I was standing there, fecking about and polishing glasses while they had to learn great big monologues. My first spoken performance was in a Shakespearean play- a small role- and I got an exit round of applause… whatever I was doing, the audience thought it was great craic! That was an electrifying moment for me. I thought, ‘I want to get into this business’ so I continued my studies in a semi-interested kind of way, spending more time in the theatre, and playing small commercial parts.

This business is a curious one. Neil Jordan saw me in A Whistle in the Dark at the Abbey Theatre 10 years previous to The Butcher Boy. A decade later, when I was living in York- a time before mobile phones- he rang looking for me. My wife- fiancé at the time- knew I had gone to buy wedding rings, so she took a chance and phoned the store. They asked was I Peter Gowen, and told me to get on a train to London to meet Neil Jordan. I ran to York Station, travelled to London, got picked up by a car, and had a 10-minute chat with Jordan. The following day he phoned and offered me the part.

On the day we got married, I had to fly off that evening to Ireland. We had to push the wedding forward and I left the reception at 7pm. Then I spent the entire day standing behind a coffin! That’s life as an actor… random. Ten years ago, when the tide went out, as Mick Lally said, I was lucky enough to work at Fulham Football Club, in the fine dining section, and went on to work for an agency that places me in different places. There’s a lot of repetitive work so it frees up my brain. When I actually write, it’s with a pen and paper. Even though I can’t read my own writing, I do it in long hand, and then transfer it to the computer.

I’ve been writing for years but it’s difficult to get work on stage. I’m delighted The Chronicles of Oggle is now the debut production for The Everyman County Touring Initiative. I started writing the play in 2005, and it’s the 25th draft… and still being tweaked. It’s based on my own experiences and asks questions like how Irish society functioned within the control of the Church. While the themes are serious, it still has the Irish sense of humour.

Cork is my writing baptism and now I can say, without embarrassment, that I’m a writer. Early in my acting career, I wrote plays but they withered out. Around the time my father got sick, I started writing again. When your parents become ill, something alters in you. I got feverish when writing and I didn’t care if it was good or not. That was the catalyst.

Now I’m a chef, actor and a writer, and my days vary. If I’m cheffing, I don’t eat at all and have five coffees instead. When I get the shakes, I stop! In the places I work, there’s no such thing as lunch. Fine dining is a tough kitchen and you come in, crack on and don’t stop.

When I’m not cheffing, I love cooking at home. I’m trying to get my son into it, he recently made his first spaghetti bolognese after some harassment. It’s important for young people to learn how to cook. Your immune system only works properly if the body is getting the right nutrition. When my daughter went to college, I made her a three-week cookery book so at the end of it, she’d have 21 dishes. However, when she finished, she wanted another recipe! I had to tell her that the whole idea of the book was to go back to the start.

We eat a lot of Greek food at home, which is quite simple. There’s something in the Greek psyche- similar to Ireland- that’s sort of peasant like. That’s not meant in a derogatory way, but rather every Greek is a farmer at heart, embracing food grown in the garden. The combination of lemon juice, fresh herbs and olive oil is extremely healthy.

Usually I’m starving when I get home, but I don’t cook. I crash because I’m back up again at 5.30am. I pick throughout the day, and anyway, I love being in bed by 10pm. If you don’t get enough sleep in this game, you’ll be catatonic by the weekend. In comparison, on nights I’m on stage, it’s 2am by the time I get to sleep, after dinner and a glass of wine.

I’m quite good about clearing my mind before going to bed. When I was younger, I was terrible, with everything buzzing around my head. I’ve calmed down a bit.

To be honest, the biggest challenge in my life is dealing with the anxiety I experienced as a schoolboy. My secondary school days haunt me. When I wake up the feeling something terrible is going to happen is always there. I have to fight it, telling myself ‘I’m okay’. That’s my biggest obstacle. When my father and sister died, my son was in hospital with an asthma attack that almost killed him, and my wife had meningitis, I could deal with it all. Psychological dread is different. At the same time, it also drives me. It’s why I’m passionate about everything I do.

One of my secrets to happiness is having a good long-term relationship with a partner who supports you, and you also support. Someone said the secret to a good relationship is to give more than you get back, and that’s how I approach life, being as generous as I can.

Being active is a great thing, and helps prevent the doubts from settling. I love getting out on the water, and we’re lucky to live by the river in London. As soon as it gets nice, I’m on the boat with friends and while we don’t do a pub crawl- as that involves getting langered- we do stop at a few pubs along the bank.

It’s nice to get back to Youghal, as our family home is on a great fishing spot. And of course, I also get to see my mother. She’s an amazing woman; she’s recovering from a stroke at the age of 88, and is still going great guns. In terms of other heroes, Richard Corrigan is amazing and an inspiration to any Irish person, with his determination, passion and vision. Gabriel Byrne has those same qualities.

I’d hope people see me as a bit of craic. I’m sure not everyone would think that, as I’ve a bit of temper. I can’t stand laziness or dishonesty, and if I come across those things at work, you get two barrels at the same time.

In 10 years, I hope I’m still working as a chef, shouting at people who’re lazy or lacking the correct amount of passion. And hopefully I’ll still be an actor and a writer. I want to develop in all fields and I look forward to the challenge.”

The Chronicles of Oggle is at The Mall Arts Centre, Youghal on Thursday, April 18th; The Everyman from Monday, April 22nd to Thursday, April 25th; Village Arts Centre, Kilworth on Friday, April 26th and The Schoolyard Theatre, Charleville on Saturday, April 27th.

Story: http://thecorknews.ie/articles/daytripper-peter-gowen-10255

 A new play by Peter Gowen

The debut production of The Everyman County Touring Initiative
Meet Pakie. An orphan, a storyteller, an adventurer, a survivor. He may not be the sharpest sandwich in the tool box, but Pakie knows a thing or two about the history of his native town – from the vicious Vikings, to the less-than Christian Brothers. Pakie’s a laugh a minute… but Pakie’s got secrets. Secrets the God fearing people of Oggle, may not be ready to hear.
Written and performed by renowned local actor Peter Gowen (Love/Hate, The Butcher Boy/Hairy Ape), and directed by Donal Gallagher, the Chronicles of Oggle is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of small towns and even smaller minds.
Presented by The Everyman in association with Asylum Productions

“…and poor Walter Rally: got his head chopped off.
Okay, he did bring the lung cancer and the famine to Ireland,
but he didn’t know that at the time, and he didn’t mean to.
He was only trying to impress the queer wan over in London…”

World renowned concert pianist Sam Rotman, talks to Declan Gibbons from Community Radio Youghal (CRY104fm) about his forthcoming concert which will take place on Thursday April 18th 2013 at 7.45pm in Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, Youghal. The concert is in aid of the Youghal Cancer Support Group And Centre.

Click on the HD video below to hear Sam talk about his life in music, his travels around the world and his deep faith and religious beliefs since his life was transformed back in 1971 when at the age of twenty his life changed forever.

Tickets: Cree’s Card shop, North Main Street, Youghal, at €10/€5 for students and Seniors/Jobseekers. For more information: Contact Mervyn Scott – 086-1732034.

Orla Riordan from CRY 104fm caught up with radio & tv legend Gay Byrne to chat about his one man show in East Cork.

C.R.Y’S Orla Riordan Interview with Gay Byrne by Community Radio Youghal on Mixcloud

Behind the scenes of the making of the new Community Radio Youghal CRY 104FM radio drama series “The Delaney’s — Behind the Mic” featuring the award winning St. Raphael’s Drama Group and staff.
Click on the HD video below to see the making of the radio drama.

“The Delaney’s — Behind the Mic” is Community Radio Youghal’s brand new 4 part drama series made in partnership with the award winning St Raphael’s Drama Group. Written by Drama Coordinators Julie Sharkey and Elinor Rivers and the Drama Group , The four part series is presented in a unique docu-drama style which will see each episode intertwined with interviews with the production crew and cast as they prepare for each episode and the behind the scenes preparations and rehearsals that were involved in making the series.

The drama series focuses on the Delaney family an ordinary Youghal family who end up getting into some extraordinary situations and many of the scenes in the series came about during improvisation sessions with the Drama Group and such was the excitement among the residents and staff of St Raphael’s Centre that the group and Julie and Elinor ended up writing extra scenes for the staff of St Raphael’s centre who wanted parts as extras in the programmes.

CRY104fm’s Community Development Officer Darragh Parker said it was a huge privilege for the station to work with such a talented group of individuals and one of the functions of a Community Radio station is to provide a platform for local talented groups to showcase their talents adding that the finished product really is something that St Raphael’s Drama Group and CRY should really be proud of.

Related Videos below:

‘Harbour View’ — Behind the scenes of the new radio drama on Youghal local radio CRY 104FM

Merrick’s — A new radio documentary on CRY 104FM

The Passion
Youghal Community Centre
Tuesday 19th March to Saturday 23rd March 2013 at 8pm
Director: Sean O’Neill

A play, by playwright Sean O’Neill, loosely based on the last three years of the life of Christ. This is an awe inspiring and thought provoking production, showcasing many different facets of Biblical characters that we think we know so well…… Staring Jasper Hill, Michael Riordan, Terri MacCarthy-Fitzgerald, John Phillips, Jimmy Morey & Chris Bailey.
Admission: €20.00 – OAP & Students €10.00
Tickets available from Crees Card shop or at the door.

 

 

 

 

THE ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE 2013 in Youghal was a very colourful affair with lots of clubs, local organisations and businesses in the town and surrounding area participating in the the annual event. This year’s parade was organised by the Youghal4All group in association with the Youghal Pipe Band. Thanks to Kieran McCarthy and Michael O’Connell who broadcast the event live on the internet. This was the 6th year that Youghalonline broadcast the parade live to the wider community and to those far away from home. There were prizes for best floats, banners and marching groups. Click on the HD video below to see the whole parade as it passed through North Main Street with the famous Clock Gate Tower in the background, appropriately covered in Green netting while it is being to refurbished. We hope everyone had a wonderful day, especially to our overseas viewers we hope that the video reminds you of home. HAPPY ST. PATRICKS’ DAY!

You can share the video or leave a comment on the Youghalonline facebook page click here.

The parade video is 21 mins in length. If you would like to watch it in HD click on the cog wheel which appears on the timeline ( after you press the play button) to adjust the settings.

Related Videos

Marita Kelly, PR& Marketing, has been very busy out and about rubbing shoulders with the stars!

Last week Marita caught up with Music legends Phil Coulter ahead of his Grainstore, Ballymaloe gig and spent a morning in Cork City getting the lowdown on music greats such as Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash from the very lovely Sandy Kelly.

Sandy Kelly spoke candidly in the interview about the influence Patsy Cline, passing away at the tender age of 29, has had on her career. This year, 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Patsy Cline, who remains half a century on, remains one of the leading females in Country Music history. Patsy Cline has been the dominant influence on the career of Ireland’s first lady of Country Music, Sandy Kelly. In the 90s, Sandy starred in the long running West End version of Patsy the Musical. She has toured widely with the Patsy Cline in Concert show. “I just love to sing those songs: “I fall to pieces”, “After Midnight”, “Crazy”, “Sweet Dreams” and “San Antonio Rose” that make Patsy so special.” says Sandy

Patsy Cline the 50th Anniversary Concert tour will play Ireland and the UK. Sandy Kelly makes a welcome return where she will perform in PATSY CLINE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT TOUR in Ireland and the UK. The Irish dates include: FRI. 15TH MARCH – THEATRE ROYAL, WATERFORD, SAT. 16TH MARCH – SET THEATRE, KILKENNY, SUN. 17TH MARCH – THE THEATRE @ THE HELIX DCU, MON. 18TH MARCH – CORK OPERA HOUSE. Tickets are on sale now.

Very few artists can say they have performed with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, George Hamilton IV, Glen Campbell, Patsy Cline, Jett Williams (Hank William’s daughter), Randy Van Warmer, The Jordanaires, Chet Atkins and more recently Hal Ketchum to name but a few worldwide stars. Sandy Kelly can and her career continues to flourish all these years.

The most striking of interviewees has proven to be of the bovine nature – Tubridy the Calf!!! Tubridy was sold for €5500 at Dungarvan Mart for Youghal Cancer Support Group. Marita attended the mart, along with many of CRY 104fm’s staff and had a great chat with RTE’s Ryan Tubridy, Maura Derrane and Brenda O Donoughue, Horse Racing idol Davy Russell and comedy VIP Jon Kenny.

The most recent of Marita’s interviewees had been none other than Irish Rugby marvel, ex-hooker, Jerry Flannery in light of his recent trip to Tanzania to help raise funds for World Visions Survive to Five campaign. “Before I arrived in Tanzania I didn’t know what to expect but I am so glad I took this trip. The kids were brilliant. When I first arrived they were shy and quiet, wondering who this strange looking white man was but once I started to play with them they began to smile and laugh and fool around just like any group of kids in Ireland.” said the former Ireland and Munster player.
“The sad thing is though, the children I played with have less of a chance of surviving to their fifth birthday. They die from something as simple as a tummy bug because they don’t have access to clean water and because their bodies are weak from not having enough food.”
“This doesn’t have to be the case. World Vision Ireland’s Survive to Five campaign aims to give children like the ones I met in Tanzania with a chance in life by ensuring they have access to clean water and by supporting their parents to grow healthy food.”
“The people I met in Tanzania were inspiring. They don’t want a hand out, just a hand up and they use a small amount of money to change theirs and their children’s lives.”
“Kids in Tanzania are just like Irish kids. They laugh, they play, they mess around. They deserve the same chances in life. They shoudnt be allowed to die from tummy bugs. We can give them a chance to survive to and well beyond the age of five. All we have to do is try.”
Jerry also spoke about his retirement and disappointment having to retire due to injury rather than choice, the current fortunes of the current team and his thoughts on the up and coming stars of the future.

 

CRY 104fm presenter Orla O’ Riordan, also caught up with Broadcasting Legend Gay Byrne in reference to his one man show at the Grainstore, Ballymaloe. “Generally speaking when people see a poster that tells them they are going to see Christy Moore tonight at 8pm, they know what to expect, when people see Gay Byrne on a poster they are very entitled to ask, doing what?” he said jovially.

Having entertained, educated and informed the masses for the past 50 years, people will have an instant interest in seeing one of Ireland’s greatest television presenters and broadcasters performing live on stage, regardless.

Ever the diplomat, when Orla turned the tables and asked Uncle Gay his infamous question, ‘when God meets you at the pearly gates, what do you think he will say to you?’ his response was charismatic, saying he couldn’t possibly divulge such information when still heading the Meaning of Life, it would be unfair to let his guests see his view!