Radio show set to highlight 'Charisma of Cork' as it traverses the Rebel County

Listeners to RTÉ Radio 1 are to be taken on an audio adventure tour of the Rebel County on Sunday, when the popular County Measure show visits Cork as it returns for the summer season.

Writer and broadcaster Vincent Woods will be the guide as the show traverses Ireland’s largest county, from Bere Island and Baltimore in the South West to Baile Mhúirne in the Múscraí Gaeltacht, culminating with a boat trip on the River Lee.

The show will also feature opportunities to hear a new composition by pianist Cormac McCarthy, and West Cork-based author Sara Baume is also going to present an exclusive piece of writing.

Sara’s most recent book is Seven Steeples, a novel which has been described as giving a prescient insight into life during the pandemic — though it was published before the first signs of covid in early 2020.

Vibrant

Entitled The Charisma of Cork, the one-hour show to be aired at 10am on Sunday promises to uncover the vibrant arts, history, heritage, sport, and diverse communities of the county.

“Cork — Corcaigh — is the biggest county in Ireland and within its borders is a myriad of communities, stories, linked and sometimes conflicting histories,” presenter Vincent Woods said.

“Almost immeasurable in its scale — cultural, linguistic, geographic — and endlessly diverse, one can’t but think of the old line about ‘the real capital’ of Ireland in both city and county.”

During the programme, the presenter will be joined by archaeologist Dr Connie Kelleher and the language planning officer at the Comharchumann Forbartha Mhúscraí, Eibhlín Ní Lionáird, for a tour of Reilig Ghobnatan/St Gobnait’s Cemetery in Baile Mhúirne.

The cemetery is where St Gobnait, the patron saint of the Gaeltacht parish as well as beekeepers, built her monastery in the middle of the first millennium. It is also the last resting place for composer Seán Ó Riada and noted poet Seán Ó Riordáin.

This is the first time the County Measure has featured Cork. 

In previous series, the show got the measure of Limerick, Kilkenny, and Fermanagh.