The Great Outdoors 13feb2025

The program is sponsored by Forum Connemara's social inclusion program, PSICAP, which supports individuals, community groups, and social enterprises in Connemara. The show features interviews with various guests, including Dr. Guy Westbrook from the Marine Institute, who discusses the data boys that provide critical ocean data during storms. The program also covers topics such as postcard gardens, adventure instructor traineeship courses, a special film about fishing families in Gaza, and upcoming events like the space truckers talk and an art exhibition. The show also mentions the Ecosloss program, which focuses on environmental and climate sustainability. The data boys are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine and operated by the Marine Institute in collaboration with Met Éireann. There are five boys deployed around the coast, with one located about 400 kilometers west in 3,000 meters of water. The boys have evolved over the years, with the current custom JFC This program is sponsored by Forum Connemara's social inclusion program, PSICAP, which supports individuals, community groups, and social enterprises across Connemara. Contact us today to see how we can help you at 095-4416 or see forumconnemara.ie. Welcome to the Great Outdoors here on Connemara Community Radio with 87.8 and 106.1 FM. Welcome to the Great Outdoors here on Connemara Community Radio with 87.8 and 106.1 FM. Fáilte róis, go raibh maith agaibh agaibh, and Clare, you're all very welcome to our program here this evening with me, Brendan O'Scannell, on the 13th of February. So tomorrow, of course, the big day for romance, the St. Valentine's Day. But since this evening, we've got a very full show and very shortly I'll be speaking with Dr. Guy Westbrook, Oceanography and Marine Operations with Marine Institute, about the data boys providing critical ocean data during the recent storm. Kerry Gardner, Show and Regard Manager with Bourneby and Bloom, will be talking to us about the postcard gardens. Shane McGilligott, who's the spokesperson for GRETV in that refractive adventure instructor traineeship course. Thule Rantala, Manager of English Boston Development Company, will be talking about a special film that's coming up there to do with the fishing families in Gaza. So that's going to be on the 13th of February, this film. Graeme Sayles will be talking to us with the Astronomy Club about their space truckers by Dr. Ryan Milligan, which will be held on Tuesday, the 18th of February. And then Renske Bofey, who's an Oxford Arts Program person, will be talking about an exhibition that goes on from Friday the 14th. We'll be finding out more about that and then classical music. But I think we're going to go over to our Ecosloss. The Ecosloss on Canamara Community Radio, a weekly program focusing on environmental and climate sustainability. This program is co-funded by Commission on Demand through the Sound and Vision Scheme. Right, you are welcome to our Ecosloss and I hope I have Dr. Guy Westbrook with us. Guy, you're very welcome to be here on Canamara Community Radio. You certainly do. It's a great pleasure to join you this evening. Great. Now these data boys that we're going to talk about, tell me a little bit about the data boys in general. Where are they and how many do we have around our coast? Yeah, well if I start with a little bit of background. To start with, they're funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marines. And it's a program operated and managed by the Marine Institute and we work very closely with Met Air. They came about through a review of fishing vessel safety through a review group in the late 90s. And what came out of there was various initiatives but this one in particular was to add a few extra tools to forecasters to try and do something to work against the tragic loss of lives suffered by the industry. I mean, I'm sure you're aware of the litany of horrendous events that they suffer working in the near shore over the years and anything that you can do to try and provide some kind of edge is what we've been about. So we've got five boys deployed roughly four points of the compass. There's one which was moved very, very deep field. It's about 400 kilometers west. And that's the N6 boy. It's in 3,000 meters of water. So the original design of the boys was the, I sort of call them the mighty UK Met ODAS boys. They were an enormous thing, very, very robust. They're built in the 80s and there's actually, we put one on display down at the Cromwell Point Lighthouse Visitor Center. We managed to get it down there so we're very pleased with that. Those were in operation for about seven or eight years. The idea was always that we moved away from those and we went to a Norwegian model after that which we didn't have that much success with. They're a bit small and a bit low to the water and were a bit prone to damage from the build-up of algae. So in 2019 we moved to a custom JFC. There's JFC up in Tuen, JFC Marine in-house design. It was a custom JFC design but we then built and designed the payload in-house and we assembled it from pretty much the best equipment we can source. So what's really nice there is that the whole, apart from certain instruments we have to source outside the state, actually these platforms are being constructed within Ireland now. In fact within County Galway where you probably know there's massive talent that we have drawn. So we've got incredible levels of reliability from these things and since the changeover, one of the technicians the other day was saying we marked 1,000 days of 100% data delivery. So that's hourly delayed data delivery 100% of the time for 1,000 days. So we're quite pleased with that. We had no losses during the storm at all. And I suppose just a couple more points. Every year we visit each site using sometimes the Granule, sometimes the Celtic Explorer or the Tom Cree and other vessels around the coast that we use. And so we swap out a complete new system and mooring for old. And I suppose just to finish off by saying the boys probably as advanced a piece of equipment as is available anywhere globally today. And there's a couple of, there's a few people responsible for that. TNO Maritime for instance, we have our engineering partners down there and we have an awful lot of input from the likes of Pat Ryan as well and JFC themselves. So it's just worth pointing that out, the sort of cluster that we have here, the sort of expertise. So I hope that's given something on the background. Yeah, I suppose like something, you know, we're always going to say here that on the West Coast particularly but all over Ireland the sea and the ocean have such an effect on our weathers and everything else we do. And I presume it's an area that we really should be covering. I mean obviously you've done it now with this particular idea. But, you know, is it something we have, you know, we're making as much use of as we should or we could? What do you mean? Just the whole idea of using the sea and being aware of the changes there to affect how it affects our weather. Yeah, I mean this program would be, it would be 25 years old now and it's been heaving away in the background. I mean our order of business has been to keep these things going hour by hour throughout the whole period of time. And there's a massive knowledge that's been built up. We've got a database of every single record. And Metair and also do a lot of quality assurance as well. So the data we end up with is very, very informative for what you call fine casting. And so you can compare that with mathematical models, test their skill as you kind of validate it looking backwards if you like. And then it improves your skill looking forwards. But the wave and weather models are very, very advanced now. And then off the back of this, there's other parameters as well. There's a buoy there, we have an ocean chemistry buoy, which is looking at ocean acidification. And we also have a test buoy up further up the bay, which is involved in some fisheries development projects. And those all have wave and weather stations on them as well. Okay, so it's extending itself. Now going back then to our wonderful storm that we all suffered so much from, a storm on the 5th and 25th of January. The year buoy M3, tell me about this, because this I think recorded the highest wave around the area. Is that what happened? Well, it was a... I mean M3 recorded a maximum wave height of just over 20 meters, yeah. And that was in an average wave climate, which is sort of a more meaningful sort of term. It's over 17 minutes. It measures the average of the top third of the waves. And it's a sort of a uniform way of sort of comparing like with like, because the very big waves, they only come occasionally. And so the sort of average gives you a good feeling for the extended really heavy sea that there was, because the maximum wave would only be for a short period of time. But yeah, the waves coming in are very, very high. There was a steady 13 meter standing wave, if you like, and these 20 meter waves over the top of that. Actually, I think what we might have had also, the records need to be validated. It's actually quite a complex process around it. But it looks like in Galway Bay we had a 10 meter wave just off Spittle. Okay. That actually could be a record as well. What's also interesting is that there were very, very high seas all around the coast, at all the stations. The real intensity of the storm as it kind of, it almost intensified as it went over the land. And so all around the coast, there were these very, very extended high seas as well. Yeah. As you say, this obviously was the big storm and all that. But of course, these boys then, of course, are gathering information all the time that then feeds into the whole system. So it's great that you can build up that kind of pattern and look and see, I presume, over the years, changes and if there are seas that are getting higher or getting whatever the situation is. So with yourselves there, have you got a kind of a pattern? A pattern. Can you see a pattern with what's happening? You can see the increased incidences of higher level standing waves, if you like. You know, you can chart that. There are, what used to be this typical thing, you know, they say the 100 year wave. You know, they really, you know, you'd have to put specific numbers on it. You'd have to be talking about a specific location and look into it. But, you know, they're coming down. People are talking more in terms of what was a 100 year wave being a 20 year wave now. And it's, you know, I don't want to harp on about it, but, you know, climate change is introducing more energy into a system and more energy means more extremes, basically, in the context of this type of work. Yeah. What's actually interesting as well is we operate the tide gauge network as well and we have some interesting data from Ormé Port where, as the tide went out, the actual water level just carried on up. It's really quite impressive. It was an amazing storm. Amazing storm. And I know that for people who, you know, lived within it, which myself I felt this feeling of this kind of vacuum in the middle of it. That was something to do with the atmospheric pressure, wasn't it? It was a kind of a funny kind of a blip that really felt different than the regular storm. Do you have any information on that? We do, yeah. It's something which is easier to describe in, like, a cartoon or with pictures because it can be difficult to visualize, but basically there was a very intense, very, very low spike in pressure as it just traversed across the country, which means you have this vortex of very, very low pressure, which is why you get such high wind speeds. And actually a storm not that long ago, it came through the head of Galway Bay, headed off inland, and it tore up a street in Leitrim. Oh, yeah, I remember that. That was on a very, very, you know, that's a similar thing but on a very, very small scale, you know, this kind of, like, very ultra-low pressure. Yeah, yeah. Vortex. Yeah, I mean, it sounds to me like, you know, that the house was going to either implode or explode. I didn't know which way it was going to go, but it was such a weird feeling in the middle of it. But, Guy, this has been wonderful talking to you, and as I say, fascinating because I think all of these information that we can gather is so important, but especially as something like a storm like this, it's good to see the figures and the numbers, etc., and to get an idea of the power of it. But thank you so much for being with us this evening. That's a great pleasure, and if anybody wants to follow up with us, just get in touch and we can elaborate on anything. And what do they do to get in touch with you? They can either, the best way is institutes.marine.ie, our email address, and that will go immediately to different departments. Okay. Well, it's been wonderful talking to you, and thank you very much, and as I say, contingent success. Hopefully you won't have any big records like this again, but anyway, we'll talk to you in another time, but thank you so much. Bye. Fabulous. It's been a great pleasure. Bye-bye. That's Dr. Guy Westbrook there, Oceanography and Marine Operations with the Marine Institute, and all that information coming from buoys off the coast of Ireland, some very far out with these incredible waves, speeds, etc., and of course the Mace Head had a big information park for us as well here, so well worth looking into that if you are interested in all that kind of stuff. We're going to finish up our Eco Floss, and then we're going to go to our ads. You've just been listening to the Eco Floss on Calamara Community Radio, a weekly program focusing on environmental and climate sustainability. This program is co-funded by Commissioner Naumann through the Sound and Vision scheme. Don't buy furniture. Wait. Austin O'Malley are closing their furniture department at their Westport store and must immediately clear the entire stock. The store is briefly closed to cut prices and prepare for the launch of the Austin O'Malley closing down sale starting at 10 a.m. this Friday. Their entire stock, including sofas and chairs, dining and occasional, beds and bedroom furniture, flooring, accessories and more, will be on sale with bigger savings than ever. The massive furniture closing down sale at Austin O'Malley's Castle Bar Road Westport sales start this Friday at 10 a.m. E.J. King's Bar and Restaurant Clifton Special Offers Two courses for €25 and three courses for €30 in our upstairs restaurant from Friday to Sunday inclusive. This offer also includes a complimentary glass of Prosecco on Valentine's Night. The offer is ideal for groups, special occasions, family gatherings or that romantic night out. For bookings or enquiries call us on 095 21330 or book via our website ejkings.com It's sale time at Broderick's Electrical, Castle Bar and Westport so call in and grab yourself a bargain. With everything reduced now is the time to upgrade your kitchen appliances or treat yourself to the latest technology. So if you're looking for the best brands at the best prices make sure to call in to Broderick's Electrical or look us up online at broderickselectrical.ie 098 28130 for Westport 094 904 4735 for Castle Bar. Clifton Supply Centre, Galway Road, Clifton provide building supplies, plumbing and heating supplies fuel merchants, DIY and general hardware. Contact the Clifton Supply Centre on 095 21476. Right, we are having a little bit of a problem getting through to Kerry Gardner who is the show garden manager with B& Bloom but I think we have Shane McElligott who is the spokesperson of the GRETB Further Education Centre in Lethbridge Frack to talk to us about an interesting course that's coming up. Shane, are you there with us? Hello. Hi Shane, how are you? Hi, how are you? Very good, very good. Now Shane, as I say, you're with GRETB in Lethbridge Frack here and an Adventure Instructor Trainership course. Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, well, as you said, we're based out of the Further Education Centre above the hardware store there in Lethbridge Frack and the course itself is a partnership between the Lethbridge Frack Further Education Centre and Petersburg Outdoor Education Centre in Clonburgh and what we've done is we've kind of come together in joint forces all under the GRETB banner and we run a two-year traineeship in and around the Connemara area in all these different adventure sports and basically people can become, it gives people the opportunity to become instructors in those adventure sports over the two years. Hello Shane. No, I think we've just lost Shane. We'll have to try again. We'll just take a piece of music. We'll go with a piece here. Last Tuesday night we had a wonderful concert in Station House. MacDaragh O'Faylon was one of the people there. We're going to listen to a track from him and this is a song which is called Who Put The Blood. Who Put The Blood Where have you been all along The bird there The sun comes out at ten to me Now I think we might have Shane back with us again. Shane, can you hear us? Hi, how are you? Sorry about that. I think the mobile phones have been struggling since the storm, you know. Okay, you said it's a two-year course. Tell me about year one, what's involved and then we go on to year two. So in year one we bring our students from having had no experience no experience, let's say, in September. No, we've just lost Shane again. Okay, coverage is bad. We'll try and get him again but we'll go back to that piece of music from MacDaragh O'Faylon. Let's just see if we can get that. But I'm weary, mother, let me be For I'm weary, mother, let me be Who put the blood in your right shoulder The sun comes out at ten to me It's the blood of a hand that I killed yesterday I killed an old man for thee That I killed an old man for thee I think we still have Shane with us. Are you Shane again? Yeah, hi, how are you? Okay, so year one you're bringing them out to get them started on the course so tell me what they're going to be covering. Yeah, so what we look at is we look at we run the course in blocks so in the first block we look No. I think we're going to leave Shane and read my clock to him again because the line is too bad there so we will unfortunately have to leave that. We'll go back to this piece again from MacDaragh O'Faylon and we will have Who Put The Blood. And the blood of a hand has never been so red The sun comes out at ten to me It's the blood of a boy that I killed yesterday I killed an old man for thee That I killed an old man for thee What came between yourself and the boy The sun comes out at ten to me It was mostly the cutting down of the rod That would never come to thee That would never come to thee What will you do when your daddy fights in battle The sun comes out at ten to me I will put my potash for you And I'll sell to a foreign country And I'll sell to a foreign country And what will you do with your old wedded wife The sun comes out at ten to me She will put her potash for you And she'll follow after thee And she'll follow after thee What will you do with your three blind men The sun comes out at ten to me I'll give one to my father and the other to my mother To keep them company For she keeps them company And what will you do with your house and your land The sun comes out at ten to me I'll let it bear first the birds of the air There's no more welcome there for me For there's no more welcome there for me What will you do when the winter comes to your life The sun comes out at ten to me The sun comes out at ten to me Like a siren in the dark I'll bend And I'll stay for the night We hope that we have shaded with us again Shane, can you hear us? Hello, how are you? That might be better Okay, let's move on with year one then You're giving the people the various instructions What's actually happening? Yeah, so we start with our windsurfing module Which runs from September to December And then we bring our group kayaking Sea kayaking around the Connemara coastline From December, or from like Christmas time really To St. Patrick's Day And then from kind of around St. Patrick's Day To the end of the academic year End of May would be our sailing and powerboating So they would be the hard skills that we would look at And we would be bringing people from never having done Anything in those sports before, in those activities before Up to a kind of an intermediate standard of skill Within that first year as well They would be the hard skills modules But we'd also be looking at kind of Like a background knowledge module We run these QQI modules called Outdoor recreation, adventure activities And then we'd be doing a team building Or teamwork module as well So there's a lot of it's on the water Or outside, out and about And some of it then is also in the classroom Okay, and then year two Is it the same again or are you doing something different? Year two we focus on the same activities And with our aim That the students would become instructors In those activities Now this all depends on how much time and effort The student puts into the course What level of instructorship they would get in those activities And then our background knowledge modules Then we tend to put a kind of a slant In terms of tourism and adventure tourism In it, into the course So we marry the hard skills With an Irish tour guiding module Which includes two modules And they're kind of minor components at level six And that would be coastal maritime and ecosystems And culture and Irish tour guiding That's what I can do It's a very comprehensive piece So when does it start and how do people get involved in it? Absolutely, so we start We follow the academic year So September to the end of May So we're taking in a new cohort of students This year in September It would be early September We would be starting And if people are interested Even if people are interested in talking about the course The best thing to do is get in touch with us In the Further Education Centre in Letterfrack And I can give you the contact details if you like But I think my name is a bit weird For Balfour and Connemara people Being a Kerry man myself So Shane McElligott I think that the local name My colleague Brian I'm sure he won't mind me sharing his work email address But it's brian.ward At gretb.ie And of course Circa02 would be our centre director And that's circa.02 at gretb.ie Otherwise people can call into the centre itself And just ask about it And if they give us a ring beforehand Before going in One of us could meet with them and chat to them If they had any interest Or just wanted to ask questions about it Well it's a wonderful opportunity for people to learn New skills and new possibilities And as I say hopefully You will get a lot of people interested Is there a limit For people age wise Do they have to be particular ages for this? No, not at all As long as they're school leavers That's the main premise to further education So I suppose generally you're looking at About 18 years of age minimum And there is no maximum Really the only prerequisite The only thing you would have to have Before going on to the course Would be a good attitude This idea that you're going to the outside a lot Even when you maybe don't want to be Maybe the temperature is a bit A bit lower than you'd prefer Or maybe it's a bit wet But having said that When we're dealing with the conditions Modern equipment is incredible As you probably know yourself Modern equipment is phenomenal At keeping people warm And we don't always be putting people out Suffering We can adopt our sessions Either on the water or between classrooms To allow for the conditions Absolutely Obviously you won't be going out in a storm Or anything like that So you obviously have to look at the weather And know what's going on It's a really great opportunity for people To learn new skills And hopefully get a new job out of it as well But Shane it's been lovely talking to you Sorry about the mix up there with your phone But hopefully we've got you now But if anybody is interested Just get in contact with GRETB Call up there and have a chat And start thinking about it But thank you Shane for being with us Thanks for your time No problem That's Shane McElligott there Who is the spokesperson there with GRETB For the Education Centre and for FRAC And that Adventure Instructors Trainership Course as he said starting in September Really wonderful opportunity For people to learn New skills So two years Sports and Recreation Second year Coastal Guiding Plus Additional Instructor Training And I suppose it's a good idea That you have some interest in Being out on the water Or doing any of these kind of things Sailboarding, windsurfing Sailing, kayaking Safety boats, mountain skills Work experience, team working All of that kind of stuff It's a really great thing and of course I know that they work really well At GRETB to get all Of these things together Now we are going to go to another piece of music And we're a bit confused here Tonight and say unfortunately Kerry we cannot get her but we will Hopefully have her fairly shortly If we can at all but we are going to Listen to This actually should go with Graham's Sales piece but we're going to go with it anyway We're going to go to number 12 on this Elton John Rocket Man Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero hours Zero 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hours There's just a little idea for how they're going to design this 3 by 2 metre space, maybe a team or a message that they want to portray and if you go onto the board via bloom.com website and go into participate, there's a section under postcard guidance and all the information is there, it's the how to apply, the rules and regs and then an application form guide just to talk you through the questions that are in there They're not very complicated, just a little bit about the group, what the idea is and some kind of sketch drawing It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something that can explain what your idea is so that we can understand that when the assessment panel review it There's a little bit of time yet, the applications are open until the 6th of March and all that can be done online I know a lot of these communities meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, but there's still time to meet and decide and vote on it and then maybe put some pen to paper and come up with some ideas. Okay, and as you say, that needs to be done before the gloom opens and then it's open during the time of gloom and then taken away at the end of that. Exactly, yeah Some, it depends where they're travelling from, if they're up on the event on the Monday, they might wait until about 7 o'clock that evening and dismantle it and take it away or some come back on the Tuesday and then will take it away and you get quite clever when you have to pack it into a van or a trailer to bring it to Phoenix Park, it kind of can be neatly packed back into the same van or trailer again and brought away So, it's always lovely to see and like last year we had a lot of local heritage being celebrated, so you know, the Carth landscape of kind of top McConnell which is kind of east Galway, West Common border, and St Bridget's garden from St Bridget's Primary School and County Kildare and Longsford being represented and Wicklow, but I think it's also a great opportunity for groups from around the country you know, because it's only a one day build, it kind of makes it more accessible And I suppose for people who may not be familiar with it, can they look back at other, you know is there stuff online for people to see what they might have looked like in other ones in the past? Yeah, it'll be on our social media channels and there's all the descriptions from the 2024 gardens online on the website again, if you go into the Benefit Participate section, you click on Google Postcard Garden, that will be a blue and you'll see them, and if anyone's really stuck they can always get in touch and we'll send them more information by way of kind of giving an idea of what it might have looked like previously. Happy to, if anyone's interested, send an email and we'll talk them through it We'd love to see, kind of Connemara or maybe South Mayo represented at Blue this year. Well, as I said, we have talked about it before here in Connemara, we might come around to it again, but it's been wonderful talking to you once more, and I'm sure before the show itself we'll be on to you about various aspects of it but it's been great to get this idea for the Postcard Garden. Thanks a million for being with us here. Thank you so much. All the best. Now that's Kerry Gardner there, who is of course with Bloom she's with Board via Bloom and that show, as she said there, takes place from Thursday, May the 29th to Monday, June the 2nd and if you are interested, go on to BoardviaBloom.com and the closing date there is Thursday, March the 6th and you can go on to social media and look at what was there before if you get any ideas, but as I say, it's a wonderful opportunity for community groups heritage groups, schools, whatever to take part in something like this and to be nationally recognised as well, because you have absolutely thousands of people coming there all the time so if you have a particular message that you're trying to get across and you'd like people to see you and your community group whatever it may be, are doing it would be lovely to see that so as I say, let's put our taking caps on and see if we can come up with something so that would be good. Now coming up very shortly we have an interview that I did actually earlier with Tuli Rantala from the Yiddish Boston Development Company talking to us about a special film that's going to be shown on the 20th of February, which is very interesting, we're talking about the Palestinian fishing families in Gaza and then later on we'll be speaking with Graeme Sales, a spokesperson for the Conair Astronomy Club, and he'll be talking about a talk called Space Truckers, by Dr. Ryan Milligan, being held on Tuesday 18th of February at 7.30pm and then we'd also have Renske Mruf an artist with the Yorkshire Art Courthouse Arts Programme talking to us about an exhibition a solo exhibition which starts tomorrow, Friday the 14th of February between 7 and 9 and our last part of our poem will be asking about music and tonight our theme for it is to do with love, because tomorrow of course the 14th of February is St Valentine's Day, so as I say we will have music all to do with love themes throughout that programme, but we are going to go now with our ad break and after that we will have the interview with Tuli Rantala Ingose in a homemade delight of the Kylemore kitchen and explore the best of Irish brands and local crafts in our craft and design shop Create timeless memories at Kylemore Abbey, plan your visit now at Kylemoreabbey.com Kylemore Abbey a story so timeless, it's still being written Working from home, talking to friends and work colleagues, children and teenagers, playing games and connecting with friends, it's a lot to ask of any broadband connection, however at LightNet we can give you the best broadband connection for your home, LightNet high speed broadband offers you the best solution with reliable connectivity, a fixed IP address for stable VPN connection and free high spec award winning WiFi hub for all your broadband needs, call LightNet today, 091 395 804 or visit lightnet.ie Well we had a press release in which said Irish and Scottish coastal communities to screen Shanshula, a documentary about Palestinian fishing families in Gaza, and to find out more about this I'm delighted to welcome Tuli Rantala, who's the manager of the English Botford Development Company Tuli, you're very welcome to see us on Kylemore Community Radio Thank you, thanks for having me. No problem at all Tell me a bit about this particular documentary, it's I don't think I've ever heard of Palestinian fishing families before in my life, so this sounds very interesting Yeah, so it's a documentary that was actually about to be premiered in Gaza in October 2023 and that didn't happen because the reasons we all know and it's a documentary by a filmmaker, a writer and human rights activist Mushar El Farah who is from Kanyunis from Gaza and it's about the fishing community in Palestine and Shanshula, it means a traditional, it's a slang word for a typical fishing net they use in Palestine and it basically tells about their life in Gaza before October 7th, 2023 and then they actually made an addition to that film and additional footage was taken also after to show what happened after October and it's included as well, so several fishing communities and coastal communities are going to be screening the documentary on World Social Justice Day Thursday next week, the 20th of February Ok, so it sounds like it should be very interesting that a lot of people, again as I say people might not be familiar with this aspect but yes, I suppose, you know Gaza is right on the coast and I know they've had lots of other problems but it is on the coast, so I presume fishing would have been a tradition there going back for centuries, for millenniums Yeah, yeah and if you have seen the traditional scarf from Palestine it also features a fishing net, actually, so I think it's a strong part of the culture and the documentary, it also features a few Palestinian fisherwomen as well, so I think it will be very interesting and not only are we going to screen the film, but we'll also actually join in Zoom with representatives of the fishing families in Gaza, in Khan Yunis so it's about screening the film, but also kind of coming together and also showing the families in Gaza that we are here, you know, and show our solidarity to them and kind of come together to watch the film and the director will also be there to tell about the film and share a few words as well, so I think it will be a really nice event So is this film then being shown around as I say, Scotland and Ireland on the same day, or is it moving from one place to another, or how does that work? Yeah, yes so it's going to be shown in several places on the 20th of February and I'm happy to say that for example, all the Galway Islands are screening it it's going to be screened also in Inverne and in Galway, in the Mechanics Institute and if you're following Apartheid Free Arts on social media or Offshore Islands for Free Palestine, there's a poster that shows all the locations, the venues where it's going to be screened most of the venues are screening it at 7pm some at 8 but it's at 7 because it's already late in Gaza by then and to enable them to join in and by the way, if there are still some communities in Connemara who would like to screen it in their community community hall or some kind of community space you can still join in and screen it in your community and just get together to watch the film Oh, it's an amazing idea and of course then, as you say, with the Zoom aspect people can share their thoughts and opinions among themselves as well as the people of Gaza to be able to talk to people there Yeah, and well because of technical limitations there might not be a question and answer session on the 20th of February but they planned a separate follow-up online discussion on the 20th of March 2025, just because it's quite late in Gaza at that time to enable a bit more discussion as well so there will be a follow-up event and we'll all meet online again and this event is particularly solidarity between fishing communities so I think it's a really nice idea to come together and show that you know, there are people out here who care and who see them and yeah Now I suppose it might be kind of another aspect of this would be, do we know how many people, fishing people are involved and I suppose how many have been killed and injured I don't I don't know I don't have the figures, that might be something that the director Moshe Alfara might be able to answer and if there are any questions that arise after the film, like I'm sure we can all gather them and then have them answered in March and just discuss about everything that's going on there but I don't know I presume it's quite high I mean they've lost all their livelihoods like we know about all the fishing boats being bombed and destroyed and this film was produced in cooperation between the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign the director Moshe is the chair of that and the Palestinian Vanguard Station in Gaza who are providing training for example for youngsters in Gaza but their premises were bombed and destroyed in January last year so I can imagine that yeah they have been impacted heavily I just actually see here on the press release that they have reported 1,135 attacks by the Israeli Navy which killed 3 fishermen and injured or disabled 65 so I suppose, I mean a small number but at the same time it's probably a relatively small population of fishing people in the Gaza so obviously anyone is one too many so it's really horrendous. Ok so it'll be great so it will be in the community centre there in Ishbafan is it? Yeah so in Ishbafan here we're going to screen it at 7 and we are starting 7 sharp because we'll be starting live with greetings from the director and in Inrin you can see it at 7 as well in Zanzigal, Salarna on Anushir, at Arasena on Kilronan it's actually going to be at 8pm in Kilronan and Inishmore and in Galway you can see it at the Mechanics Institute at 8pm and I think that's all the Galway locations so far and like I said if anyone in Connemara wants to join in the screening even you can share my details or you can find information online by just googling it and just join in with the other communities involved of other locations in Scotland and in Ireland as well. Do we know if any of the Mayo Islands will be showing at Clare Island or Ridgeclark or have you heard anything? I cannot see them on the list yet so I'll be as well sending a few messages that way to friends on the other islands if they want to join. I actually just before this chat with you called a friend on a Mayo Island and said would you like to join and it doesn't need to be a big event you know if you're in a small community just you know gather your neighbours and organise a screening in your house. Everything's made really easy so if you feel the call Well that's brilliant and thank you so much for being on to talk to us about it this evening so best to look with that and I say hopefully that a lot of people will go and look at us because it sounds such an interesting piece but thank you for being with us this evening Thanks for having me So that's Tuli Rantala the manager of the Disposal Development Company and that film will take place on the 20th of February at the film on the islands there at the Community Centre Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music 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