BEAT ON THE PEAT
It began with a dream…. and ended with the biggest
Irish Heritage spectacle ever seen in History.
When Paul Claffey Of Mid & North West Radio told listeners to
his daily programme that he’d never been to an Irish Bog,
the seeds for “Beat on the Peat 93” were sown.
Such enthusiasm, it was felt, deserved and needed to be
harnesed. Here was a perfect chance to promote the
Ireland of old, the style and talents of the West of Ireland
in the days of yore. The listeners demanded it and the
radio station was happy to oblige.
And so it was. An ambitious plan to bring an entire Irish
bog to the land of emigrants, New York, U.S.A.,
just one year later.
This slice of the West promoted all that’s good
in this part of the Country.
Thousands thronged to Yonkers Race Course on the weekend
of September 17th – 18th, 1994. They witnessed threshing,
ploughing, butter churning and turf cutting.
It was a weekend about the sterling work of volunteers,
about marvellous Irish singers, but most of all
about people having fun.
This, is their story…..