The story behind one of Donegal most famous shipwrecks is to be revealed on TG4 this Sunday.
Bád Eddie, is the story of the famous shipwreck that lies on the beautiful sandy Magheraclogher Beach in Bunbeg.
The documentary airs this coming Sunday the 5th of March at 17:55 on TG4.
Bád Eddie is a LIGID Productions production for TG4, with support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund.
In 1977, a boat called ‘Cara na Mara’ was towed into the Magheraclogher beach in Gweedore. It was a large fishing boat and it was brought in to repair two planks that had broken on her bow.
Fast forward to 2017 and the boat is still lying on the beach but now she is better known as ‘Bád Eddie’
Since 1977, she was in the video ‘In a Lifetime’ by Clannad and BONO, she appeared in VOGUE magazine and she inspired Michael Moore to finish his book ‘Dude Where’s my Country’ while he looked out at her beauty. In the 70’s for the local children in the area however she was their playpark, a place where they were pirates aboard their own ship.
Thousands of people have visited Gweedore over the years and there isn’t many who did not go down to see ‘Bád Eddie’ and most of those who did go to the boat took their picture beside her.
Though there are thousands of images of ‘Bád Eddie’ spread across the world, her story is unknown. Where did she come from? What happened to her? And why was she left lying on the beach as she was? What connection does she have with France and what is her future now that there are only the bones of her left?
‘Bád Eddie’s’ story is told by those living closest to her, the fishermen who remember her at sea along the Gweedore coastline, the man who repaired her when she broke down are all intercut with beautiful archive and stunning pictures. The documentary ‘Bád Eddie’ tells for the first time the story of ‘Bád Eddie’ from 1970 to the present day.
‘Bád Eddie’ has become part of the landscape on the beach at Bunbeg, Co Donegal – part of the folklore and legend of the place.
Coming to TG4 on 5th March @ 17:55 is a documentary by LIGID TV Productions telling the story of ‘Bád Eddie’s’ Boat “Cara na Mara”.
Producer / Director Sonia Nic Giolla Easbuig said it was a privilege to get to tell ‘Bád Eddie’s’ story.
“I grew up beside her and I was one of the children who had her as a play area. She is so important to the area, iconic and yet her story was never told. It was such a pleasure to document the memories of the local people who all played a part in the boats story. The journey the boat took to get to Bunbeg and her story thereafter is told through the local characters who watched her arrive, fixed her planks, towed her into the beach and those who have seen the thousands of people who have taken pictures, visited, painted and played on the boat down the years.
“We also chat with Moya Brennan about her memory of filming the boat with Bono in the early 1980’s and find out how people reacted to their video. There are but the bare bones left of the boat now and the area has gone into decline over the last few years, it was important to relect on the then and now in this programme and to do so through ‘Bád Eddie’. I am very proud of being able to remind people through the beautiful shots in this programme of the stunningness of the Donegal coastline and in particular Gaoth Dobhair and ‘Bád Eddie’”
Bád Eddie
Insíonn muid don chéad uair scéal ‘Bád Eddie’ an bád clúiteach atá ina luí ar an trá galánta i Machaire Chlochair, An Bunbeag, Gaoth Dobhair.
Craolfar an clár ar an Domhnach 5 Márta ag 17:55 ar TG4
Is léiriú de chuid LIGID Léiriúcháin é ‘Bád Eddie’ a chraolfar ar TG4, clár a fuair tacaíocht ón Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge, Scáileán Thuaisceart Éireann.
I 1977, tháinig bád darbh ainm ‘Cara na Mara’ isteach ar an trá i Machaire Chlochair, Gaoth Dobhair. Bád mór iascaireachta a bhí ann agus tugadh isteach í le cóiriú mar go raibh cúpla planc briste uirthi. Cas ar aghaidh go dtí 2017 agus tá an bád ansin go fóill agus tá aithne níos fhearr uirthi anois mar ‘Bád Eddie’.
Idir an dá linn, bhí sí le feiceáil san fhíseán ceoil “In a lifetime” de chuid Clannad, bhí sí ar leathanaigh iris VOGUE agus spreag sí Michael Moore lena leabhar ‘DWMC’ a chríochnú agus é ag breathnú síos ar a háilleacht. Ach do dhaoine óga an cheantair sna 70í ba shuíomh súgartha í, áit ina raibh siad abálta bheith ina bhfoghlaithe mara ar bord a long féin.
Tá na mílte daoine tar éis cuairt a thabhairt ar Ghaoth Dobhair thar na blianta agus fíorbheagán acu a tháinig go dtí an ceantar nach ndeachaigh ar cuairt chuig ‘Bád Eddie’ agus fíorbheagán freisin nár ghlac pictiúr di.
Cé go bhfuil na mílte íomhánna den bhád scaipthe fud fad na cruinne, níl a sceál ar eolas ag mórán daoine. Cérbh as di? Cad a tharla di? Agus cén fath ar fágadh in luí mar atá ar an trá í? Cad é an bhaint atá aici leis an bhFhrainc agus cad é atá i ndán di? Le hagallamh, scannstoc, sceálta pearsanta agus pictiúir den bhád, inseoimid scéal ‘Bád Eddie’ ón tús go dtí an lá atá inniu ann.
“ Tá sí cosiúl leis an Eiffel Tower do Ghaoth Dobhair, is cuimhin liom nuair a rinne mé féin agus Bono taiféad léi, áit ar bhuail muid le soilseach í san fhíseáin ‘In a lifetime’ le Clannad/Bono. Shíl achan duine go raibh muid i ndiaidh an bád a scriosadh – nach raibh sí ann níos mó! Bhí daoine buartha faoi. Tá sí íocónach.”
Moya Brennan – Clannad
“Bheadh mo chroí briste dá n-imeodh sí. Fosclaím na cuirtíní achan mhaidin agus tá sí ann. Tá mo chuid páistí uilig imithe ón teach ach tá an bád ansin go fóill”
Mary O’Donnell Comharsan
