Archive TV footage shows Westmeath Turf Cutting Championships

RTÉ Archives has today shared footage online which shows preparations for the All Ireland Turf Cutting Championships at Meedin bog outside Tyrrellspass on this day in 1982.

Local people are seen preparing the bog banks for the big event, which was on on July 4, 1982, in this four-minute, 47 second clip.

One of the event’s organisers, Mark Gavin, explains the rules governing the All Ireland Turf Cutting Championships.

The first turf cutting competition took place at The Downs, Mullingar in May 1936. The event was presided over by Minister for Defence Frank Aiken and was won by Tom Daly.

Larry Caffrey attended the 1936 event as a boy and donated the trophy for the 1982 All-Ireland Turf Cutting Championships.

Paddy Gavin demonstrates the wing sleán turf cutter which had been used since the 1936 competition.

"It is back breaking work, the kind that few town dwellers would be able for," he said.

The RTÉ News report was broadcast on June 25, 1982.

You can watch the clip entitled 'Westmeath Turf Contest 1982' here