Giants of the furrow and from fairs to marts and beyond

THE STORY of the Ploughing Championships finally made it into print this year with two titles going behind the scenes of what has become the largest event of its kind in Europe.

The champions and characters of the Ploughing are brought vividly to life in A Ploughing People (Hachette Ireland, inset) by former RTÉ journalist Valerie Cox. The book traces the story of the Ploughing from 1931 up to the present day. “The book really shows the tenacity of ploughing families,” says the author. “Rural Ireland is still one of the most decent societies left in Europe and I really fell for it as I traipsed around the country and to the Ploughing when I was with RTÉ.”

Also published this year was Anna May McHugh’s long awaited autobiography. In Queen of the Ploughing (Penguin Ireland), Anna May provides a behind the scenes look at how the Ploughing has been transformed from a small scale rural show into the vast commercial enterprise that it is today.

Another slice of rural history is also brought to life in From Fair to Mart and Beyond by Sean Liston (GVM). The book celebrates 60 years of Golden Vale Marts. The Limerickbased author is a local historian and farmer who knows the business, knows the culture and knows the context.

It begins with a brief overview of the Irish love affair with cattle that goes back to the earliest of times. It shines a light on that period in the 50s and 60s when the fairs with all their flaws were replaced by marts.

Liston doesn’t indulge in nostalgia and while he gives a great sense of what a day at the fair was like he takes off the rose-tinted glasses when showing how the fair was not the ‘fairest’ place for the farmer to do business. The tale rattles through joining the EEC and the madness of the Tiger years bringing us right up to the mart and GVM in modern times. A great read for farmer, historian and observer of all things rural.