TG4’s Conall samples life on the farm in new series
TG4 presenters Maire�ad N� Chuaig and Conall hard at work on the farm as part of their new series which starts on March 21. INTT1013-059X
EGLISH television presenter, Conall Ó Máirtín, has been getting his hands dirty down on the farm as part of a new TG4 show which sees the popular sports pundit travel across Ireland and throughout Europe.
The show, WWOOFÁIL, airs on Thursday, March 21, at 10pm, and follows Conall and his co-presenter, Mairéad Ní Chuaig, as they learn about vegetable growing and ecology in Sligo, Buddhism and spirituality in Cavan, building houses and surfing in the Algarve, cooking and milking goats in Seville, horse-riding and folk music in Sweden, and olive picking and peacocks in Morocco!
WWOOF is an organisation which stands for ‘World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms’.
It began in the 70s and the concept is that ‘WWOOFers’ travel to participating farms to exchange their labour for bed and board.
Today there are approximately 11,000 affiliated hosts in over 50 countries.
Participants choose their routes according to the seasonal climate and farming cycle, for example southern Mediterranean countries are popular for gardening and farming March through June; summer to early autumn is good for UK and Ireland; moving to Spain, Portugal or Italy in the autumn months and spending Winter in the Spanish Balerics and Canaries; then on to Turkey in the colder months.
Novice WWOOFer Mairéad Ní Chuaig is better known as one of the glamorous TG4 weather girls, with a keen interest in fashion.
Her WWOOFing companion Conall Ó Máirtín is one of the channel’s sports pundits, with a great sense of adventure.
Six half hour episodes have been produced by Stirling TV Productions, which will be sure to keep the viewers intrigued.
Series director/producer Grainne McCotter was keen to illustrate throughout the series that people, no matter what age (although a minimum of 16 years old), can still travel and learn new skills during the recession on a budget. She says:
“WWOOFING is a free ticket to an incredible life experience. Not only do you get to volunteer on farms, where you learn to be organic & self sustainable, but you also get three home cooked meals every day and a bed to rest your weary head at the end of the day – all in exchange for four to six hours work on the farm! The bonus is getting to travel the world - sampling the local culture, food and landscape of each farm on your days off.”
Stirling TV Productions received funding from the Irish Language Broadcast Fund and TG4 for the production.
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Weather for Dungannon
Friday 24 May 2013
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