Game of Thrones prop builder lends his hand to Beara men’s currach plan

A group of men in Ardgroom on the Beara peninsula have spent the past few months building a traditional currach from scratch, with the help of a former prop builder on Game of Thrones

BY HELEN RIDDELL

The Ardgroom Men’s Group recently undertook a project to build a currach from scratch, as something different to take them through the winter months.

They enlisted the help of craftsman and boat builder Dave Nolan from Macroom, who had previously worked as a resident boat builder on the Game of Thrones production team, constructing boats used in key battle scenes in the series.

Although based on the western end of the peninsula, Ardgroom is far removed from the fictional region of Westeros in Games of Thrones, with its dragons and known as the ‘land of fire and ice’. But, similar to the fictional Westeros, Ardgroom does have an offshore Bear/Bere Island!

The Ardgroom Men’s Group started around four years ago as a means to combat rural isolation, and they currently have around 20 members and meet in the Caha Centre premises in Ardgroom.  Sean Sullivan, who is one of the group members, said they had no prior boat-building experience.

‘We started the project to build a traditional currach just before Christmas. We’re a good couple of months into it now, it’s going great and we’re hoping to finish it in the next few weeks,’ he said.

He thanked the staff of the Caha Centre, a Beara-based community organisation, for their support.

When completed, the group plans to launch the currach in the nearby Glenbeg Lake, possibly this summer.

Sean said the group plans to return to work on their cooking skills once they’ve finished the boat project.

Before Christmas they hosted a very successful Come Dine with Me event as a fundraiser for their group.

The Ardgroom Men’s Group meet every Thursday at 8pm in the Caha Centre in Ardgroom.  For more, see Ardgroom Men’s Group on Facebook.

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