No one knows when they start something, whether that nascent endeavour will become a failure, a legacy or (maybe worst of all) forgotten altogether. As the years pass, we don’t dwell on the failed attempts, as even the Cork hurlers elected to forego any kind of victory parade, despite their year of fantastic success when they ultimately tasted the bitter pill of second place.
However, legacies and wins are celebrated and remembered, and so this month, Carbery Macra are The Southern Star’s deserving farming award winners. Since they were founded in 1948, the Macra branch has meant that young people out in the sticks have a ready-made network and community of friends, and as they admit it themselves, many a night has been spent in the ballroom of Macra romance too. Numerous groups spring up and disappear, and that’s life, but the enduring appeal of Macra after 77 years has to lie in its core: its social aspect. No man is an island, not even a stoic farmer, and nor should they be.
The topic of rural mental health is one that is being talked about a lot more, and that’s a good thing, but hard to ‘sell’. On paper, it is usually peppered with dull academic language like ‘resilience’ and ‘skills training’, which can make the subject daunting and distant. It doesn’t capture what 24 hours is like in the rain, speaking to no-one but the cows and hearing from no-one except the voice on the radio. It doesn’t capture what it’s like to go in after a long day to a cold empty kitchen, or an evening in, again, because you’d like a drink but you can’t drive home from the pub so it’s easier to have a can alone by the TV.
The advances of machinery are phenomenal, but it has necessarily meant that two-man jobs can now be done alone, without the need of help. That help, however, used to come with companionship and a chat.
Of course it’s not all gloom; there is the mart, social dancing, agricultural and fair days, vintage runs, and racing. The essential thing, however, is to take advantage of it all, and to bring the widowed or single neighbour along for the craic too, whether they’re young or old, man or woman.
