Cork maritime journalist and Afloat.ie columnist Tom MacSweeney contributes this week to 200 Voices, the special podcast series marking 200 years of the RNLI.
Also featuring in the series this week is MacSweeney’s erstwhile colleague when he was marine correspondent at RTÉ: recently retired head of Radio 1, Tom McGuire.
MacSweeney presented more than 1,000 episodes of the maritime programme Seascapes on RTÉ Radio 1, and in his 200 Voices episode Voice of the Sea reflects on the unchanging mission of the charity and the generous spirit of RNLI volunteers.
In this episode, available from Thursday 21 December, he reflects particularly on the Lady Murphy tragedy in Rosslare Harbour on Christmas Eve 1977 in which Kilmore Quay RNLI volunteer Finton Sinnott was lost at sea.
In his reflection, MacSweeney notes how the mission of the RNLI “to save every one” has remained unchanged over two centuries. In particular, he pays tribute to the contribution of lifeboat people and their families for the contribution and sacrifices they make in saving lives.
Already available wherever you get your podcasts is Full Circle, in which Tom McGuire — who is lifeboat press officer at Lough Ree RNLI — talks about his media career and his return as a volunteer to the same community he served in a pastoral role in the 1980s.
This unique podcast series has already heard from several people connected to the RNLI in Ireland and those whose lives have been touched by the lifesaving charity.
Available across all podcast platforms and the RNLI’s website, listeners can hear from survivors, supporters, volunteers, lifeguards, celebrity ambassadors, historians and many more from across Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland and beyond.
To find out more about the RNLI’s bicentenary, visit RNLI.org/200.
