Athlone bog oak harvest to feature on TG4 show

When a bog oak sculptor travelled to Athlone last month to harvest raw materials for his work, a TV crew came along to document the process.

The resulting footage will be broadcast on TG4’s Imeall programme this evening (Thursday) at 8pm. 

Kevin Casey was filmed collecting bog oak at Bunnahinly bog, which is on the far (or southern) side of the railway tracks that run behind the An Post mail centre and the DPD Ireland premises on Athlone’s Dublin Road.

“A lot of people don’t realise that there’s bog so close to the centre of Athlone,” Kevin explained.

“Bord na Mona work on the bogs during the summer and come across timber, which gets in their way. So they put it aside and I have a contract to come and collect it.

“For the TV programme, they wanted to show the process that’s involved in bog oak sculpture, to see the bogs where the material comes from, to show the work taking place in the workshop, and then to display the finished product,” he said.

Based in Newtowncashel, Kevin has been a full-time sculptor of bog oak for over twenty years, having followed his father, Michael, into the craft.

One of the pieces he worked on can be seen at a water feature in Athlone IT, while some of his commissioned work has been presented to the late Albert Reynolds TD, former President Mary McAleese, and the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown.

Production company Red Shoe Productions filmed Kevin working at the bog in Athlone for Imeall, an arts programme on TG4. Though it airs on the Irish-language station, Kevin said the interviews were filmed in English and will be given subtitles as Gaeilge.

He said he is “always busy making sculptures” but the run-up to Christmas isn’t a particularly big time of year for bog oak purchases, which are more popular as gifts for occasions such as retirements, golfing competitions and weddings.

One festive piece of work which Kevin did complete recently, however, is a nativity crib carved out of bog oak.