>> Síle Seoige

Síle Seoige has her hands full at the moment with her new baby Cathal, she is also MCing events at the Aldi stand. She says there is plenty to look forward to.

“The Aldi stand is always buzzing. Mike Denver is great craic, he had the crowd line dancing last year and we don’t expect things to be any different this year. A few years ago, we had the Camembert Quartet, who were also amazing. One of my favourite memories is when they convinced me to get on stage to sing with them. I say convinced but, if I am being honest, I was only dying to be asked. I sang Proud Mary, it’s kind of my party piece and I’ve been known to belt it out at a party. The whole crowd joined in, it was absolutely brilliant – one of those moments you could never really repeat.

“I also love the charm of the brown bread baking competition – it’s really heart warming and such an Irish thing. Thankfully, this year I hope to have it sussed it terms of where to park. A few years ago I had a low-suspension sports car and yeah, you guessed it, it got stuck in the muck. I had to play the damsel in distress card and some lads came and helped me get it out. That’s the thing about the Ploughing; the friendliness – everyone is happy to help and all this adds to the atmosphere.”

Neven Maguire is celebrating his 10th year doing cookery demos at the Irish Farmers Journal stand but, as with all things live, it doesn’t always go to plan.

“We did have a bit of panic in the early years when the gas went out during one of the demos. It was still working but we didn’t realise it had gone out and I was wondering why my apple tart wasn’t browning up like it should. It was really a case of thinking on your feet and, thankfully, we could pull out the “here’s one we made earlier” line. I don’t think any of the audience noticed but at the time I was a tad worried. But you know what? Even if things hadn’t turned out, the crowd at the Ploughing are always so warm and good fun.

“I love to get people up from the crowd and I had a local man from Blacklion up with me one year. He’s a single man and we were trying to find him a woman. How he didn’t find a match that day is beyond me because he was so funny and entertaining. He is a gas character. He calls me the young European chef of the year. Now granted, that’s something I have never won but sure there is no talking to him.

“We also had a great laugh last year when a lady fell asleep at my demo. Now I didn’t take it personally, she had been up at the crack of dawn and walking around all day, but she took it in good spirit when we woke her up and made a bit of a joke about things. It’s such a busy, fun, crazy and special few days and I can’t wait to see what characters I’ll meet this year.”

From the Rose of Tralee to the Ploughing, Dáithí Ó Sé embodies everything good about the Irish culture. This year he is MCing at the Lidl stand and Dáithí is an old pro, having first visited the Ploughing on a class trip back in 1993.

“I always smile when I see the lads in their uniforms at the Ploughing because that was like us in 1993 in Clonmel. From the west of Kerry, we thought the Ploughing was all horse-drawn ploughs. I remember arriving for the first time and my first impression was holy crap, this is a lot bigger than we thought. I went to the CBS in Dingle and our class was made up of townies and culchies, but for that day we were all united as culchies. The next time I was there was 2001, and if I was amazed the first time then things were at a whole new level. The Celtic Tiger was in full swing and it really became an event where there was something for everyone. It’s like a rock festival and an All-Ireland rolled into one, in a field.”

The Ploughing took on a whole new meaning for Dáithí in 2010 when he first presented the Rose and visited the Ploughing a month later.

“I was mobbed,” he laughs. “There were so many people coming up to me and talking about the winner and the performances and who they thought should win. Although I did feel old when my past pupils that I taught in Athy 10 years beforehand came up to say hi.”

The first time Sean O’Rourke went to the Ploughing, it was like coming home, quite literally.

“I lived in Rathneska for the first few years of my life. My father was the headmaster in the local national school and even when we moved away I would still go back there throughout my childhood, playing with friends and doing the odd bit of farming – although truthfully I was probably more of a hindrance than a help. So doing our first live broadcast for the show outside of the studio at the Ploughing was a huge adventure. It was great to be amongst friends who wanted me to do well but also there was the pressure not to screw up. I got to stay with friends who lived just over the ditch. It all seemed to pass in a whirlwind – music, guests, a marvellous celebration of the best of Ireland, not just rural Ireland, the best of Ireland. Over the years, we’ve had the President in with us but one of the moments where we were close to the wire was waiting for Marty Morrissey to arrive. Marty is never early for anything anyway, but it took him nearly an hour to get through the crowd, he was mobbed. One of the producers had to drag him through the crowd but he got there in the end. I’m looking forward to what this year holds.”