Bridget Buckley - The Last of Wexford's Traditional Buttermakers

Bridget Buckley - The Last of Wexford's Traditional Buttermakers
I'm going through my Dresser Project Archive and came across this short piece that I recorded in Sept 2017 in the home of Bridget Buckley in the small townsland of Killeen outside Killanne, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.
Bridget stopped making butter commercially in 2015, after carrying on the tradition from her late mother Eileen, who began making it in 1954. I called to her house to photograph her dresser and as usual, we ended up talking about a million other things. In this short chat she talks about local customs and beliefs surrounding the process of buttermaking while also talking about general customs and rituals surrounding life on the farm.
This short recording was conducted as she stood beside her late mothers dresser, while behind me and the camera, her son was nursing her little granddaughter to sleep. Whatever it was, in the moment of chatting and remembering, something deeper stirred inside her and as she spoke about her late parents, she began to well up. "I'm too sentimental" she says.
I've since went back and recorded more with Bridget and is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. If you want to listen in to our chat that day - press play.
Text: Michael Fortune