Marie Louise Heffernan — Environmental consultant
I was always interested in birds growing up in Dublin. Reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring at 15 awoke me to the dangers of pesticides. After my studies, I worked in the UK researching birds and alternatives to pesticides, before doing a Masters in Trinity. A scenic poster of Connemara in Trinity inspired my whole class to come down to Letterfrack for Sea Week.
Two years later, I applied for a contract to do a management plan for Connemara National Park, and got it. I thought I'd stay two months but was completely captivated. I'd never seen anywhere more beautiful in my life. I stayed, got married, and had three children. My husband and I farm here — mixed farming with rare-breed cattle.
In 2002, I set up Aster Environmental, a consultancy doing impact assessments. I also volunteer, coordinating Coastwatch surveys. We're working with Clifden Gun Club to help red grouse and golden plover nesting on the land. I saw three eagles yesterday and we also have ravens using the area, so it's quite exciting. This is a good time of year to feed birds and start learning how to identify them. Engaging with nature enhances your life. Even the shortest walk on the beach I find exciting and fulfilling. We really are losing nature at an enormous rate, and we're not going to save something if we don't get to know it better.
My fondest memories of Christmas here are during blackouts. I've learned to welcome them because they make you step back from life. The weather's awful and power's gone but there's logs burning on the stove and shadows on the walls. It's very cosy and kind of magical.
Paddy O'Malley — Artisan furniture maker
Right now, I'm on a stone beach in Errislannan, looking for inspiration. I work with all found materials, and it's not just me being cheap. I like the idea of making a really nice chair or table with things picked up on a beach and a couple of euro's worth of cement. I'm from Aillebrack, in Ballyconneely, not far from the golf course.
When I was a kid, we didn't just buy whatever we wanted. You'd make things from what you had or could afford. I would have watched my father cutting down bushes and branches and making lobster pots from them. It was like art. They were beautiful pieces. He was a fisherman, and I worked with him on the boat.
By my late teens, I had to get on with life. Construction paid well and could get you work wherever you were. But I was always making little pieces on my own. Slowly, they became more nature based. There's nothing wrong with a straight leg, but a crooked tree branch might work just as well. It also ties the piece to Connemara.
I was abroad for 30 years working in construction. It paid the bills, but I wasn't happy. I was in America, had remarried, and was approaching 50. I said to my new wife, 'I'm not staying here,' so we moved home. That was 14 years ago, and it was the best thing we ever did.
I feel very lucky. I'm 64, living in Connemara, doing absolutely what I love to do. This is my holiday, my retirement. I don't want those things. I don't put my work on the internet, but other people do. I just want to make stuff. If anyone wanted to see my pieces, they're in Provenance in Clifden.