An Islander Looks Back

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Matt Murphy, Director, Sherkin Island Marine Station, published a popular weekly column in the Cork "Evening Echo", a daily evening paper for 5 years. Through this he kept us in touch with the islands and wasted no opportunity to draw parallel with life as it is and was when he grew up in Cork City. Some of these articles are now available in book form in An Islander Looks Back and Rocking the Boat.

Matt Murphy is an islander by adoption, with his feet firmly planted on his beloved Sherkin Island. Nevertheless he is conscious of, and proud of, his roots in Cork City.

The author reminisces on his childhood, boyhood, youth and manhood on the mainland of Ireland; on its mountains, lakes and rivers; and finally on Sherkin Island where he now resides.

An Islander looks back...

... on the Cork of his childhood and formative years. We enjoy the atmosphere of the City in the fifties and sixties.
... on the characters who are quickly becoming nothing more than memories of the few.
... on the simple pleasures of youth in the fifties and sixties; canoeing on the Lee and Blackwater, camping and other outdoor pursuits.
... on the peaks and valleys, the tragedies and moments of joy that are part of all of our lives. We see how one man coped with or overcame these obstacles.
And Islander looks back...
... and in his looking back - and through his commitment to the marine environment give us all faith and hope in the future.