About the book

‘Well, here I am in Ballycotton’ features a collection of over 100 postcards, illustrations, graphs and maps. This book gives the history of Ballycotton through these postcards. It includes shipwrecks, Ballycotton’s connections to the Lusitania, Terence MacSwiney, in addition to rescues by the lifeboat and the coastguard. The postcards show how the village has changed over the past 100 years and there are many stories that the author discovered through extensive research, that bring the buildings and their inhabitants to life.

About the author

Peter O’Shea is a native of Ballycotton, Co. Cork. Peter has been collecting postcards since a very young age and now boasts a collection of over 100 Ballycotton postcards. Peter’s love of postcards was greatly influenced by his maternal Grandmother, Mrs. Catherine O’Sullivan.

Since January 2011 he has been a mechanic on the Ballycotton Lifeboat, he joined the lifeboat as a volunteer many years before, when he was 18. During school and college Peter worked on local fishing boats and has always had a keen interest in all things maritime.

After collecting postcards of Ballycotton for several years, author Peter O’Shea, wanted to share the images and stories with other people and the idea developed to write a book with some information about each one. Getting the first few pages done was relatively easy and once he started, he just kept going, usually writing late at night. Several times he stalled in the writing, thinking that there was no more he could write about, but going back to it a few days later he found new inspiration. He hopes that people will enjoy reading it as much as he has enjoyed uncovering and sharing these stories

This is Peter’s first book, it combines his passion for postcards, his love of the sea and his appreciation for Ballycotton and its history.
The book is available to purchase online here – http://ballycottonhistory.weebly.com/