From A to Sea – The Southern Star Sea Swimming Podcast · The Southern Star

Pamela Deasy on the Union Hall swim and how the sea helped during her recovery from cancer

·29 min·1 clip

Pamela says she wanted the sea, not "listening to the traffic and the noise" in Cork during radiotherapy.

1. From A to Sea – The Southern Star Sea Swimming Podcast focuses on Pamela Deasy, Union Hall, and the sea as part of recovery and community life. 2. Pamela Deasy is the Union Hall fundraiser, RNLI press officer, and open-water swim organiser whose work matters to West Cork swimmers and lifeboat supporters. 3. The episode asks how the sea, the RNLI, and a local swim fundraiser shaped Pamela Deasy’s life after pancreatic cancer. 4. Pamela says she was “born and bred by the sea” and that watching it helps her “switch off from life” and “sit, pause and look around you.” 5. She traces her family connection to fishing through her father, his brothers, and her grandfather, all of whom worked at sea. 6. She remembers childhood summers at the small sandy beach beside the old pier in Union Hall and the black field nearby. 7. Pamela says she started fundraising for the RNLI at age 11, collecting at regattas in Glengarriff and Union Hall with her mother. 8. She explains that the current Union Hall branch has operated for nearly 26 years and followed earlier fundraisers Brian Crowley and her mother. 9. Pamela describes the failed attempts to secure a lifeboat station before writing a new letter after the T-Bone Arm tragedy in April. 10. She says that phone call saying Union Hall was successful led to a feasibility study and a committee for the station. 11. Pamela argues that Union Hall needed a lifeboat station because of a gap between Cork and Baltimore and the busy harbour traffic. 12. She names kayaking, rowing clubs, yachts, young beach users, and overdue swimmer call-outs as part of the station’s work. 13. She says Covid-19 increased swimming, kayaking, and paddle boarding as more people used local water amenities. 14. Pamela describes her RNLI role as lifeboat press officer, fundraiser, and shop organiser, with two bedrooms at home full of stock. 15. She says the Union Hall swim started as a Sea Sunday event in 2014 with 67 swimmers and later grew to 150, 200, and 350 participants. 16. Pamela says the swim stays capped at 350, uses six months of planning, and depends on weather, traffic management, kayakers, Civil Defence, and local Red Cross volunteers. 17. She says the event’s ambassadors, Noel Brown and Steve Redmond, help with route mapping and a pep talk before the swim. 18. The conversation is warm, practical, and local, with Pamela moving easily between logistics, recovery, and memories of the sea. 19. Listeners who like sea swimming, RNLI stories, and cancer recovery will get the most from it. 20. Listeners wanting fast-paced news or studio debate may find it too reflective.

As heard by us

A sea-swim fundraiser story where recovery, volunteering, and community effort all come into view.

Pamela Deasy is presented as a steady voice from Union Hall, shaped by the sea, her work with the RNLI, and her recovery from pancreatic cancer.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a West Cork open-water story that ties together recovery, RNLI rescue work, and the village effort behind a major fundraiser.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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