Hall's Pictorial Weekly in Freshford, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland 1977

Freshford and its people are the stars of this opening sequence for 'Hall's Pictorial Weekly'. A busy afternoon in the village of Freshford (in Irish Achadh Úr meaning 'fresh field') in County Kilkenny. Teenagers hang around, children play in the street and at the village pump, and the local men go about their business. A game of football is taking place on the village green, and the spire of Saint Lachtain's Church of Ireland can be seen. Dating from 1725, the church is located on the site of a monastery founded by Saint Lachtain in the sixth century, which was until the twelfth century a major ecclesiastical centre. This episode of 'Hall's Pictorial Weekly' was broadcast on 23 February 1977. Once a week, from June to September, the ‘Hall’s Pictorial Weekly’ film crew would arrive at a town or village in any county in Ireland. They would film the people and the place and return to RTÉ where the footage was edited and put to music. This short film of around one minute’s duration formed part of the opening sequence for that week’s episode. No one knew which location had been chosen, and it was not advertised as part of the programme billings in the RTÉ Guide or newspapers. So with this in mind, people the length and breadth of the country tuned in religiously, in case it was the turn of their town or village to have its few minutes of fame.