Virginia family's “moving experience” to feature on RTÉ

Kevin MacDermott

A Virginia mother will bid an emotional farewell to her home of 18 years in a one-off documentary, to screen on RTE1 tonight, exploring the stress of moving house.

'Goodbye House' is billed as a celebration of a family home and the family who lived in it. Rosemary Woods decided to downsize from her home in the Ballyjamesduff Road area of Virginia, as her adult children had moved out and her husband had passed away years earlier.
The moving experience began when daughter Tanya Woods received an email seeking volunteers for the TV show and asked her mother if she would like to put her name forward. Not expecting anything more to come of it, Rosemary agreed. After the production company made contact, Woods brothers, Russell and Clive were the next to be approached. Tanya says their response was much the same as her mother's: “Sure why not, we probably won't be picked anyway”.
After confirmation they had been chosen for the one-off programme it was time for the family to come to terms with Rosemary downsizing. Rosemary had been talking about moving for about two years and had looked at one or two properties but Tanya says she wasn’t trying too hard.
Saying farewell to the family home has added poignancy for the Woods as it was the last home of their farther, Wilbert. He passed away two years after the family moved into the house in Virginia. Wilbert died during a break away in Mayo, after his 60th birthday.
“Daddy always said he didn't want to die in hospital or at home,” Tanya explains. She says bidding farewell to the property was emotional, “Daddy sat at that kitchen table, he was part of our memories and closing the door is bit like closing part of all of that.”
Although Rosemary is the one moving, she is not actually the person deciding where to look. Armed with a wishlist, including walking distance to Virginia and more storage space, the three children set about finding the perfect property for their mother. Tanya concedes that her own choices did play a part in deciding which property to show her mother.
“My preferences did influence my decision, I wanted to make sure the new house is still on the bus route so my kids can drop in on their way home from school,” she admits.
After each sibling brought Rosemary to view their choices the family sat down to view all three properties together, and Tanya describes this as the “Googlebox” section. “We were all conscious that the properties on view are people's homes so we didn't want to be too critical about them,” she says.
She believes that the show enabled her mother Rosemary to think outside the box in choosing her new house. The whole move took about two months to complete and Rosemary secured a home not far from Virginia centre that she's delighted with.
Moving house is recognised as one of life’s most stressful events, and doing it under the gaze of TV cameras is a whole different experience. “Initially we were very aware of the cameras and crew, but after a while it's like we forgot they were there,” explains Tanya.
Despite the stress and glare of the cameras, Tanya says the experience was good fun. Asked if she would recommend other families to help choose a new house for parents downsizing, Tanya has no hesitation: “Go for it!”

Goodbye House can be seen on RTÉ1 on Monday, June 12 at 9.30pm.