Senior Times Magazine Jan Feb 2020

Issue 103 January - February 2020

Times

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The magazine for people who don’t act their age

The Lives Of Mike...

Exclusive interview with Mike Murphy 1649205088-02.eps NBW=85 B=20

Time again for Turner

Looking forward to the annual Turner exhibition

Ireland’s Hollywood greats How our actors succeeded in Tinsel Town

A trip to the Taj Mahal Joe Keane on a holiday of a lifetime

PLUS: History - Creative Writing - Competitions – Motoring – Travel – Gardening - Health - Meeting Place and much more...

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Issue 103 - January - February 2020

Contents 42

6 News:

2

Open Mike:

Exclusive interview with Mike Murphy

6

Time again for Turner:

Eamonn Lynskey looks forward to the annual Turne exhibition at The National Gallery

12

Regal Regis:

18 Lorna Hogg visited the picturesque English seaside town of Lyme Regis, the inspiration of novelists and film-makers.

A visit to the Taj Mahal:

Joe Keane and his wife made a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Taj Mahal

24

Mary’s Musings:

Mary O’Rourke looks forward to Christmas and catching up on some serious reading

30

Creative writing:

36

Dublin dossier:

Pat Keenan on happenings in and around the capital

39

Spa and wide:

A look at some of the best hotel spas in the country

42

Golf:

Dermot Gilleece profiles Lee Trevino

48

Getting personal:

52 Colette Sheridan talks to writer Brian O’Connell who has just published a book on personal ads. in newspapers and magazines.

Publishing Directors: Brian McCabe, Des Duggan Editorial Director: John Low Advertising: Willie Fallon Design & Production: www.cornerhouse.ie Contributors: Lorna Hogg, Dermot Gilleece, Maretta Dillon, Peter Power, Matthew Hughes, Mairead Robinson, Eileen Casey, Debbie Orme, Connie McEvoy.

60

The spirit of Christmas walking:

Conor O’Hagan exhorts us to get up and out over the festive season

54

Wine World:

58

8

Using your loaf:

Five recipes from the ICA Book of Bread and Baking

60

Green pastures: Irish success in Hollywood

62

What’s on in the arts:

Maretta Dillon previews happenings in the arts countrywide over the next few months

64

Meeting place:

66

Motoring:

68

Western Ways:

72 George Keegan on happening on the Western seaboard Retirement advice:

Case study of how a couple benefitted from a etirement course

76

Northern Notes:

79

Crossword:

82

Short story:

84

Cosmetics and beauty:

86

Crafts:

87

Published by S& L Promotions Ltd., Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Tel: +353 (01) 4969028.

Fax: +353 (01) 4068229 Editorial: John@slp.ie Advertising: willie@slp.ie

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News Now Irish Heart Foundation welcomes under 18s cigarette ban.

The Irish Heart Foundation has welcomed the news that Minister for Health Simon Harris brought proposed legislation to Cabinet to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s, but warned that much more needs to be done to ensure that another generation of young people in this country does not become addicted to nicotine.

Chris Macey, Irish Heart Foundation Head of Advocacy, said: ‘The Irish Heart Foundation welcomes the proposed legislation to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to children under the age of 18. However, much more needs to be done to ensure that another generation of young people in this country does not become addicted to nicotine.

‘We know from our experience with youth smoking that a ban on sales to minors alone will not work. It is vital that in tandem with this measure a blanket ban is applied on the advertising of e-cigarettes to all age groups. Surreptitious online marketing tactics have driven what the Surgeon General has described as an epidemic of youth e cigarette use in the US. We also need to ban flavoured e-cigarettes. These are clearly aimed at young people, not those long-term smokers who might benefit from vaping.’

Innovative libraries respond to population ageing Fingal libraries are working with Age Friendly Ireland and other libraries across the Country to develop libraries in an Age Friendly way. Minister, Michael Ring, Department of Rural and Community Development officially launched the National Age Friendly Libraries Recognition recently.

The proportion of older people is increasing in almost every country of the world and as life expectancy increases, the need to ensure that Ireland becomes a great country in which to grow old is increasing too.

In 2016 data from the Healthy and Positive Ageing Initiative (HaPAI) survey showed that many older people were not using their public libraries, many reported finding them difficult to access.

On foot of these findings, Age Friendly Ireland initiated a process with the Libraries Development Committee and the CCMA to encourage libraries to develop in a more age friendly way. Each local authority nominated one or more libraries to become an Age Friendly Library and in January this year, Age Friendly Ireland provided training in age friendly principles to 48 libraries nationally.

Two Fingal Libraries, Rush library and Malahide library received the Age Friendly charter at the ceremony.

Successful launch of Ex-Pat Expo on Costa del Sol

The Mapuchi Moda team gave fashion shows each day.

The Dunnes Stores Christmas decorations proved popular

The recent inaugural Ex-Pat Expo –formerly the 50 Plus Expo -- at the IPV Hotel in Fuengirola drew positive comments from both exhibitors and visitors.

Event sponsors Dunnes Stores Fuengirola displayed everything from candles to cashmere and store manager Leo Keheone said he was ‘delighted’ with the response to his company’s products, particularly the Christmas decorations and party clothes.

The lifestyle event for the Costa del Sol residents featured an extensive mix of interests which drew impressive attendances on both days.

Popular attractions were fashion shows, yoga demonstrations, free health tests as well as finance, legal and consumer advice.

Once again Eric Knowles from The Antiques Roadshow and coin expert Mike Kelly were on hand to give free valuations. And once again they were both swamped with collectors. Said Eric: ‘This was one of the best events I have ever attended anywhere in terms of the quality 2 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Eric Knowles was delighted with the quality of items

of items brought. I have recommended two pieces to be brought to auction, one I valued at 15,000 Euro and the other at 10,000 Euro. Mike Kelly was similarly delighted, having valued one collection of coins at 5,000 Euro.

Health and well-being was a popular feature of the event, with hearing specialists Sontec giving free tests and Specsavers offering eye monitoring. One of the most popular health stands was that of The Diabetic Support Group. Said organizer Anne Bowles: ‘The response was fantastic and we gave over 300 tests’.

The British Care Services team had ‘a fantastic weekend attending the ExPat Expo’. It was a brilliant opportunity to network with local businesses and liaise with residents of the Costa Del Sol. We will certainly be returning next year!’.

Concluded organiser Des Duggan: ‘Such was the interest in the event that we are seriously considering repeating it in the spring’

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News

South Tipperary Frailty team wins scientific award

The victorious South Tipperary team

A South Tipperary Frailty Team, based at Our Lady’s Campus Cashel and South Tipperary General Hospital, has scooped the coveted President’s prize at the recent 67th Irish Gerontological Society Annual and Scientific meeting held at the Clayton Silversprings Hotel in Cork.

Special recognition was given to Aine O’Reilly, Senior Pharmacist who works with the Support Team for Elderly Persons (STEP). She has developed a tool specifically designed to highlight frail older patients who are at a higher risk of medication related safety issues. From 350 oral and poster presentations, Aine was one of only 10 prize recipients that recognises excellence in linking research to practice.

Aine’s work titled ‘First Steps Towards’ Tailoring Frailty Specific Clinical Pharmacy Referrals’ aims to identify and prioritise patients who require medications review. The risk of being prescribed inappropriate medication can double if you are frail and this can lead to serious side effects that are preventable. The projected population living over 80 in Ireland is expected to rise by at least 90% by 2030, so therefore it is important to expand the services supporting the older person.

STEP, which is the new integrated care team funded by the HSE and the National Clinical Programme for Older Persons, is led by Consultant Geriatricians Dr. Isweri Pillay and Dr. Christina Donnellan. The team comprises of physiotherapy, dietetics, speech and language therapy, pharmacy and advanced nurse practice services. Each of the disciplines is represented at a highly trained specialist level for working with frail older people in the South Tipperary area.

The team aims to provide comprehensive assessment for patients aged seventy years and over who have multiple and complex medical and social needs. STEP works with hospital and community health services and the available voluntary agencies within the area. Referrals for the service are accepted by Consultants, GPs and other HSE Health and Social Care Professionals.

HPRA Annual Report details wide range of programmes The Health Products Regulatory Authority 2018 annual report details its key activities and progress across an extensive range of work programmes. It outlines the breadth of its outputs delivered in each of the health product areas it regulates with a core focus of protecting public and animal health. The report also highlights how the national regulator responded effectively and rapidly to significant external developments impacting the wider health sector.

During 2018, the HPRA’s activities included: • The authorisation of 376 new human medicines during 2018 following an assessment of their safety, quality and effectiveness.

• There were 118 new marketing authorisations issued for veterinary medicines contributing to the record figure of approximately 1,800 veterinary medicines now authorised for the Irish market.

• 100 clinical trials of human medicine products were approved to commence in 2018 (2017: 96).

• The HPRA received 10,398 adverse reaction reports in relation to human medicines in 2018.

In respect of veterinary medicines, there were 394 suspected adverse reactions and events reported during the year. The HPRA welcomes the commitment to reporting among healthcare professionals and the general public as the information received contributes significantly to the ongoing monitoring of medicines safety on the Irish market.

• A total of 196 human medicine recalls and six recalls relating to veterinary medicines.

• The HPRA initiated 4,532 enforcement cases (2017: 3,866). 619,213 dosage units of illegal medicines were detained during the year (2017: 984,915). The illegal products detained included sedatives (36%), erectile dysfunction medicines (18%) and anabolic steroids (16%).

• 2,358 medical device vigilance reports were notified and assessed during 2018 (2017: 2,339).

• 104 good manufacturing practice (GMP) inspections were undertaken at manufacturing sites producing human medicines and active substances. 12 GMP inspections were conducted at sites that manufacture / test veterinary medicines.

New European and North American routes from Aer Lingus Aer Lingus is set to commence four new European routes and open up even greater capacity on its transatlantic network from summer 2020.

AL announced its upcoming Dublin summer schedule with news that it will commence flying direct from Dublin to Italian cities Brindisi, Puglia and Alghero, Sardinia from next year. Aer Lingus also announced new direct routes from Shannon Airport to Paris and Barcelona, commencing March and May respectively.

Italy continues to be one of the most popular European destinations for Irish sun-seekers and city breakers. Those in search of an Italian adventure in 2020 will be pleased that Aer Lingus has added its 10th and 11th routes into the country, direct from Dublin.

Nestled in the heel of the Italian boot, Brindisi is located in the Puglia region of Italy on the Adriatic coast and has much to offer with its baroque architecture, ancient temples, pristine beaches and delicious seafood restaurants lining the seafront promenade. Visitors can also use Brindisi 4 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

as a base to explore the greater Puglia region, from the olive groves in Salento to the traditional Trulli houses in Alberobello, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.

Summer 2020 will see Aer Lingus’ best ever capacity to North America with 1.9 million seats on sale to transatlantic destinations. Orlando, Florida will move from a four flights per week service to six flights per week, the Miami service will increase from two to three flights per week and the Dublin to Seattle route will move to a daily service in summer 2020, increasing from five flights per week.

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Profile

Open Mike Conor O’Hagan meets Mike Murphy .

Now 78 and as energetically relaxed as ever, he claims – emphatically and just about plausibly – to be doing nothing these days.

To paraphrase Voltaire -- as one does, whenever the opportunity arises --if Mike Murphy hadn’t existed, it would probably have been necessary for RTE to invent him.

The quintessential Mr Versatile of Irish broadcasting; if anyone can lay claim to having been there and done that, plus quite a few other things along the way, it’s Mike Murphy. Now 78 and as energetically relaxed as ever, he claims – emphatically and just about plausibly – to be doing nothing these days.

‘Just trying to stay healthy, really. I walk, swim half a mile in the sea every day – that sort of thing.’

Not here in Ireland, you understand. The Murphys (Mike and second wife Anne) spend large parts of the year in Florida and Spain; the fruits of Mike’s successful career in business, rather than his 35 years as one of Ireland’s most ubiquitous TV faces.

He’s had a difficult year; a bad fall left him with a shattered shoulder and a long road back to recovery, including a major back operation and ‘unbelievably bad physical pain.’which to all intents and purposes he has managed. If he has aged as a result, it’s not obvious. Mike Murphy is in good shape.

And the voice; as easy on the ear as ever; paced, melodic and always just a little quizzical.

Like his former friend, colleague and once mentor Terry Wogan’s, it’s a vehicle well-suited to light humour, or – as he demonstrated most effectively on The Arts Show – the presentation of the high-brow in middle-brow language.

The Live Mike team: Fran Dempsey, Twink, Mike Murphy, Dermot Morgan

Or, come to think of it, just about anything except pomposity.

The national broadcaster has been, at least by its own reckoning, something of a legend factory since its birth in 1960. With the passing of Terry Wogan and this year, Gay Byrne, Murphy is the survivor of a generation that defined the character of RTE, probably forged its historical high point – and from whose shadow the present incumbents still struggle to escape. Is Ryan Tubridy the new Gay Byrne? Safe to say he’s not the new Mike Murphy.

Burdened with self-imposed mimicry of the BBC, but with a tiny fraction of its resources, RTE was always going to provide opportunities for the young Mike Murphy, once he had aborted unlikely careers in drapery and at Castrol Oil. With a naturally pleasant voice, honed by years acting with the Dublin Shakespeare Group and early RTE drama productions (he was offered, but turned down a scholarship at RADA), a clear middle-class South Dublin

6 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

accent easily polished for the favoured RP pronunciation of the day and just enough geniality to convey warmth and confidence on air A paradox of Murphy’s career is that he was and perhaps still is held at arm’s length in the sniffier reaches of Irish intelligentsia. Strange, because during his tenure of The Arts Show he succeeded in wrestling the Arts into an unprecedented afternoon slot, with ratings that dwarf anything achieved before or since.

‘There was murder when it was announced that I was taking on The Arts Show,’ he recalls cheerfully. It was said that I was unqualified, but I learned on the job. I had always been interested, and in those 12 years I think I learned enough for three degrees.

‘The Arts slot had always been a career graveyard, but it wasn’t so for me. I like to think I lifted it. I wasn’t afraid to say that I didn’t understand what my guests were saying, and I think that the result was a show that brought

Profile

‘Ryan Tubridy is great at what he does, but it’s not the same ‘Town Hall’ that Gay presided over – I don’t think the show Gay created would work now’.

Terry Wogan, Mike Murphy’s former friend, colleague and mentor. Like Wogan’s Mike Murphy’s voice is a perfect vehicle for light humour.

listeners closer – they learned with me. I was really annoyed that after I left, RTE’s scheduling department shuffled arts back to where it had been before me.’

Murphy has remarked in public that he didn’t consider himself ‘part of the organisation’ and that detachment has been clear on several well-publicised occasions. Famously, he announced the end of his stint on Live Mike live on-air; which was unwelcome news to RTE management.

‘They freaked, frankly. As did Gay. He was always more cautious than me and couldn’t understand why I’d done it. But I had run out of clichés – I couldn’t keep it up for another series.

In simple terms, I was bored.’

‘So for a while, I was banished. They [RTE] simply didn’t know what to do with me. That was when I started up my production company, which went on to be the biggest in Ireland.

And I went into business with an American I’d become friendly with. We bought out a number of smaller local and regional cable companies and brought them under one roof, operating from Sheriff Street in Dublin. It was when we sold that that I bought the property in Florida.

Another business connection, this time with Harcourt Developments, owned by Pat Doherty, took Murphy into the property

Mike Murphy with Gay Byrne: ‘Along with Terry Wogan, Gay was, I think, one of the great broadcasters of the 20th century, here or anywhere else. He worked tirelessly at everything he did’.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 7

Profile

The celebrated ‘Frenchman’ sketch with Gay Byrne on The Live Mike.

business as executive director of a business with interests in Ireland (including Dublin’s Park West and Belfast’s Titanic Quarter), Britain, the Caribbean and the USA. That ended in 2011, leaving Murphy, he says, gratefully unburned.

His attachment to the broadcaster with which he spent over 35 years is clearly more personal than institutional. A close friend of Gay Byrne and his family, he was deeply affected

by Byrne’s recent death.

‘I had written an Obituary for the Irish Times, which I think was a good tribute. I kept it light-ish, because I couldn’t have done anything else – it was just too emotional for me.

‘Along with Terry Wogan, Gay was, I think one of the great broadcasters of the 20th century, here or anywhere else. He worked tirelessly at everything he did. Before every programme he presented, he would go through the timings, the questions, the ad libs - everything before going on air, even if only in his head. The difference between me and those two was that I had what you might call a facility, whereas they had a talent that really set them apart’.

‘I think Gay got a great farewell from the nation, and oddly enough I think he would have been surprised. Years ago, he said he believed we would all be forgotten long before we died – that nobody would remember us. But he was wrong – about himself, anyway.

It’s true that an era passed when he retired.

The Late Late Show is still there, but it’s a different programme and a different Ireland. Ryan Tubridy is great at what he does, but it’s not the same Town Hall that Gay presided over – I don’t think the show Gay created would work now.

We had a very close relationship – not just as colleagues but as friends. We used to holiday together every year. I don’t know if people fully

understand the type of man he really was. He was intensely curious about people and was capable of saying some disconcerting things in the process of understanding people – abrasive at times. But he wasn’t a revolutionary by any means, or even a natural leader. On holiday he would appear at breakfast and ask ‘Well, what are we going to do today?’

‘And even though he did so much to challenge the Catholic Church’s grip on Ireland, he was a religious man, in a complicated way. He blamed religion for holding himself and Ireland back, and I certainly feel the same way. Looking back now, it seems ridiculous that we let things go on as they did for so long.

The pace of change hasn’t been as kind to RTE itself, as recent announcements from Montrose have confirmed.

‘There’s no doubt that RTE is in trouble. But I don’t think that capping salaries is going to be the answer. The fifteen percent they’re talking about cutting from the top salaries is window-dressing, and the truth is that the main targets are the very people who bring in the advertising revenues.

‘I don’t want to see RTE decimated in the way that some people are proposing, but there’s no question that morale there is at a very low ebb, and something has to change. Pat Kenny [who crossed over to the dark side, Newstalk FM and Virgin Media after 41 years at RTE] said to me recently that he thought we were very lucky to have worked there at a time when it was fun. Now there doesn’t seem to be any fun.‘Above all, down the road, public service broadcasting must survive – in Ireland and internationally. I’d be appalled if that tradition were to be lost. When you look at that clown Trump and what he’s doing, you realise that fake news is becoming synonymous with any news output. When serious news stories

8 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

arise, people need and want organisations like RTE to deliver the facts. It has to survive as a source of truth.

‘To be perfectly frank, there’s some appalling rubbish on TV – ghastly, contrived things like [names several recent Reality TV series]. They haven’t got their act together, and it shows.

‘And to be honest, I’ve done a lot of programmes I’m not particularly proud of – some pretty ghastly stuff, I’m not ashamed to admit.

But it was a long and varied career and not surprisingly, sometimes I got the tone wrong, so there are some things I hope are never shown again.

‘But there are certainly things I am proud of.

The four Jacobs Awards - Gay got six, I think - are important to me. Two of them were for series that I found the money for and produced myself; Murphy’s America and Murphy’s Australia. There was another for Live Mike and one for Morning Call. Live Mike was the only RTE series that ever challenged The Late Late Show for ratings. And on the radio, Morning Call was a huge success – though it made for a bloody tough lifestyle, for me and my family.’

Fame, he insists, has never been the spur. ‘I remember saying once that I had all the friends I ever wanted to make. Unlike Gay, I never enjoyed the attention, or the hobknobbing.

He used to love it, though he also saw it as a responsibility that went with his position. I didn’t feel that. I’m still self-conscious about being recognised.’

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Internet technology

An Irish company invests E1.5 million in the development of a new smart tablet created specifically for older people ‘ACORN’ is Ireland’s first age-friendly tablet device and was developed over a threeyear period by businessman and CEO of Cliffrun Media, Mr. Philip Hogan. Mr. Hogan has over 26 years’ experience operating in the software and technology sectors. As co-founder of Openet, he established the company as a global leader in the market and has vast experience trading in international markets.

The ACORN tablet promises to make going online more accessible and beneficial for new users of digital technology. The tablet is easy to navigate and uses clear, uncluttered displays to make online access simple and rewarding for even the most inexperienced user.

ACORN supports an integrated mobile date SIM, enabling access to the internet while on the go, as well as instant video/audio calls and messaging and email for all users.

In addition, the tablet features a customisable news feed, which can be tailored to include updates from local, national and international media. ACORN also has its own dedicated help section with over 30 tutorial videos, allowing users to familiarise themselves with all of the tablet’s features and learn at their own speed as well as dedicated support for users.

Family, friends and carers can also stay connected to ACORN by downloading the companion app on their own mobile devices, meaning they can always stay in touch with and support their loved ones.

ACORN has been trialled and tested through a pilot study which was carried out among 95 participants living in rural and urban areas nationwide. The study was led by Age Friendly Ireland in collaboration with the tablet’s creator and three local authority partners. The study showed significant increases in the utilisation of the smart tablet, with daily usage becoming commonplace for 70% of participants. An independent review of this study was subsequently carried out by National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and it found a significant decrease in computer anxiety among Acorn users, and highlighted the key role the Acorn tablet can play in supporting the engagement of older people with services, the local community and society.

Philip Hogan, CEO and creator of ACORN, says: “Smart devices have fundamentally changed how people interact and communicate. They help us build and maintain social

networks, access news, and shop online. But these products are often not designed with older people in mind, making it difficult for them to access this wealth of information, and also increasing the risk of social exclusion and loneliness.

proven to increase confidence and engagement with digital media among older people. It will significantly impact positively on the health and well-being of older adults living in urban and rural communities, allowing them to fully participate in our increasingly digital society.”

“ACORN is an age-friendly tablet that has been

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10 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

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Art

Time again Beech Trees at Norbury Park, Leatherhead, Surrey, c.1797.

Graphite and watercolour on sheet lined with laid paper Photo Š National Gallery of Ireland

12 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Turner

Art

for

Eamonn Lynskey looks forward to the annual exhibition of the great English master’s works at The National Gallery January round the corner again and it’s time to view the Turner watercolours and drawings at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Susceptibility to damage caused by exposure to too much light means that they are kept under wraps for the rest of the year and so a visit to view them has become something of a ceremony, almost akin to the journey people make to Newgrange for the solstice. It is an event that marks the opening chapter of a new year still in its infancy and yet to reveal its epiphanies and pitfalls.

Joseph Mallard William Turner (1775-1851) was an enthusiastic traveller, fascinated by the natural world wherever he happened to be – Wales, the Lake District, Scotland, Europe.

Unfortunately, he never visited Ireland and one can only regret that he did not furnish himself with subjects from our own wonderful landscapes. There does exist a watercolour of Clontarf Castle (not in the exhibition) which was probably worked up from a sketch by another hand and is evidence of Turner’s skill at working from a previous drawing, an expertise he refined over the years and which allowed him to capture a scene in situ in a sketch book for later development. In an age before photography and smart phones this method of working was a most valuable skill and one used by many a predecessor. The Gallery holds a rich collection of his outlines and drawings and they provide a fascinating insight into his ways of working.

The Turner collection arrived in Dublin by way of bequests from a number of English well-todo collectors, among them Henry Vaughan (1809-99) who inherited a large fortune from his father, a successful Southwark hat manufacturer. British museums and galleries acquired most of his collection, but he left 31

watercolours to the National Gallery of Ireland, stipulating that they ‘be exhibited to the public all at one time during the month of January in every year’ and that they should otherwise be kept in the specially-built cabinet which he provided. There followed many other contributors of prints and watercolours, such as those from the print dealer and art collector William Smith (1888-76) who gave over 50 works to the Gallery in 1872.

Mere descriptions of the works on display do them little justice. Nevertheless, one can single out a few that are personal favourites, if only for the pleasure of writing about them and drawing attention to them, and even these ‘favourites’ are constantly displaced on successive viewings. This continual process of ‘displacement’ attests to the imperceptible changes which occur in one’s own psyche over the years. Pictures that seemed most striking at one time give way to others as the course of life brings new concerns, attitudes and insights. As is the case with all great artists, Turner’s works keep up with us, and how we change, and always seem enough ahead of us to satisfy the same, but different, individual who walks into the Gallery’s print room every new January, having experienced one more year of excursions and alarms (and, hopefully, happinesses).

People and their occupations and preoccupations were always part of Turner’s artistic concerns. ‘Fishing Boats at Folkestone Beach, Kent’ (c. 1826-27) exhibits all his professionalism as a keen observer of workers and their working days. Developed from a previous sketch, it shows figures engrossed in gathering fish and cleaning nets. The delicacy of his treatment of the people and the landscape is at one with the tranquillity of the scene, while never downplaying the arduous nature of their labour. ‘Clovelly Bay, North Devon’ (c.1822) is another watercolour which captures a similar quiet mood. Again, although the coastal backdrop of rock and sea and cloud take up most of this watercolour – and is a harbinger of the great canvases to come – it is the lives of the people and their work at this quarry that take our interest. And their animals too: those donkeys waiting patiently while being loaded.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 13

Art

Ostend Harbour, c.1840 Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

In absolute contrast is a painting like ‘The Great Fall of the Reichenbach’ which he painted during his first visit to mainland Europe in 1802. There are no figures here and if we are to speak of delicacy, we are speaking of technique rather than subject matter. Here is raw power, majestic and – subliminally – threatening. One can almost hear the roar of the deluge as it plunges down the mountain slopes, recalling something of the vision of his almost exact contemporary William Wordsworth (1770-1850), who often wrote of the threat hidden in the beauty of nature (‘The ghostly language of the ancient earth’). It really is a fascinating picture and forms the basis for the finished work, now in the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery in Bedford (UK).

Ship against the Mew Stone, at the Entrance to Plymouth Sound’ (15.6 v 23.7cm, painted c.1814), foreshadows magnificent works such as ‘Snow Storm: Steamboat off a Harbour’s Mouth’ (91x 221cm), painted some 28 years later, and now in London’s Tate Gallery. All the power and cataclysmic force of the natural world depicted in these great later canvases is present in Dublin’s ’Mew Stone’ picture. Such waves! Such louring clouds! And a ship that must look quite sturdy when viewed in dock or on calm seas, but when caught up in the merciless force of nature such fragility! Again, the extraordinary brushwork and the grey-blue vault of the warring skies can even trick us into imagining that we can actually hear the noise of the storm.

It is for this depiction of raw natural power and our relation to it that Turner is perhaps most famous. In our National Gallery we do not have paintings like ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’ (Greenwich Museum) or his wonderful ‘Calais Pier’ (National Gallery, London), with their extraordinary convulsions of earth and sky and water. However, in the Dublin collection we do have the seedbed of these great works. ‘A

On viewing these sketches and watercolours in Dublin, many of high drama or pervaded by an atmospheric mistiness, it is always a surprise to come upon a watercolour like ‘Sunset over Petworth Park’ (c.1828). This painting is one of a number executed at the invitation of a wealthy friend who allowed Turner to set up a studio in his country home. The artist’s interest here is to make a record for future working

14 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

and there is no inclusion of people or livestock.

The result is a stunning concentration on the sinking sun and on the riot of colour it creates in the clouds above. It is a wonderful piece on its own account but is also one that looks ahead to the later Turner and the extraordinary works he was to execute, works in which it was the natural forces that surround mankind, rather than man himself, that would fascinate him.

Many of these later works were not received well at the time and there was a general opinion that the aging artist must be slipping into some kind of mental instability. His extraordinary ‘Rain, Steam and Speed – the Great Western Railway’ for instance (1840: Tate Gallery, London) remained unsold during his lifetime. Rather like Wordsworth with his revolutionary ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (published with Coleridge in 1798), Turner was an innovator who made a complete break with prevailing practices. He was ahead of his time, as all great artists are.

The fact that he derived much of his technique from his watercolour practice also did him no favours with his contemporaries. There was

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Art The Doge’s Palace and Piazzetta, Venice, c.1840 Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

the view that watercolours were all very well in their own charming way but were essentially inferior to oils. In his later work Turner, the consummate watercolourist, is often clearly discernible behind Turner the oil-painter. The techniques he developed in wash he was to put to good use in oils, so much so that some of his later paintings were described in his lifetime as incomprehensible.

But back to our yearly January exhibition and the idea that in many of these sketches and watercolours Turner is laying the groundwork for bigger, more developed canvases. For instance, the ‘Sketch by Turner’, which arrived to the Gallery in 1904, is an early drawing that would later become his much more detailed watercolour of the picturesque German town of Bacharach (c.1841-45), a work now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. However, in maintaining that these pictures are often ‘forerunners’ of more developed works, it should not be thought that they are in any way the lesser on that account. They are, all of them, works of art in their own right – and not just because they are by Turner, although this is always a consideration. There is often a glimmer

of the artist’s genius in the most seemingly trivial piece from his or her hand. (There is the story that Picasso once employed a workman to do some renovation work on his house and, in order to help him, quickly made out some rough sketches of what he wanted done. When the work was finished, Picasso asked how much he had to pay. The workman reportedly told him he did not want any payment as long as he could keep the sketches.)

This collection is a wonderful resource for any young and aspiring artists, and for those of us who are no longer young and whose aspirations are by now become … aspirational! It is a yearly reminder of a great artist’s achievements, even before he had risen to his subsequent greatness. And if you missed this year’s exhibition, you should now immediately put it in your diary for January next year.

Turner: The Visionary runs from 1-31 January at The National Gallery of Ireland Print Gallery This year, watercolours by J.M.W. Turner will be complemented by works by a broad range of over 20 artists that were inspired by him. All works in this year’s display, by artists such as

16 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

William Leech, Evie Hone, Paul Cézanne and John Singer Sargent, are from the Gallery’s collection, with many watercolours having not been seen in years. Some recent acquisitions by the artists Basil Blackshaw and Kyffin Williams will also be included. In 1900, the Gallery received a bequest of 31 watercolours and drawings by Turner from the English collector Henry Vaughan. Vaughan stipulated that the watercolours be exhibited every year, free of charge, for the month of January, when the light is at its weakest. Since 1901, the Gallery has displayed the watercolours for one month every year, ensuring that the collection remains in pristine condition.

Curators: Adrian LeHarivel and Niamh MacNally Exhibition Opening Times: Mon 11am5.30pm; Tues-Sat 9.15am-5.30pm; Thurs 9.15am-8.30pm; Sun 11.00am-5.30pm; Public Holidays 9.15am-5.30pm. Closed: Good Friday & 24-26 December. Last entry 15 minutes before Gallery closes This exhibition is kindly sponsored by Sarasin & Partners

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Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 17

Literature

Regal

Regis

The town centre of Lyme Regis

The pretty seaside town of Lyme Regis in Dorset has inspired more than a bustling tourist industry. Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones and John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman all drew from Lyme. Mentioned in the 1085 Domesday Book, its narrow streets, cobbed alleyways, old shops and inns also make it an ideal film set. It was here that the iconic scene of Meryl Streep’s character standing on the wind and wave swept Cobb, gazing out to sea in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, was filmed.

John Fowles was born into an English merchant family in Leigh on Sea, Essex, on March 31st 1926. His was a conformist, conventional family life – and later said that he had ‘tried

In the latest of her literary-themed excursions Lorna Hogg visits the breath-taking seaside town of Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset coast to escape ever since’. He won a place at the well regarded Bedford School in 1939 where he became Head Boy, and excelled at sport, esecially cricket. After leaving school in 1944, he attended a military training course at Edinburgh University, and was prepared to receive a commission into the Royal Marines. He finished the course on VE day - but then was assigned to do his compulsory Military Service, at Okehampton Camp, in Devon.

That service ended in 1947, after which he observed that military life was not for him. A spell at Oxford followed, where he discovered the works of French Existentialism, and writers such as Satrtre and Camus. Armed with a

18 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

degree in French, teaching life awaited him, in London and France.

Fowles also taught on the Greek isle of Spetses, which proved powerfully influential. He began to write poetry, and also met his future wife Elizabeth, then aleady married. They parted after an affair, but back in England, met again and married in 1957. By then Fowles had started writing, including The Magus, essentially a quest story. He also began work on the first draft of The Collector which later became a best seller, and allowed him to write full time. He became an acclaimed author, on both sides of the Atlantic. The Aristos, a series of philosophical and artistic musings, followed.

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Literature

In 1965, The Magus was published, and would become a cult novel, with parallels drawn with The Odyssey and The Tempest.

However, Fowles’s most commercially successful novel is The French Lieutenant’s Woman, which appeared in 1969. On one level it can be seen as a Victorian story about a mysterious woman, Sarah Woodruff, apparently deserted by her French lover, who regularly stood on the Cobb – breakwater, at Lyme Regis, a Dorset seaside town, gazing out to sea. She attracts the attention of a young recently engaged man, Charles Smithson.

The book simultaneously tells the story of the relationship between the two actors, in the process of making a film about this mysterious Victorian woman.

His attraction to her, their exact relationship, and Victorian and modern attitudes to female sexuality and male views of women are all examined. Fowles provides three alternative endings to the book – the reader can choose how it turns out. The book won several awards, and was made into a very successful film.

Fowles had moved to live Lyme Regis in 1968, and initially lived in a cottage outside the town, overlooking the sea, on the famous fossil rich Jurassic Coast. The book’s success meant that he could later buy Belmont House in Lyme, where he and his wife lived. Fowles became an active community member – yet some regarded him as reclusive. His interest in history led him being appointed Curator of the Lyme Regis Museum. He also worked on a variety of projects - translations from French, essays, poetry and short stories, and a broadly autobiographical work, Daniel Martin.(1977) A Maggot (1985) an 18th century mystery, led to his being hailed as one of the most influential British writers since 1945.

John Fowles became an active community member in Lyme. His interest in history led him being appointed Curator of the Lyme Regis Museum

In 1990 Elizabeth died. Fowles continued to write, and in 1998, Wormholes, a book of essays, appeared. He married again, to Sarah Smith, and lived in Lyme until his death, on November 5th 2005, following a long illness.

Jane Austen visited Lyme in 1803 and 1804, when it was a popular Regency seaside resort.

She used it as a backdrop in Persuasion, when a character falls on the steps from the famous Cobb – Lyme’s artificial pier. Henry Fielding, who stayed in the town in 1725, was also inspired. From a recently impoverished background, but inspired by his education at Eton, he decided a wealthy marriage was his best way forward. In Lyme he encountered beauty and wealth in the form of his distant cousin, 15 year old Sarah Andrew.

After a brawl with her guardian Andrew Tucker, who wanted to marry his son to Sarah, on September 2nd, Henry attempted an

Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in the film of The French Lieutenant’s Woman

20 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

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Literature

The seafront at Lyme

Henry Fielding who stayed in the town in 1725 is said to have based the beautiful Sarah, in his famous story of Tom Jones, from a character living in Lyme

Jane Austen drew from Lyme for Persuasion

abduction of her in Long Alley, where she was walking with her guardian, en route to church.

Fielding was beaten off, and left town and its ‘fat and greasy citizens’ next day. He first published a note ‘giving notice to all the World, that Andrew Tucker and His Son John Tucker are Clowns and Cowards..’ The original note is displayed in Lyme Museum. Fielding is said to have based the character of Sophia Western on the beatiful Sarah, in his famous story of Tom Jones.

Lyme life Lyme Regis, on the Devon/Dorset border, is set in an Area of Outstanding National Beauty. It remains a pretty town, snaking up the coastline, which is itself part of the UNESCO listed World Heritage Sites, for its outstanding geology. Lyme has with a wide choice of gal-

leries and shops – and excellent food, ranging from highly rated restaurants (The Millside is just one) to pub take-away `catches of the day’ for simple beach suppers. For atmospheric accomodation, try the ancient Red Lion Inn’(used in the film,) The Mariners Hotel or The Pilot Boat. There are also plenty of pubs, B&Bs and apartments. You can also stay in the elegant National Trust restored home of John Fowles.

Top of the list for many visitors is a walk along the the famous thirteenth century Cobb, an ancient breakwater, which has splendid views of the coast. Don’t miss the old Town Mill, once a working mill, which has been restored to a modern creative centre. Shop, watch milling demonstrations, or eat in the cafe.

History is everywhere in this town, from the

22 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

sixteenth century Guildhall, to Gun Cliff and the Cobb, from which ships sailed out to meet the Spanish Armada. Lyme is also on the famous fossil rich Jurassic Coast. Learn about an early fossil hunter, Mary Anning, at Lyme Museum, or join a guided fossil search. Take a boat trip, or the Jurassic Coast Bus to explore further.

Make time so see the Undercliffs coastal path, part of The South West Coastal Path, or take in coastal views down to Portland and Chesil Beach.

Further information www.visit-dorset.com Lyme Regis Information Centre.

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Travel

A journey to the Taj Mahal Joe Keane and his wife Cora embarked on an adventure which for most of us would be the trip of a lifetime..

It was middle of May 2018. This was high summer. My wife Cora and I, had come to India via Abu Dhabi for the purpose of visiting one of the most iconic mausoleums in the modern world -the Taj Mahal. But first we would experience New Delhi, a city which in many senses shares a historical past similar to ours. But any resemblance to its colonial heritage, is not apparent in the very modern infra-structure of the airport, which is considered one of the most beautiful in the world.

Having studied the internet assiduously before we came, we were wary of the many negative comments to expect in India, when we arrived. To our relief many of those did not materialise. Modern toilets are fast replacing the traditional squat systems, so often associated with Indian culture. The airport has the general appearance of being hygienic and is on a par with any similar facility in the modern world.

As we had an eVisa (as opposed to a traditional one), we were forewarned about the extended queues, and people prostrating in the sweltering heat. Air conditioning if it existed at all, we were advised, is

24 Senior Times January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

not very effective. Again, this advice was inaccurate and misleading.

We experienced no undue delay, and the usual airport formalities were performed expeditiously and professionally.

Soon, we were excitedly looking forward to our first glimpse of the intriguing metropolis, a city that has excited the expectations of travelers for centuries. But it must wait a little longer! First, we had to choose one of the many options of travel from the airport to Connaught Place - the soul of the urban sprawl - and the location of our hotel. I am not certain if we made the most prudent decision, at least from the point of view of personal comfort. The light rail artery to the city is contemporary and effective. But negotiating the tortuous route to the ticket office is a different story. We took the elevator from the departure hall, and went down to the next level. To our dismay, we had to descend a further twenty steps carrying our luggage, before we got to the ticket booth. At this point two very disheveled wanderers were struggling to retain their composure.

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Travel

The India Gate war memorial located astride the Rajpath, on the eastern edge of the ‘ceremonial axis’ of New Delhi.

A city of ten million citizens does not necessarily demonstrate an orderly, and disciplined queue of people, when all are striving to attain the same purpose. We were greeted by a pulsating mass of human beings, of different faiths, colors and traditions. Above the babble of diverse tongues, one could barely think, not alone speak. Yet, somehow we managed to obtain our tickets. Soon we were on our way in comfortable, air conditioned splendour. This type of adventure is not everyone’s tea party, but for me it epitomizes everything that is magical and exhilarating about foreign travel. There is something immensely satisfying about achieving a challenging objective.

The station at Connaught Place, was yet some distance from our hotel the ‘Shangri La’. When you emerge from the train, you get the first experience of the heat. It hits you with the velocity of a sauna bath. This is when it is imperative to engage the services of the auto rickshaws. People either love them or hate them, but in New Delhi, they are a prerequisite.

Over the next few days they would drive us (literally) to distraction, with the constant haggling and deliberate misunderstandings. You must watch out for such warnings as ‘Sir, that hotel has closed, let me take you to a first class establishment’, and the classic, ‘the street is blocked off due to demonstrations, I will find a better location’. Then you are taken on a ride through the chaotic streets, scarier than fifty roller coasters.

They eventually get you to your desired destination - well almost. More about that later. The hotel was metaphorically an oasis in a concrete jungle. Within its confines, we felt cosseted and safe. The following day, we decided to explore the old city. It is difficult to associate the smells and cacophony of sounds, with the glory and splendour of the heady days of the Raj. Its history of Victorian Imperialism, when Britain’s jurisdiction spread across the Indies and adjoining countries, is well recorded. As 26 Senior Times January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

our teacher long ago (secretly a Royalist) so often quoted ‘the sun never sets on the King’s dominions’. But the ghosts of old authoritarian power, still obtains in the alleyways and side streets of the ancient city, although you may have to search with some diligence to discover their existence.

Like all Asian sprawls, your western nose will soon be assailed by the smells that are a combination of sweat, oriental cuisine and aromas that have been baked and ingrained for centuries in the sun drenched streets. India’s smells are unique. You may be either repulsed or intoxicated by their overwhelming presence, but one thing is certain, you will remember them long after you return home. The colour and variety of the urban scenes, the juggling acrobats, the snake charmers and the persevering touts, will seduce even the most reserved traveler. No visit to Delhi is complete without visiting one of its many picturesque markets.

The array and variety of merchandise is awesome, and despite our lack of enthusiasm, we were tempted to buy one or two souvenirs.

To complete our visit to the city, we were intent on visiting some of the various attractions, and historical sites that are scattered around the metropolis. This is when we had to engage the services of the aforementioned rickshaw drivers again. Despite our best efforts, they succeeded in taking us to places that were of little interest to us. The purpose of course was to have us pay custom to some of their friends. In this battle of wits, we sometimes frustrated their best efforts, but on other occasions they stole a march on us. Nevertheless, we saw many traditional landmarks that will remain etched in our memory. One of those, is the most revered Mahatma Gandhi’s tomb. This is where the great pacifist leader was buried, and it’s a must for anyone visiting Delhi. There is a striking feature of this general area that remains with us. It is the utter tranquility and the sense of serenity that prevails around Ghandi’s burial

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www.121SeniorDating.Com Senior Times l January/February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 63

Travel

Joe Keane and wife Cora in front of the iconic temple

place. We visited many of the city’s important monuments such as India Gate, the memorial to the thousands of Indian and British troops killed in the First World War, the Parliament House and other landmarks.

But soon it was time to go to the Piece De Resistance - Taj Mahal. A train ride in India, has been always one of my pet desires. This wasn’t the typical stereotype, the hooting engine, followed by a long cavalcade of maniacal passengers perched precariously on the roof, and slinging from every available orifice. Those pre-war trains still exist in India, but they are becoming exceedingly rare, as modern technology is slowly catching up. Instead, we traveled on a state of the art locomotive covering the 226 km. In 150 minutes, but in a weird way I would have preferred to experience the traditional rail car. On our train, breakfast was served, but my morbid fear of Deli Belly, induced me to adopt a Lough Derg stance - a day long fast.

After the hustle and bustle of Delhi, the relative peace was a relief. An added bonus was the panoramic views as we whizzed past. Much too fast to obtain decent pictures unfortunately. The scenery was unspoiled, even idyllic. Soon, we were in the city of Agra, where we met our guide and were whisked towards the monument at the usual breakneck speed. I had the brainwave of booking a hotel for the day, so that we could get some respite from the heat later. At 19 Euro it was a steal and a life saver. Because of the extreme heat, even the Indians don’t come in May. So the queues were mercifully short, an unexpected bonus.

28 Senior Times January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

The Taj Mahal, built by a heart broken Emperor in the seventeenth century in memory of his wife who died in childbirth, is mind dazzling. This marble clad tomb has fascinated millions of travelers down through the centuries. It is one of the seven wonders of the world. Our guide clearly held a passionate regard for this pearl in the crown of Indian culture. His insistence in describing every minutiae of its structure was admirable, but from our point of view extremely challenging.

There seemed no respite from the plumes of heat that shimmered from the pristine surfaces. Our temporary refuge in the hotel was a God send for a few hours. Later we saw other interesting sights in the City of Agra.

Soon we were heading back to Delhi and blissful sleep.

In a short time, our trip to this captivating part of the world, would sadly come to a close. You come away with mixed feelings. For sure, this is a country of many contradictions. From a tourist point of view, it offers mystique and wonder. You come to terms with, and enjoy the novelty of the errant monkeys, who pinch your package of sandwiches from the park bench. You forgive the rickshaw drivers their petty misbehavior.

Indian people are amongst the warmest in the world. Yet, you come away feeling sorry for sections of its population who lack welfare and education. One day no doubt, this technologically advanced country, will redress this imbalance, and then India can rightly take her place amongst the great nations of the world.

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Mary’s Musings In her latest observations Mary looks forward to a family Christmas and reading some good books, applauds our science and maths students and takes a philosophical view of the confidence and supply agreement

On Christmas Day I am invited to my son Aengus and his wife Lisa in Athlone with my four lovely grandchildren, ranging in age from 9-17.

Hello again to all the readers of this lovely magazine.

I hope you have come through the autumn/ early winter days well. We have had such a variety of weather, ranging from bitterly cold to very mild and in between lots of rain and gales.

However, Christmas is approaching, and all our thoughts are bound up in that. I hope the weather will be suitable for those who will be travelling to be at home with their own people, or travelling to events over the Christmas season.

I, like everyone else, am busy preparing for Christmas. I am so lucky in that I have a small but very loving family. On Christmas Day, I am invited to my son Aengus and his wife Lisa, who live in Athlone with my four lovely grand-

children, ranging in age from 9-17.

We will have great fun and much laughter all together. Lisa’s Mum, who is a widow too, will be down to stay with her, and also her sister and husband and two children, so it will be a packed household.

In Dublin, my son Feargal and his wife Maeve and their two children will have Christmas Day at home, and then on December 27, they come down to here to be in Athlone and stay until New Year’s Eve when they will go off to Cork to Maeve’s parents who live there.

So all in all, it will be a busy time of family and children, of talking, catching up with the news, hearing about how school is going, but, above all, of so much love between us all. I am so happy to be part of a loving family, and my

30 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

wish would be that everyone who reads these pages will have love in their lives also over the Christmas period, in some form or another.

After all, the whole story of Christmas is that of an infant born in a stable in Bethlehem. I constantly tell that to my grandchildren, and how right it is that they do not lose track of what all the festivity and joy and love is about.

So, what has been going on in the last number of weeks? Well, I was invited down to Maura and Daithi’s Today Show in Cork. I’m sure many of the readers look at it; it is a very good production by RTÉ for over two hours on each weekday. They have a variety of visitors, commentators, sports news, political news, cooking, fashion, anything you would want – it will so easily while away a couple of hours on an afternoon.

Mary’s Musings

I found The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood absorbing and elegantly read. After Christmas, I hope to return to review her follow-up book, The Testaments

I am looking forwarding to reading Hilary Clinton’s latest book Gutsy Women. I have read many reviews of it and I have seen Hillary Clinton speaking on the BBC about it, so I am hopeful of a really good, thorough read.

Cork RTÉ would like me to come down more often and do the book reviews, but it’s a long, long way from Athlone to Cork. However, I went there back in November, and had a lovely time. I reviewed The Handmaid’s Tale, the book

by Margaret Atwood. There was myself and Anton Savage on the panel, and he was not a fan of the book and I was strongly in favour of it. I felt it was beautifully and elegantly written.

Even though many had told me of its depiction as a series on RTÉ, I had never seen it, but I became very engrossed in the book. For some reason, Anton did not at all like the book; he felt it was all inaction, and we had a very strong but robust debate on that theme.

After Christmas, I hope to return to review her follow-up book, The Testaments, for which Margaret Atwood has shared the Booker Prize. We will see who my fellow reviewer will be on that occasion.

I am sure many of the readers, like me, are lining up their Christmas books. As I told you in the autumn, I have finished David Cameron’s book For the Record, and it was, as I anticipated, a terrific read.

I know one of my Christmas gifts from one of my sons is Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s latest book Gutsy Women. I have read many reviews

of it and I have seen Hillary Clinton speaking on the BBC about it, so I am hopeful of a really good, thorough read.

After all, Hillary should know what propelled her, as a gutsy woman, into the American presidential race!!

I want to tell the readers about an interesting TV interlude I had recently. RTÉ are putting on an hour-long programme called Christmas Past in the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. They have asked eight so-called ‘public people’ with their families to sit on a couch and talk about Christmas past and Christmas to come.

They invited me with two of my grandchildren, so off we sailed together – Scott, aged 9, and Sarah, aged 14 – to participate in the

programme. We had great fun and it remains to be seen how the show will turn out, but I am told that it was interesting. I hope maybe some of you might get a chance to look at it. I am always going on and on about my grandchildren; at least you will be able to see two of them, if you catch it on TV. Over in the UK, the General Election motors on, and the outcome is not as yet clear between the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn and the Conservatives led by Boris Johnson. Like many of you, I have watched the debates on BBC and Channel 4, and they make for good viewing. For us here in Ireland, Brexit still remains an unknown quantity. It is not so much that we admire Boris Johnson and the Conservatives, but if they gain power, Brexit, in whatever guise it takes, will come through at the end of January.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 31

Mary’s Musings

There is good news on the maths and science front, in that our young people ranked above average according to re recent OECD report

Many of the people in my party (Fianna Fáil) would have been upset at the Confidence and Supply arrangement which Micheál Martin entered into with Enda Kenny and then Leo Varadkar, in order to put a government in place. I have never been a great enthusiast for this line, and yet it has given us a stable type of democracy when much of the world has been plagued by dissent and discord.

So at least that is another bogey laid to rest, I hope.

Here in Ireland, we had a narrow squeak to avoid a General Election, just in the last few weeks. If the vote had succeeded in Dáil Éireann, it would have meant that many of our doors would have been knocked upon over the Christmas period by people soliciting our votes. I can only envisage the kind of welcome they would receive as they went about that task.

However, that danger has passed. But there is no doubt, and it has already been decided, that in the spring there will be a General Election.

Now, as the readers will know, I have not gone deeply into politics in any of the columns I have written for this magazine. However, of course my whole life has been coloured by politics, and it remains for me an abiding passion.

Many of the people in my party (Fianna Fáil) would have been upset at the Confidence and Supply arrangement which Micheál Martin entered into with Enda Kenny and then Leo Varadkar, in order to put a government in place. I have never been a great enthusiast for this line, and yet it has given us a stable type of democracy when much of the world has been plagued by dissent and discord. So spring of 2020 – anois teacht an earraigh – will see the General Election in Ireland, and of course I will be following all of that, and hopefully sharing much of it with the readers of this magazine.

As I am compiling this, good news has come through on the education front for Ireland. My life has been consumed by both politics and education, and I am always alert to what is the latest in either field.

The good news to which I refer is the OECD Report on second-level students in Ireland between the ages of 14-16. Of all of the OECD countries, we rank third in our literacy and numeracy. Now, that is a marvellous achievement, and a very worthy tribute to all of our teachers, particularly those in the primary schools where it all begins.

I pose these questions in the full realisation that there is an internal debate going on within educational circles as to whether we have gone far enough in the field of innovation and a fresh look at the curriculum. To my mind, we have gone far enough, we have made the necessary changes, and please, please leave the Leaving Certificate alone.

Equally, there is good news on the maths and science front, in that our young people rank above average in those subjects too. But the attendant not-so-good news is that our study of the STEM subjects has fallen back, and that is not good for the onward march of Ireland as a nation on the world stage. Be that as it may, I think it is great that in our literacy and numeracy, we are way ahead, only surpassed in all of the OECD countries by Finland and Estonia. It makes you think, doesn’t it? Estonia is a small country, not that long freed from Soviet dominance, and yet has such a good educational record.

It is our lodestar examination, and one that has gained recognition throughout the world. After all, the recent OECD results show that, and we should stick now with the path which we have laid out.

Those OECD results certainly led me to think about the changes which are being mooted for the Junior Cert and Leaving Cert curriculum and assessment.

Now, let me very clear; I set up the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment) back in 1989 when I was Minister for Education, to bring about very necessary changes in those fields.

However, I feel the ‘innovation’ has gone far enough. Are we in danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and of sacrificing standards in the cause of advanced ways of teaching and learning?

32 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

These are my opinions only. But I do think perhaps over the Christmas period, when we will all be talking together as families, that we should think about education in a very meaningful way. Think about the strides we have made, think of the excellent teachers we have in this country who have been verified and validated now by these OECD results, and just take it easy on innovation and reform!!

I would like to wish all the readers of this lovely Senior Times magazine every happiness and joy and love over the Christmas period. I hope you get a little time to yourself, and I hope you get time to think about life and to plan for the spring and summer. Above all, I hope you have a restful period and that we can all together face into 2020 with renewed optimism and courage.

Happy Christmas to all – go easy and mind yourself.

Slán tamall, Mary O’Rourke

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Creative Writing Eileen Casey

Celebrating the talents of asylum seekers

Some of the contributors to Correspondences pictured with Stephen Rea and Jessica Traynor.

In January, 2019, award winning Poet Jessica Traynor and actor Stephen Rea (one of the foremost actors of his generation) called for expressions of interest from writers, for inclusion in a once-off anthology. Spurred to action by the plight of asylum seekers living in direct provision, Traynor and Rea wanted to do something concrete to bring this situation into the public eye. Their idea was to pair asylum seeking emerging writers who have experienced or are currently undergoing daily life in direct provision with established writers.

Almost a year later, this mentoring undertaking has borne abundant fruit. ‘Correspondences’ was launched during 2019 Dublin Book Festival (November) in Smock Alley. It was a night of celebration, asylum seekers and mentors alike coming together to read their work to an appreciative and very supportive audience. Both Jessica Traynor and Stephen Rea spoke with deep conviction, clearly delighted with the huge turn-out from all corners of the country.

years. Batur Nadir (his pen name under which he wrote his piece) came to Ireland from Afghanistan in 2004 and spent over three years in direct provision (Dublin, Carlow, New Ross). He was only ten years old when civil war, a product of the Russian-American war, broke out in Kabul. For four years his life was a ‘’living hell’, filled with constant fear, hunger, no education, and the sounds of war ever present.

He saw bloodshed, killing, corpses, ethnic cleansing. He suffered emotional, physical and mental abuses which he carries with him today.

It was my privilege to mentor an emerging writer who lived in direct provision for three

Fleeing political repression, and searching for a better life, Batur embarked on a perilous

Aged 14, he fled Kabul’s war and drought, took shelter in a refugee camp (built by UNHCR) in Peshawar that had no electricity.

Like many refugees, he lived nine to a room in a mud house, roofed with timber and bamboo.

He slept on an uneven floor that had jagged plastic rugs. To make pillows, like other refugees, he stuffed cuts of fabric with plastic and paper bags.

36 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

journey, travelling through many countries, encountering life-threatening situations and imprisonment for trespassing borders illegally.

Eventually, he landed in Ireland. However, his application for asylum was refused, but later he was granted permission to remain. After all he had been through prior to Direct Provision, Batur feels guilty to say, in hindsight, that food, accommodation and sleeping conditions were not good.

Batur learnt to speak English while in Ireland, and after permission to stay, he attended I.T Carlow, graduating with BSc (Hons) in Physical Therapy. He specialises in lower back pain.

He currently lives in Kilkenny with his Irish wife and daughter, she is eleven years old. He writes about war in Afghanistan from his direct experiences and cross-cultural communications. He is currently writing his memoir and a book on Biomechanical Management of Lower Back Pain. What follows is a short extract from his memoir, published in ‘Correspondences’.

Under the title Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, Batur gives a powerful sense

Creative Writing

of what it was like for him before fleeing to Ireland. Sometimes we forget the reasons asylum seekers come here, how their lives are so fraught, under threat from violence at any given moment.

The Past is not a Distant Place (Prior to leaving Kabul) For the past two weeks in Kabul, rival forces pounded each other. Then came a short ceasefire that provided an opportunity for escape. It was a scorching summer’s day. I saw a lot of people fleeing, wounded children being carted in wheelbarrows. People piggybacking their essential belongings such as rags, mattresses, cooking pots.

that incarceration – of women in Magdalene Laundries, of children in Industrial Schools and Mother and Baby Homes, of people suffering from mental illness in asylums – was for the benefit of society.” Uppermost in her mind was the ethical dilemma posed by a system, direct provision, introduced in 2000 as a supposedly temporary measure. “Almost twenty years later, this canceral system is still in place. As a citizen of the state, how do I explain this? How will I explain my silence to my children?”

Batur Nadir is in a better place now and feels a kinship with Ireland and its people. While recognising that direct provision should be stopped he also appreciates that there are homeless here also and that the Irish government has a duty of care to those people also.

A solution presented itself when Traynor was invited by Stephen Rea to read some of her poetry at a Field Day’s Right to Have Rights lecture series in 2017-18. Some of her poetry responds to the direct provision system.

Following on from this event, the idea for the anthology was born, “through discussion with activists and artists in the field, all of whom gave sage and practical advice.” Also included in this conversation, together with Rea and Traynor, is Professor Billy Hall, a physician who has worked with both children and adults in direct provision centres. ‘Correspondences’ contains an introduction by Bulelani Mfaco, MASI (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland). This organisation was set up to defend fundamental human rights and to end direct provision.

Mfaco has protested since his high school days when he had to march for textbooks and better school infrastructure. Growing up in an Apartheid ghetto, Khayelitsha in Cape Town, he soon realised that he would to protest for access to land, adequate housing, health care and improved policing. He left his native South Africa due to targeted killings of LGBT+ people where he lived, and sought protection in Ireland.

Mfaco’s opening paragraph cites “something extraordinary” that had happened, which was a protest organised by asylum seekers in Kinsale who “were fed up with unbearable conditions.” This protest effectively sent a message to the Irish government that asylum seekers “were not going to be quiet anymore”. Mfaco’s introduction goes on to highlight injustices experiences in direct provision centres around the country. These injustices concern the limbo asylum seekers are subjected to, “where days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years, waiting for a letter from the Department of Justice and Equality.”

Overcrowding and curfew, lack of nourishing food for nursing mothers, the account of such treatment is a damning indictment of a system which “subjects asylum seekers to petty bureaucratic processes of hotel and B & B managers who have no idea to work with vulnerable people.” The awful reality of suicide, a result of traumatisation is highlighted also.

In her foreword to this very welcome publication, Jessica Traynor makes the point that in the 1950s, industrial schools (such as Artane) were in existence. Her father was a child of de Valera’s Ireland, of McQuaid’s Ireland, growing up in a “society which had been indoctrinated by a conjoined church and state into believing

In her forward, Jessica Traynor makes the important point that “we were keen not to simply ghettoise work in an ephemeral anthology that would create short term engagements with artists and writers in direct provision, and short term results.” Longer term outcomes is that MASI will be the beneficiary of the

Children were screaming and the elderly recited verses from the Koran. They all wanted to get out of Kote Sangi. On the way, I saw a lot of dead bodies and corpses that were swollen and smelled of a million dead and rotting rats.

Exiting the dusty alleys of our neighbourhood, we entered Kote Sangi Chowk roundabout, where smells of gunpowder were still fresh.

Entire blocks of shops and schools were turned into rubble.

I heard heavy firing followed by rocket explosions. I saw men and women falling in the street. I saw a man dropping his disabled grandmother from his back to escape shooting.

We were the lucky ones who made it safely to Kompany area, where we paid a tall, dust-stained, bearded lorry driver to get us to Maidan Shar, Kharote village where we were to stay in my maternal uncle’s house ‘till the war was over in Kabul.

The road was dusty and very bumpy. The faster the car travelled, the more dust and jolting we received. Scorched by the sun and choked with dust, we finally arrived. Scars and wounds from the Soviet war were still visible. Bombed out ruined houses, rusty corpses of Russian tanks were lying in their final graveyards. (extracted from Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience by Batur Nadir, mentored by Eileen Casey).

proceeds from sales. Aside from this, there’s the hope “to create empathy and connections and understandings between a misunderstood and sometimes demonised community, made up of diverse people with complex lives, and the people who have the privilege to live in the Irish state without fear, without suspicion and without prejudice.”

At the launch of ‘Correspondence’ in Smock Alley, poems read on the night included Up The Hill in Mayo by Owodunni Mustapha, a Nigerian, 34-year old single mum of three. She came to Ireland almost five years ago in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency which led to loss of lives and properties which the country is yet to recover from. She currently resides at The Old Convent Accommodation Centre in Ballyhaunis. Her poem tells of her struggle to belong in a community far from home: Up The Hill in Mayo

by Owodunni Mustapha, mentored by Jane Clarke Safely tucked in my yellow wrapper, strapped to my back is my nine-month-old baby with luggage dragged along and my two little fellas running behind me.

We’re in Dublin, the hustle and bustle like Lagos.

Dublin buses remind me of BRT buses in Lagos, the magnificent GPO resembles the Cathedral on Marina Street, the long stretch of O’Connell Street reminds me of Oshodi, everyone in a hurry as if they were at Lagos Island Market.

I feel at ease but it isn’t home.

As we embark on a seemingly endless journey to Mayo, I notice the excitement on the kids’ faces, the thrill in their voices as the bus descends the bridge, their amazement at the train tracks, the smell of the countryside, the sight of cows and sheep, the peace and quiet.

The sight of a ginormous building jolts me back to reality – we arrive like a ‘Johnny Just Come’.

Up the hill we go.

Gates close behind us.

Is this ancient building home?

Life up the hill is turbulent – tension between neighbours, the anger I feel when the kids refer to the town centre as ‘down the hill’ or ‘down the road’.

How do I help the kids feel they belong in the community and not behind the gate?

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 37

Creative Writing I heave a sigh of relief when I go to Castlebar, the green landscape on Westport road and mountain views, the picturesque surroundings of Westport House and the quintessential reverence of Croagh Patrick, how I bask in the euphoria of Knock shrine!

It’s the perfect gift and also, helping others to achieve a better life.

The journey to asylum seems endless; all you can do is persevere and be hopeful when you live up the hill in Mayo.

‘Since I left home at the age of 17, I’ve been conscious of finding a home and later when I had children the overwhelming need to find a safe place for them. These stories, poems and photography echo this.’

-Mary Coughlan, singer

As well as containing poetry, memoir, essay and prose of an exceptional standard, ‘Correspondences’ is a very attractive publication visually. Also included are photography and artwork. The publication is available in bookshops and online from The Stinging Fly (info@stingingfly.org).

Poem by an asylum seeker Urgent and vital and with a fantastic array of voices – if you buy no other book This year, buy this one.’

-Kevin Barry, author

‘When choice is taken away, life becomes trite. The voices of the writers in Correspondences soar in rebellion.’

Melatu Uchenna Okorie, author

Correspondence is now available at The Gutter Bookshop Dublin, Books Upstairs Dublin, Raven Books Dublin, Museum of Literature Dublin (MoLI), The Tudor Artisan Hub Carrick on Suir, Banner Books Ennistymon, O'Mahoney Books University of Limerick and of course online through the Stinging Fly.

Further Education

New report on further education and training highlights diversity of learners – SOLAS A new report into further education and training highlights the diversity of learners. ‘FET: Facts and Figures 2018’, a report on the further education and training (FET) sector in Ireland was published recently by SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority.

Over 175,000 adults were enrolled in further education and training courses in 2018. The report highlights key findings in relation to the age, education and employment background of the learners. The majority of learners are in the under-25 year-old age group, followed by learners aged 55+.

Other key findings include: - Of the almost 175,000 learners, over 70 per cent completed or partially completed their courses in 2018.

- Lifelong learning represented 59 per cent of all learning enrolments, with females making up the majority of enrolments.

- Of all learners, the majority (60.2 per cent) were female.

Commenting on the findings, Andrew Brownlee, CEO of SOLAS, said: ‘Further education and training presents an opportunity for people of all ages, including older workers, to upskill and reskill, ensuring their employability as traditional roles change.

‘A key finding from the report is the high percentage of learners who completed their courses in 2018, highlighting the high-quality teaching environments and support given to learners by FET providers.’

FET trends amongst marginalised groups A number of sub reports were launched as part of FET: Facts and Figures 2018, focusing on the Traveller Community, Roma Community, Lifelong Learners, and Disability. Key findings included: 38 Senior Times l January - February l www.seniortimes.ie

- In 2018, the total number of Traveller enrolments reported in further education and training was 1,212.

- Of the Traveller enrolments, 41.2 per cent had primary education or lower, with the majority unemployed.

- Adult literacy courses and Youthreach programmes had the highest number of Traveller enrolments.

- In 2018, there were 8,644 learners with at least one self-declared disability enrolled in the further education and training programmes.

- Of the Roma community, one-third had primary education or lower.

Commenting further, Mr. Brownlee said: ‘Further education and training plays a vital role in supporting individuals, communities, and businesses. One of its key strengths is the role it plays in supporting those who have traditionally been marginalised, or who face additional barriers in accessing education, and the findings in this report highlights the value of FET in communities throughout Ireland.’

The report can be downloaded on: http://www.solas.ie/Pages/SOLAS-Research.aspx.

Note: SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority, a statutory agency under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills, was established in October 2013. Its role and functions are set out in the Further Education and Training Act, 2013. SOLAS is responsible for funding, coordinating and providing strategic direction to the Further Education and Training sector in Ireland. For more information, please visit www.solas.ie.

Further information on SOLAS can be found at: www.solas.ie.

Follow SOLAS on Twitter: @solasfet.

Dublin Dossier Pat Keenan on happenings in and around the capital

let his bones rest in exile, a place to visit and reflect on this sad era of our history. I have come to share his thoughts that when Ireland became independent, we were still a far way from being free. In Conversations with James Joyce (published by The Lilliput Press), again his friend Arthur Power quotes him: ‘..since the Free State came in there is less freedom.

The Church has made inroads everywhere.. and I do not see much hope for us intellectually. Once the Church is in command she will devour everything.’

Ireland's religious censors rejected him and when he died the issue of repatriation was raised by Nora. Ireland's then Minister for External Affairs, Seán MacBride, who had facilitated the supposed repatriation of W.B Yeats, said no and hand wrote ‘No Action Required’ on the repatriation documents, after all, in 1949 Ireland was a Catholic state.

Book of Kells shelved until March Last year this Dubliner became one of the more than a million people who visited the must-see for tourists attraction, but not so urgent for the average Jackeen – ‘ah sure we know it's there’. Well, for a while, I'm afraid not.

The Book of Kells is presently not on public display in Trinity College Dublin until March 2020. due to conservation works on the display area.

A full colour replica will be put on display in its place in the library Long Room, and there will be a 15 per cent discount on tickets while the manuscript is in storage.

Talbot St James’ Joyce sculpture

Let Joyce’s bones rest in exile A motion to have the remains of James Joyce and his wife Nora Barnacle repatriated to Ireland was recently put forward by two Councillors of the Dublin City Council, anticipating the centenary in 2022 of the publication of Ulysses.

The Joyces are buried with their son and his son in Fluntern Cemetery in the Zürichberg district of Zürich.

And it is right and proper that they should continue to rest there. After all James and Nora self-exiled themselves from Dublin for many reasons but Dublin was then and always would be his core obsession.

Talking to his friend, the artist/art critic Arthur Power he said: ‘For myself, I always write about

Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal’. So whether he was living in Zürich, Paris, Rome or Trieste or is dead in Zürich, his books are now freely available in Ireland, no longer banned, no longer regarded as obscene.

Joyce is quintessentially Dublin, born, bred, educated and his writing source are the odd wits and varied characters walking its streets, and it is now and forever the city where he is fondly remembered by natives and 'runners-ins' from all round the world every Bloomsday.

Keep in mind, the Dublin he left was not the free and easy Dublin we love and pride ourselves on today and this is why we should

Eight Irish novels nominated for Dublin Literary Award Eight novels from Ireland are among 156 books nominated by libraries around the world for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award.

They are A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne, Milkman by Anna Burns, The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly, Begotten Not Made

by Cónal Creedon, Orchid and the Wasp by Caoilinn Hughes, Skin Deep by Liz Nugent, Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park and Normal People by Sally Rooney The book that received most nominations was There There the first novel by a Cheyenne and Arapaho author Tommy Orange, exploring the range and depth of modern Native American

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 39

Dublin Dossier

Peter Rock and dad Dickie at The Exchequer’s 10th anniversary

life. It was nominated by 13 libraries in Canada, Greece, Ireland, and USA. With the winner receiving €100,000, this award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English.

Nominations include 50 novels translated into English and those nominated by libraries from 40 countries worldwide. The winner of the prize in 2019 was American author Emily Ruskovich for her first novel, Idaho.

All the novels nominated for the Award are available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries. The full list of 156 titles has been published in a free newsletter, and all details are also on the newly revamped Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie.

Most libraries throughout the country should be able to provide any of these books.

The shortlist will be published on April 2 and the Lord Mayor of Dublin will announce the winner on June 10, 2020.

Gastro pub Celebrates ten years Was a time when if you asked for something to eat in a pub a smart Alec barman might reply, definitely rhetorically: "what do you think this is, a restaurant?’

When The Exchequer at 3-5 Exchequer Street opened 10 years ago, we were new to the idea of the 'gastropub' and as for the barman to be retitled 'mixologists' - I'd say that particular term would have carried a more worrying thought for your average 'glass of plain' drinker. The Exchequer was one of the first and we were certainly new to the phenomena of the '6 Nations Sausage'. That was part of the revolution, made from the ingredients of all Six Nations, Irish Whiskey, Scottish Barley, English mustard, Welsh leeks, French garlic and Italian sun dried tomatoes. On Hallowe'en last, The Exchequer celebrated their first decade and on the night The Peter McVerry Trust, their chosen charity over the years, received a donation from a percentage of all food sales and donations from staff and customers.

‘The Exchequer has become exactly the Gastropub we wanted to create,’ said owner Peter Rock. ‘We’re open from midday till late, and although just steps from the busiest streets in Dublin, it’s an oasis of the very best food and drink, in charming surroundings.’

Peter's dad, showband era legend Dickie Rock was on hand to help blow out the birthday candles and he'd know a thing or two about that.

Dickie, now 82, announced his retirement late last year. He spends half the year in his second home on the Costa Del Sol where you will see him run along the beach everyday. I have seen him many times running the beaches around Howth. I bet he'll still do a few gigs.

40 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Dermot Kennedy’s aloft homecoming tour ‘Are you related to Dermot?’ - the young lady had to raise her voice into my inclined ear. The place was still buzzing with a full-on sound following the 'Homecoming Tour of Dermot Kennedy' at Aloft Hotel Dublin in the heart of the Liberties. I fully understood why she asked, I was probably the oldest person there, sipping my pint absorbed in thought.

Turns out she was a young journalist admirably seeking a nice background story - alas for her, I was not related. The venue was the hotel's WXYZ bar on the top floor surrounded with a spectacular view across Dublin, even out to the Wicklow mountains.

When singer/songwriter Dermot Kennedy was 16 (he's now 28), his dad would drive him from Rathcoole in the outer suburbs of Dublin to busk in Grafton Street. He believes busking developed his sound, described by New York based GQ magazine as ‘a rich, reverbant voice’- I, and my dictionary was unfamiliar with the word 'reverbant' - now after his performance, I know what it means - reckon it derives from 'reverberate' and it naturally occurs in his voice.

Dermot was back to Dublin, a homecoming to where it all began from crowd filled tours in

Dublin Dossier

Stena Estrid..next stop Dublin

Marsh’s Library: did it inspire Bram Stoker?

Europe, Australia and the US, prestige places like the Coachella Stage – the one that draws the largest crowds at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.

The Liberties is one of the oldest parts of the city and today it is renovating into a truly trendy area. And a reason why Marriott would locate Aloft Dublin here at Mill Street. There are currently only four Aloft hotels in Europe, all are in key city-break destinations - Dublin, London, Liverpool and Madrid. They plan two more openings soon in Munich and The Hague. Aloft is Marriott International's new generation 'always on' hotels for 'music fans and tech-savvy travellers - an incubator of new ideas.' It's a far cry from the days of ‘Biddy Mulligan the pride of the Coombe’.

Sowing the seeds of Dracula In Marsh’s Library As part of celebrating Bram Stoker Festival last year, I walked in the footsteps of the Dracula author, around the side of St.Patrick's Cathedral into St.Patrick's Close, through the archway's iron gate, up the steps through the

small sunny and shaded garden into Marsh's Library. Inside it is more or less unchanged since the day in 1866 when an 18 year old student from Trinity College first signed the visitor's book: 'Abraham Stoker' and he wrote in his address of the time as 4 Orwell Road, Rathgar. The same galleys of dark old oak shelves, stacked with all the same books, and we know from the register, every book Stoker took down to study, including old maps of Central Europe from where Dracula would begin his nightmarish journey.

At the end of the gallery, the rather daunting three cages with wire doors where readers would be locked-in while reading rare and precious books. Narcissus Marsh, Church of Ireland Archbishop of St.Patrick's, who had this, the first public library in Ireland, built was concerned about the possibility that some of the public might not be entirely trustworthy. Other places across Europe would chain readers to the walls but Marsh came up with the cages solution. The scull in one of the cages is not one of these miscreants, it is a cast of the skull of Stella (Esther Johnson), the companion of Gulliver’s Travels author, Archbishop Jonathan Swift. Incidentally Swift's scull cast is in the

Cathedral next-door. Remarkably both were done at the same time (1835) by Oscar Wilde's father Sir William Wilde, a well known and leading eye and ear surgeon in Dublin.

New Stena DublinHolyhead ferry begins service next year Stena Estrid, first of five new Stena vessels built by the AVIC Weihai Shipyard in north-western China, is on her six-week long journey to its new home on the Irish Sea, where it will soon begin service on the Dublin to Holyhead route. Stena Line CEO Niclas Mårtensson said that the delivery of Stena Estrid will provide ‘a more environmentally sustainable way to travel with more efficient loading and unloading operations, increased freight capacity and the best Scandinavian quality, style and design, including the Hygge Lounge and the latest upgrade of our premium area Stena Plus.’

The new ferry will provide a freight capacity of 3,100 lane metres and the space for 120 cars and 1,000 passengers and crew.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 41

Relax & Unwind

Spa Resort Special Report The Montenotte Hotel - award winning boutique hotel with an eclectic vibe and strong sense of fun Built within the former 18th Century residence of a Merchant Prince, The Montenotte Hotel is now a modern, award winning boutique hotel with an eclectic vibe and strong sense of fun. From its elevated position, the hotel sports unrivalled views across Cork City and Cork’s working harbour. Within this intriguing space, every comfort is considered from the luxury touches of an in-house private cinema, showing nightly movies to the beautiful landscaped, tiered Victorian gardens.

The hotel boasts 107 luxuriously furbished bedrooms and 26 oneand two-bedroom apartments. All day dining is facilitated in Panorama Bistro & Terrace where you can enjoy a light lunch, dinner or an Afternoon Tea with the spectacular views of the city. Wellness facilities include the health club with 20 metre swimming pool, sauna, steam room and gym and an award-winning Bellevue Spa offering a wide range of treatments using Dermaviduals as well as our own

product range – Bellevue Botanicals in both body and face care.

With 6 treatment rooms, relaxation area and style suite, you will be sure to leave feeling relaxed, revitalised and ready to face the day.

Find out more www.themontenottehotel.com We have a special room rate discount of 15% for the Senior Times readers, available until 31st of March 2020. Use promo code ST20 at the reservation stage to avail of the discount, to book your stay, contact us on 021 453 0050 or email reservations@themontenottehotel.com

50 Incredible treatments to choose from at the Falls Hotel & Spa

Spoil yourself in the unique award winning Riverspa at the Falls Hotel & Spa in Ennistymon and enjoy the many luxurious treatments that are on offer. Located at the heart of the Burren and the Wild Atlantic Way, the Riverspa is the ultimate setting. Using products from Elemis and Voya, there are over 50 incredible treatments to choose from including facials, massages, body wraps, dry floats, body scrubs, mud treatments and bathing ceremonies. Recently introduced is a range of Cancer Care spa treatments by Voya, which have been specially developed for those going through and post cancer treatment.

The spa’s twelve treatment rooms have breathtaking views over the river Inagh and the fifty acres of woodlands surrounding the hotel.

The hotel gets it’s electricity from a hydro electric turbine on this river, so relax even more knowing that a clean energy source is keeping 42 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

it all going! There are treatment rooms that cater for couples only including the King’s Bath, the Mud Rasul and a double Massage room.

Spa guests have full access to their Aqua Centre facilities such as the 20m swimming pool and Jacuzzi, the hydrotherapy pool, steam room and sauna and the wonderful outdoor hot tub. So give yourself plenty of time to indulge!

Packages can be selected from our brochure or if you have something specific in mind, we can tailor a Spa Day to suit you. Spa days can include lunch in our Dylan Thomas Bar or Afternoon Tea at your leisure. Time in the River Spa takes you away from the mania of everyday life and lets you relax, revive and restore your body and mind...www.fallshotel.ie

Resort

Relax & Unwind

Unwind and relax at theManor West Hotel & Country Club 'Enjoy some precious 'me time' in the relaxing ambiance of our Harmony Wellness Suite located in Manor West Hotel, Tralee Co Kerry. Completely unwind and relax with its therapeutic panoramic views of the magnificent Slieve Mish mountains.

Our treatments menu for both male and female clients is from Phytomer- 'From the Sea to the skin' the uncontested expert in marine based cosmetology. Our highly trained spa therapist will tailor any treatment for your individual needs so you can drift away cocooned in an oasis of calm designed to balance your inner harmony and emerge relax and unwind.

Phytomer is a French marine based cosmetics brand with a range of toning, firming and anti aging products that both take their inspiration and ingredients from the ocean. The name Phytomer translates as ' ocean plants' with the brands research focusing on the ocean seaweed and coastal plants innovative, intensely relaxing and deeply holistic Phytomer products create a relaxing atmosphere, complimented by the gentle massages with all of the treatments, allowing you to let go for a prolonged sensory experience. ' Manor West Hotel & Leisure Club, Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland T: +353 (0)66 719 4500 E: info@manorwesthotel.ie www.manorwesthotel.ie

The Heritage - Your Own Kind of Perfect

The Heritage offers a tranquil oasis of calm just off the M7 motorway at junction 15 in the heart of Co. Laois. Situated in the quaint village of Killenard The Heritage is the ideal place to get away from it all. Our bedrooms and suites offer breathtaking views of both our golf course and the beautiful Laois countryside. All rooms are equipped with a fridge, state of the art Nespresso machine, deep luxurious mattresses and crisp linen of the highest quality.

Relax and unwind at The Heritage Spa, one of Ireland’s largest spa’s with 7000 square feet of Thermal Suite experience and a recent winner of the Tatler Award for our signature massage. With 14 treatment rooms, relaxation area and hydro pool this is the ultimate in pampering.

44 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Choose from one of fantastic dining options. Enjoy dinner in our newly refurbished restaurant Blake’s with a mouthwatering menu full of organic, local Laois produce.

After dinner, retire to our bar, Seven and sip on a pint of our very own Heritage Red Ale, grown, brewed and poured in Co Laois.

The Heritage, Killenard, County Laois, Ireland R32 PW10 T: +353 (0) 57 8645500 E: info@theheritage.com www.theheritage.com

Active Retired 2 night stay As a golden years guest we offer this midweek package at a reduced rate with lots of extras to enjoy during your stay including: •

2 Nights bed and breakfast

•

Afternoon Tea in The Galleria on one afternoon during your stay

•

Access to a daily leisure class in our gym (classes change daily but feature Aqua Aerobics, Stretch & Tone and Pilates classes)

•

A 30 Minute Spa treatment per guest during your stay (finish off your day with a muscle melting 30 minute back, neck and shoulder massage or a reviving mini facial with access to The Heritage Spa Experience.

•

Full use of the hotel leisure facilities

•

A delicious evening meal in Blake’s Restaurant on one evening

Stay Sun-Thurs on selected dates The Heritage, Killenard, County Laois, Ireland R32 PW10 t +353 (0)57 864 5500 theheritage.com

S TAY from

€465 total price

FBD HOTELS & RESORTS

Relax & Unwind

Serenity Spa at The Rose Hotel Serenity Spa at The Rose Hotel is a haven of peace and tranquility, allowing you to escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday living and treat yourself to some well-deserved me-time.

Situated in one of the most picturesque parts of Ireland, retreat to a place where time stands still and relax in Serenity Spa at The Rose Hotel. During your stay, allow the worries of the world drift away with an indulgent treatment in one of the spa’s bespoke treatment rooms, providing guests with a tranquil space to completely relax. With each treatment room designed to provide a sanctuary of wellbeing and rejuvenation with special design features, colours, textures and mood lighting, you cannot help but feel at ease from the moment you arrive at this award-winning spa.

Ensuring that the individual requirements of their guests are met, the professionally trained spa therapists at Serenity Spa have carefully selected world acclaimed ELEMIS Skincare Therapy products, using their knowledge and expertise to work with guests on choosing suitable products and therapies for their needs. Nourish your mind, body and soul with an indulgent spa treatment, enjoy some time in the steam room and sauna, or linger a little longer in the beautiful surroundings of the spa.

The Spa at Castlemartyr Resort

A haven of tranquility and respite, Serenity Spa will leave everyone feeling rejuvenated and renewed, no matter the occasion. For more information on Serenity Spa at The Rose Hotel or to book a treatment, visit www.therosehotel.com or call +353 (0)66 7199111.

Serenity Spa, The Rose Hotel, Dan Spring Road, Tralee, Co. Kerry.

ACTIVE RETIRED BREAKS IN BEAUTIFUL TRALEE

Situated on 220 acres of open meadows, manicured lawns and formal gardens, the award-winning Castlemartyr Resort Spa is situated in the perfect natural setting.

The Spa at Castlemartyr Resort provides an array of treatments designed to nurture the mind, body and spirit, introducing a range of therapies that incorporate your well-being. Utilising the latest in ESPA and Germaine de Capuccini products and treatments, we believe you will experience the most unique, unforgettable spa therapies with results to match.

All treatments can be tailored to suit individual needs and with a selection of over 50 available, all in full accessible therapy rooms, we offer something for everyone. The Castlemartyr Resort Signature Spa package is our most popular, with a Spa treatment and light lunch in the Knight’s Bar priced at €114 per person.

For more information call 021 421 9060 or visit castlemartyrresort.ie.

46 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

APRIL & SEPTEMBER 2 NIGHTS DBB €130 PPS 3 NIGHTS DBB €185 PPS

MAKE TRALEE YOUR BASE FOR A PERFECT KERRY GETAWAY OCTOBER TO MARCH 2 NIGHTS DBB €120 PPS 3 NIGHTS DBB €175 PPS

Tel 066-719 4500 www.manorwesthotel.ie

Tel 066-7106300 www.theashehotel.ie

YOUR WINTER BREAK OVERLOOKING CORK CITY

A special room rate discount of 15% for the Senior Times readers is available until 31st of March 2020.

Use promo code ST20 at the reservation stage to avail of the discount.

To book your stay, contact us on 021 453 0050 or email reservations@themontenottehotel.com

OVER 50’S MIDWEEK BREAKS Enjoy a midweek break in Tralee, our Over 50’s breaks include Bed/Breakfast & Dinner each evening and complimentary Tea/Coffee & Scones on arrival.

2020

PACKAGES

January-March & November-December

2 Dinner, B&B

€ 1 10 pps

3 Dinner, B&B

€160 pps

Single Room Supplement

April 1st-14th 17th-31st May May & October June & September

July & August

€115 pps

€135 pps

€155 pps

€165 pps

€185 pps

€205 pps

€28 per night

To book call us today 066 7199100 or book online www.therosehototel.com The Rose Hotel, Dan Spring Road, Tralee, Co. Kerry. V92 HKA4. Email: reservations@therosehotel.com

Golf Supermex cards 80

Dermot Gilleece on the legend that is Lee Trevino

Lee Trevino was 80 on December 1st. The milestone was notable, not least for the winner of six major championships, but for the first American golfer in modern times to have achieved such prominence without coming through the college system.

Trevino was born into humble circumstances in Dallas, Texas. And he never forgot it, even after his prodigious skills had delivered 70 tournament victories and more than $20 million in tournament earnings. Nor was there ever a hint of envy at his more fortunate peers. Indeed his progress through the game was marked by an irrepressible sense of fun, which has invariably delighted his many admirers.

I first became aware of it during the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews where he came into the media centre for interview, early in the week. It being a beautiful summer’s day, he was asked at the end of press grilling what he planned to do for the remainder of the afternoon.

‘I’m going down on the beach to brush up my tan,’ came the mischievous reply from this dark-skinned product of Mexican forebears.

Trevino was born into humble circumstances in Dallas, Texas. And he never forgot it, even after his prodigious skills had delivered 70 tournament victories and more than $20 million in tournament earnings.

He never lost the gift of keeping his fans amused. Like on the first tee where he was liable to throw his golf ball into a bucket of water while loudly urging it to ‘get plenty to drink now, so you won't be thirsty on the course.’ Then, as if he had betrayed a confidence, he would whisper: ‘You know, I used to soak them in the commode’.

June 1967 marked his emergence as one of the all-time great talents of the game. Among other things, a fifth-place finish behind Jack Nicklaus in the US Open at Baltusrol, meant there would be no return to cleaning clubs, polishing shoes and picking up range balls as a general dogs body back in El Paso, Texas.

48 Senior Times l January - February 2019 l www.seniortimes.ie

I hope that, one day, my grandchildren will ask,

“What WAS cancer?�

You can help make cancer a thing of the past by leaving a gift to the Irish Cancer Society in your Will.

Contact Aoife McDarby at 01-2316629, email amcdarby@irishcancer.ie or speak to your solicitor. www.cancer.ie/legacy

Golf

Lee Trevino with the British Open, one of 70 tournament victories

in his wake. During the final round, they had gathered at the fifth tee relatively close to the clubhouse when their quarry appeared, wearing a faded green shirt, baggy black trousers, black shoes and a black, baseball-type hat.

After encountering Trevino in an epic 54-hole battle, Raymond Floyd told colleagues: ‘Boys, there’s a little Mexican kid out in El Paso and when he comes out here, you’ll have to make room for him.’

Sommers wrote: ‘He stood up to the ball with an open stance, his left foot drawn back from the line of flight, and took the club back on a flat, awkward plane. But when he moved through the ball, his club head followed the line of flight for what seemed an exaggerated distance. He had the longest extension through the ball since [Ben] Hogan.’

The man who would come to be known as Supermex, visited these shores for the first time three years later, for the Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship at Portmarnock. And curiously, he struggled in equinoctial winds in an event dominated by Australia’s Bruce Devlin, the so-called Thin Man of the tour.

Over the remainder of 1967, the 27-year-old won more than $27,000 and was voted Rookie of the Year. And the following June at Oak Hill CC, he picked up $30,000 as winner of the US Open, four strokes clear of Nicklaus in second place. The pudgy kid with the coal-black hair, nutbrown skin and white, even teeth, had well and truly arrived.

Though he missed only three greens while guiding the bigger, American ball, through fierce winds on the opening day, Trevino complained: ‘Any time a guy hits that many greens in this kind of wind, he deserves better than a 72.’

Though I had caught fleeting glimpses of Trevino at Portmarnock in 1970, his appearance in the 1985 Irish Open at Royal Dublin was far more rewarding. That was when enduring admiration for Christy O’Connor was evident when he enthused: ‘Christy’s swing flows like fine wine.’ In the event, Trevino overcame an opening 78 to be tied 34th behind his great compadre, Seve Ballesteros.

Before joining America’s PGA Tour, he was assistant professional at Horizon Hills GC. The bulk of his earnings came from money matches throughout the state of Texas of which a particularly notable encounter was against a promising tour player named Raymond Floyd.

It was arranged by golf enthusiast, Martin Lettunich, a wealthy cotton-farmer who clearly enjoyed the action. We’re told that when Floyd drove up to Horizon Hills in his white Cadillac, Trevino rushed out of the pro shop to greet him, asking politely if he needed his clubs cleaned.

Pleased with all the attention, the visitor proceeded to the locker-room where the helpful menial unpacked his clubs and polished his shoes.

‘Who am I playing?’ asked Floyd. ‘You’re looking at him,’ replied the pudgy, 5ft 7ins figure standing before him. Floyd couldn’t resist saying: ‘You mean they bet on you!’

Then, on being asked by a local whether he would like to check out the course, Floyd responded: ‘Hell no. I’m playing this locker-room guy. I don’t need to look at no course.’

The match took the form of 54 holes over three days. On the first day, Floyd shot 66, Trevino 65. On day two, Floyd shot another 66 but Trevino replied with a 64. Eventually, it all rested on the final hole the following day when Floyd scored an eagle to win by a stroke.

As he drove away, the future winner of four major titles starting with the PGA Championship before that decade was out, leaned out of the Cadillac’s window with the parting shot: ‘I’ll see you all later. There’s easier games than this on tour.’ And by way of emphasising the point, he subsequently told tour colleagues: ‘Boys, there’s a little Mexican kid out in El Paso and when he comes out here, you’ll have to make room for him.’

In his outstanding book The US Open: Golf’s Ultimate Challenge, Bob Sommers recalls how observers at the 1967 US Open were eventually drawn to this remarkable Mexican who was leaving established players 50 Senior Times l January - February 2019 l www.seniortimes.ie

Two years later, Trevino was at Baltray for The Legends Cup in which, for once, the participants were worthy of the title. It was Monday July 20th 1987, the day after Nick Faldo stunned the golfing world by winning the Open Championship at Muirfield with 18 straight pars.

Trevino and Arnold Palmer lost a four-ball match against the Irish pairing of Des Smyth and Himself, not that the outcome mattered. ‘Lee gave a clinic on the fourth tee, which had a large, local crowd enthralled,’ recalled Barry Reddan, the Co Louth captain that year. ‘Knowing that he was famous as a fader of the ball, they insisted that he hit a few draws, which he did to perfection. It was a great occasion.’

My last meeting with Trevino was at the actual Legends Tournament in Savannah, in 2010. I remembered a tribute he had paid 20 years previously to a very close golfing friend. ‘Every generation or so, there emerges a golfer who is a little bit better than anybody else,’ he said. ‘I believe Ballesteros is one of them. On a golf course he's got everything. I mean everything: touch, power, know-how, courage and charisma.’

Now, Trevino was recalling a very different Seve. ‘When he went back home [from the US] and there was a tragedy involving his girlfriend, I then heard he had a brain tumour,’ he said. ‘I lost my mother-in-law with a brain tumour and my wife and I were very concerned because that's the one place where cancer is very difficult to overcome. ‘But I'll tell you one thing about Seve. He's held on a helluva lot longer than most people with that type of cancer. It tells you what type of a fighter he is. He was always a magician on the golf course.’ On May 7th of the following year, Seve departed to verdant fairways in the great beyond.

Meanwhile, back in Savannah, Trevino didn’t remain serious for long. Noticing that a young woman was eyeing him rather curiously, he couldn't resist the comment: ‘Oh you don't have to worry about me. My wife allows me only one pill for the week.’ With that, he was gone.

Book review

Getting personal Colette Sheridan talks to Brian O’Connell who has recently published a book based on the human interest stories that are personal ads. in newspapers and magazines.

The personal ads that appear in newspapers and magazines , mostly regional ones, are a rich repository of stories as journalist, Brian O'Connell, discovered when he was starting out in his career. Ennis-born but Cork-based O'Connell, a reporter on 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' on RTE Radio One, has written a book entitled 'The Personals - The human stories behind the small ads.'

O'Connell's interest in the personal ads was sparked when he was in need of quirky human interest stories to pitch to his editors. He has now parlayed his quest into a book. Highly entertaining and sometimes poignant, it deals with ads ranging from one for a pair of breeding monkey for sale (with or without cage) to a man selling a nineteenth century hearse.

Throw into the mix over fifty pages dedicated to the heartbreaking stories behind ads declaring engagement rings and wedding dresses for sale and you've got all human (and a bit of animal) life here.

Sources of personal ads include the Echo newspaper in Cork, the lonely hearts column in Ireland's Own and the classified section in the Irish Farmer's Journal.

Despite our digital age, "quite a number of mostly regional newspapers have a commitment to publishing personal ads," says O'Connell. He also scours the online ads on the likes of DoneDeal, Adverts.ie and Gumtree.

"The most interesting ones for me tend to be from print (publications.) I decided to use the ads as a doorway into contemporary Irish life.

My book goes back to about seven years ago up to today. Some of the unusual stories involved people living quite isolated lives.

They came through print. Obviously, these people wouldn't have access to technology and wouldn't be using the internet. It was really fascinating to spend time with these people."

Getting people to open up was Brian's challenge. In some cases, he doesn't give the names of the people he interviewed as the subject matter was too delicate. Some people, he says, were delighted to be able to talk to him. Others thought he was a scam merchant.

But over time, he built up ways of contacting people and winning their trust.

"I never know what I'm going to get when I ring someone. A person with an engagement ring

Brian O’Connell

and wedding rings for sale agreed to meet me. She hadn't told many people her story. It was too raw. Essentially, she met somebody who lives abroad. It was a kind of whirlwind romance with a lot of skyping each other. They got married in his home country in the Middle East. She paid for the application for his visa to Ireland which cost several thousand Euros.

He didn't get a visa. Lo and behold, two weeks later, he got married to someone else. So she was left on the line with the cost of the visa application, the solicitor's bills and the rings which she bought in Dubai. They're fabulous looking rings. She was selling them to clear her VISA bill. She said it was like something you'd see on Jeremy Kyle. She couldn't believe it happened to her. She's an intelligent, professional woman

who said she couldn't believe she fell for this.

She had travelled a bit of a journey herself in terms of her own development. She had come to the realisation that she prefers being open to the idea of love even though what happened to her was an absolute disaster. She didn't want to be somebody who was closed. She was trying not to let it affect her and getting rid of the rings was the first step for her."

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 51

Book review

Indicating just how desperate this woman was, she admitted that she tried to bargain with the man, saying it was ok for him to remain married to the other woman and herself at the same time. She pointed out that in his culture, this man could have four wives.

Now that she has come to her senses, she looked into divorcing the man. But she can't legally do it from Ireland. She could hire a solicitor in his country but she was advised not to go to the Middle East."

Another isolated man, living in Cork, placed an ad in the Echo last year, looking for a medium sized dog. "This pensioner, who had been in the Congo serving with the defence forces, ended up telling me about his family. He had been born in a county home and didn't really know his mum and didn't know who his father was.

He told me about trying to connect with his family (which includes siblings) and the impact that has had on his life. You could see why dogs were like family to him."

There's an odd story in the book about a man who had advertised for a DVD of 'The Remains of the Day,' starring Anthony Hopkins.

O'Connell made contact with this man who turned out to have an obsession with Anthony Hopkins. He had watched almost everything the actor had ever appeared in.

His last dog had died and he reckoned that a new dog would probably be his last as he was getting on in age. The man became emotional when he spoke about the dog that had died.

An ad on DoneDeal in July 2017 read as follows: 'Horse-drawn Victorian hearse, very old.

For restoration. Circa 1870. Original condition, needs slight work to restore. Might consider part exchange. Also selection of traps and carriages. €2,850.'

"On one level, it is quite sad that somebody had to put an ad in a paper for a DVD. It means he doesn't have a social circle and doesn't have the wherewithal to go online. These are the people I really wanted to meet."

The man's garden was unkempt and his cluttered sitting room included seats piled high with newspapers. The walls were full of newspaper cuttings, mainly about George Best and Pelé.

There were lots of Diet Coke bottles on the floor.

The day O'Connell met this man, a well preserved second-hand copy of 'The Remains of the Day' had arrived. The man already had it on VHS and had worn it out because he had watched the film so often. His fascination with the Hollywood actor started when he saw him in 'The Elephant Man' in 1980.

The man lives with his brother in what was the family house. He knows all the lines and character names of the thirty-five films Hopkins was in from 1968 to 2005.

Going to Mass is this man's only social outlet.

He says 'hello' to people, 'but it stops there.'

Once a year, he drinks a can of Guinness - on Christmas day.

Intrigued, O'Connell met Mike Fleming, the man behind the ad, in Boherbue on the Cork/Kerry border. Fleming turned out to be a collector and a trawler of the small ads. O'Connell writes: "Dotted around his property were many items of historical interest, from old labouring tools to a collection of vintage tractors and ploughs, to old bar signs, vintage cars and old bottles.

There was even a museum scene depicting an Irish Famine wake in one corner of an outhouse, complete with life-size figures and a realistic-looking dead body in a bed. I mean, go figure."

Echo (now the Echo) during Christmas 2014, O'Connell had to satisfy his curiosity. When he phoned the contact number, a man with a rural accent said the monkeys were gone.

He put O'Connell in touch with the buyer, Ivan Rumley, who has a pet farm outside Cork city.

Rumley said the male monkey was sold but he would introduce O'Connell to the female.

It turned out to be a marmoset monkey, one of the smallest breeds in the world. She was three years old at the time. The seller of the monkeys had bought them as pets from a dealer in Northern Ireland. When the owner of the monkeys fell ill, he needed to offload them quickly and turned to the small ads. Ivan Rumley bought the pair for more than €1,000.

'To be honest, I was only looking in the Echo for a pony,' he told O'Connell. All in a day's work for a journalist who describes himself as nosey and curious. He certainly has a nose for a story.

And the headline above the monkey story in the book reads: 'A Monkey is for Life - Not Just For Christmas.'

Where did the hearse come from? Fleming thinks it's from north Cork, perhaps Doneraile.

He fell for it and received a lot of calls about it, including from undertakers who wanted it as a showpiece. He had trouble trying to sell it. He said that he'd like to see a buyer completely refurbish it. 'But the most important thing is someone with the €2,000. After that, we wish them good luck and hopefully they won't need it for personal use for a long time to come.'

As for the pair of breeding monkeys, advertised in the pet pages of the then Evening

52 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

The Personals by Brian O'Connell is published by Harper Collins at £12.99.

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Fit The indoor & outdoor activities supplement

Edited by Conor O’Hagan

Walking

The Spirit of Christmas Walking

Conor O’Hagan exhorts us all to get up and get out there over the festive season It’s customary these days – almost obligatory in some circles – to see Christmas in the negative, lamenting vulgar excess and over-indulgence, urging moderation followed by atonement in the New Year.

I once heard a radio healthy eating guru estimating a typical Christmas Day calorie intake. The figure was somewhere over 5,000 – which I thought sounded on the abstemious side. I think I’m there before the bird’s dead most years. Anyway, the general idea was that this is a Bad Thing and to be mitigated with a few tips, duly provided.

But if there’s a Lite way of doing Christmas, I’ve never found it. Anyway, who’s looking? It’s traditional; we eat, drink, sleep it off, start again, put on weight.

In this, the last Senior Times before Christmas, it’s something of a no-brainer that I’m going to exhort you to step outside the yuletide comfort zone and do some walking over the next fortnight. But not as an antidote to Christmas - as the perfect compliment.

This Christmas, walk for the pure pleasure of stirring the blood; to brace yourself for the inevitably disappointing TV, to make room for more food.

And because it’s different; the tranquility of city and suburban streets on 54 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Christmas Day transforms the experience of walking, while the pleasure of greeting total strangers is one of those feelgood details that make Christmas what it is.

Do it socially; aside from food, drink and presents, Christmas is about being with people, talking with them, sharing time. Other than the next frenzied bout of self-indulgence, there’s probably not much to hurry for.

But my big idea for Christmas is this; walk with your family. If there’s one time of year that’s right for it, it’s now. No other time is as unhurried, as open to novelty and as powerful in forming positive associations. That’s especially valuable with (grand)kids, for whom the memory of a walk enjoyed could be formative.

One more thing. It’s not to late to invoke the real Spirit of Christmas and make a pitch for a seriously worthwhile stocking filler. Because somewhere out there (and this has been statistically proven by freelance scientists) someone still hasn’t decided what to get you.

The answer, which they’ll be almost pathetically grateful for, is walking gear. A pair of walking shoes or boots, a good set of waterproofs, not forgetting a subscription to Senior Times – they all make handsome gifts, and they’re investments in your future. Because however Hallmark it may sound, the best gift you can give friends and family is a healthy you.

Walking

National Walks Scheme expands – more to come!

Earlier this month Michael Ring TD, Minister for Rural and Community Development, announced the addition of 10 new trails to the Walks Scheme operated by his Department – the first trails to be added as part of a phased expansion that will see the Walks Scheme doubling in size to 80 trails when all phases of the expansion are complete.

There are currently 39 trails covered by the Walks Scheme, involving 1,962 participant landowners and farmers. The Scheme contracts them, or their nominees, to undertake maintenance work on sections of National Waymarked Ways and other priority walks that traverse their lands. The Scheme is administered at a local level by Local Development Companies.

“This expansion reflects the success of the Walks Scheme to-date in delivering high quality walking trails, and will help realise the Government’s commitment to double the number of trails in the scheme over time. Up to

40 new trails will be added when all phases of the expansion are complete.

This first phase of the expansion will see an additional 283 participants receive payments for maintaining 10 separate trails located across 8 counties. These trails run for a combined length of approximately 500km, with 174 km of this going through private lands. I want to acknowledge the work of all the landowners involved in the scheme, some for many years, who help to maintain the trails to aVillage high standard for Gathabawn the benefit of the huge number of locals and visitors who use these trails.

Gathabawn Loop

This is goodTrailhead news for landowners and for the Gathabawn village ever increasing number of people who want to Services Shop/pub in village Michael Ring TD, Minister for Rural and get out and experience the beautiful outdoor CommunityShort Development Distance/Time Long Loop: 11.5km/2.5-3hrs Loop: 6.5Km/1.5hrs areas that we have in such abundance. InvestHigh/Ascent 40m ing in our trails also pays economic dividends.

Last year alone, almost 2.7 million overseas Difculty Moderate visitors engaged in some form of cross Open hiking, felds, forest tracks, minor roadsor hiking. In addition, one in four Thousands Terrain of tourists make walking, country walking To Suitpursuits an important Average levels and other outdoor part ofof ftness of us included walking or hiking as part of our Minimum Gear Walking boots, rain gear, fuidsholidays and mobile domestic lastphone year. their stay in Ireland.”

Grid Ref. Additional info

OS Sheet 60 S358 686 To protect farm animals, no dogs allowed

Gathabawn Loop Co Kilkenny

Trailhead: Gathabawn village Services: Shop/pub in village Distance/Time: Long Loop – 11.5km/2.5-3hrs Short Loop – 6.5Km/1.5hrs Difficulty: Moderate Terrain: Open fields, forest tracks, minor roads To Suit: Average levels of fitness Grid Ref: OS Sheet 60 S358 686 Directions to Trailhead Gathabawn Village is located on the L1804 between Freshford and Johnstown, Co. Kilkenny. Watch out for turn on the R693, 0.5 miles on Johnstown side of Freshford. Gathabawn can also be accessed from the R639 (old N8) at crossroads half way between Cullahill and Johnstown (see sign for Gathabawn). Note: Follow ‘Gathabawn Loop’ signs only.

The Route A-B Starting from the Trailhead, walk downhill with the Church on your left. Pass through the Millennium Park continuing uphill along the road to where the Long and Short Loops separate.

Long Loop B-C Turn right onto lane and follow the signs, there is a sharp turn uphill, carry on along the lane over stile up to the woods.

E

to Cullahill

F D

Gathabawn Loop Short Loop Church/Abbey

Gathabawn Loop

G

Trailhead start/end point

C

to Urlingford

B START FINISH

A to Freshford

1km

1mile

C-D Just inside the wood, follow the narrow 8 sign, down to the green fields. Take care here. path (possibly wet) uphill to the felled wood. 200 Across the bridge, follow along the fence on the metres into the felled wood, see left turn right, to the stile to Shirley’s Lane into Co. Laois.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 55

Walking D-E Follow Shirley’s Lane down to the road and the Famine Village then cross the stile in the stone wall on the right.

F-G The signs will bring you down to some old houses, cross back into County Kilkenny at the next ditch.

E-F Pay close attention to Gathabawn Loop signs across open farmland with several green stiles across Cullohill Mountain. Step over a timber stile to Point F ‘The Gooseneck’. The Short Loop rejoins here.

This final stretch through open farmland to Ballygooney Lane, takes you back uphill and then back down to the Trailhead in Gathabawn.

Short Loop B-F Continue straight along the road for 2.6km to the bottom of the Gooseneck. See the sign to turn Right, uphill along the steep winding road for 100 metres to Point F and rejoin the Long Loop. Take track on right at Point F and follow directions F–G above.

This map is made available from the National Trails Office / Irish Sports Council, produced by EastWest mapping. The map is intended for personal use only and should not be modified, republished or transmitted in any form without the permission of the Irish Sports Council’s National Trails Office. The representation of a track or path on this map does not indicate a right of way. The map includes Ordnance Survey Ireland data made available for display under Permit No. 8658. (c) Ordnance Survey Ireland / Government of Ireland.

Keash Hill Trail Co Sligo

Length (Kms): Climb: Estimated time: Start/end point: Start point grid ref: Trailhead: Waymarking: Nearest town to start: Ordnance survey map:

3.4 70m 1hr 30min Centre of Kesh Village G 708 113 Keash Church Car-park Red Arrows Ballymote OSI Discovery Sheet 25

Head east from Ballymote on the R295 Keash Road. Continue for 6.6km, turn left up past the school. The trail head car-park is on the right beside the church.

Keshcorran Mountain is capped by a large un-opened cairn, known as the pinnacle, which can be seen from many parts of Co. Sligo. Seventeen caves are located on the western side of the mountain. The hill and it’s surroundings feature in a number of legendary tales including a story that tells of the birth of Cormac Mac Art. Cormac Mac Art was the most famous of the legendary kings of Ireland and was born at a well beneath the caves. His mother had given birth to him while trying to escape from 56 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Lughaidh Mac Conn who had killed her husband. While they lay sleeping baby Cormac was carried off by a wolf whose den was in a cave now known as Cormac’s cave. Cormac was discovered years later playing on all fours outside the caves with wolf cubs. Cormac went on to become a famous High King of Ireland.

The Route The route begins from the car-park beside the RC Church in the village of Keash (just off the R295). Follow the way-marked route from the Church car-park along the narrow road beneath Keshcorran. After passng a left turn, continue a further 250 metres up the road to a stile on the right side of the road. Follow the way-marked route to the right along the field boundary. Cross a stone stile and continue along the route to the left up the hillside. Turn right and make your way carefully up the hill following the waymarkers along the sheep path to a viewing point just before the caves. Return along the same route back down to the car-park.

Take care when walking along the brow of the hill as this is a steep incline and the grass can sometimes be slippery underfoot, particularly after rainfall. Walking boots are recomended.

Keshcorran is the highest hill in the Bricklieve/Curlew area and the 894th highest in Ireland. Keshcorran is the most northerly summit in the Bricklieve/Curlew area and also the most westerly.

A true friend, leaves paw prints on your heart.

The Irish Blue Cross is an animal welfare charity well known for providing charitable veterinary services in the greater Dublin area. The charity operates from its small animal clinic in Inchicore, Dublin 8 and this is complemented by mobile veterinary clinics operating in Cabra, Tallaght, Blanchardstown, Crumlin, Ballyfermot, Ballybrack, Smithfield, Walkinstown, Finglas and Whitehall. Out on the road each week-day evening, these mobile clinics provide essential frontline services and treatments for thousands of pets every year. Where pets require more comprehensive clinical examinations and treatments, they are referred to the Inchicore clinic veterinary team.

Veterinary care from The Irish Blue Cross is available to pets whose owners are in receipt of certain mean-tested benefits and who live within a defined catchment area of the clinic in Inchicore. Veterinary care is not free but the charity charge more affordable fees which cover the basic cost of treatment. The support provided makes an immeasurable difference to so many communities in Dublin and without the support of The Irish Blue Cross, many families would struggle with accessing necessary veterinary care for their pets.

A practical and caring approach is at the heart of The Irish Blue Cross clinical work and the veterinary team also support pet families by educating them on how to be responsible pet owners, ensuring their precious pet has a happy and healthy life. Since the charity’s foundation in 1945, well over half a million family pets have been treated and demand for affordable veterinary care continues to grow every year. In 2018, the clinical teams had 19,801 pet visits covering all aspects of veterinary care including health-checks, x-rays, blood tests, microchipping, neutering and other surgical procedures. The charity strongly advocates preventative healthcare, in particular parasite treatments and vaccinations. Vaccines can protect our furry friends from contracting a variety of illnesses, some of which can be fatal.

Neutering is another preventative healthcare measure the charity strongly recommends. The Irish Blue Cross has a neutering policy which is not only important for reducing the number of healthy dogs and cats destroyed in Ireland each year - it also provides many health benefits for pets. The charity offers low cost neutering, with generously reduced costs ranging from€35 to €115, depending on the size of the animal.

In addition to their small animal work, the charity operates a horse ambulance service that attends all Irish racecourses, working closely with racecourse veterinary surgeons to assist and save injured racehorses.

The Irish Blue Cross rely heavily on donations from the public and the goodwill of supporters to continue its work. With the loyal support of many committed and enthusiastic volunteers, the charity hosts an action-packed calendar of fundraising events each year including the very popular Bark in the Park™ sponsored dog walks, flag days, collections and appeals.

Pets need our help. So we need yours too.

All donations towards The Irish Blue Cross’ on-going work are always welcome. To find out how you can support, call 01-4163032 or email paul.halpin@bluecross.ie

‘To the small animals in need, I leave..’

Remembering a charity in your will is a kind and generous gesture that costs you nothing in your lifetime. But your kindness will make a difference forever. Once loved ones are looked after in your will, consider how else you can help.

Create your legacy and make your love for pets live on.

For more information on how you can make a lasting difference, contact us today.

15A Goldenbridge Industrial Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8 Tel: +353 1 4163032 www.bluecross.ie

Wine World

Pick Portugal Mairead Robinson suggests something new for the next decade

It is that time of year when we like to celebrate with friends and family and raise a glass to the future. Bubbles are always popular, and with Champagne available from E20 a bottle, and good Cava and Prosecco for even less, there is no reason why everybody should not enjoy the bubbles at this time of year.

But while there is often concern regarding over- consumption of alcohol, it is possible to choose a light drink that will suit the occasion well. In the last issue I talked about alcohol-free wines, and these are certainly gaining in popularity, this time I would like to suggest a wine that is full of character and flavour and while retaining its alcoholic content, it is coming in at just over half the strength of the usual bottle.

58 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

I am talking about Vinho Verde from Portugal – which is made from regional traditional grape varieties, Arinto, Loureiro, Trajadura and Avesso. I have often extolled the virtues of Portugal’s indigenous grapes, and the wines that people are often afraid to try as they are unfamiliar varieties. However Vinho Verde is a fresh, fruity, light and mineral wine. It can be enjoyed on its own or with fish, seafood and salads. Lovely for an aperitif, and most importantly, it comes at just 8.5% vol. The one I am highlighting this month comes from Escapada, whose wine labels depict the bicycle on the beach – so look out for them!

Wine World Staying with Portugal, and with Escapada in particular, this time with a man cycling his bicycle, is their red wine made from Castelao, Touriga national, Syrah, Tinta Roriz and Alicante Bouschet. This is a fine rich wine with intense aromas of ripe red fruits, concentrated dark cherry and blackcurrant flavours combined with a fresh acidity. It has fine oak notes and firm but smooth tannins.

This is a full-on red wine, perfect with cheese, oriental food, barbecues and indeed for you traditional Christmas dinner of duck or turkey. At 13% vol, it is not a light option like the previous wine, but certainly a bottle to enjoy over the season.

As I am once again highlighting Portuguese wines, one I came across recently certainly impressed me. It is a gorgeous white wine from the Douro region, which I have visited in the past and is well known for the quality of its white wines. Porrais is a blend of the native varieties Rabigato, Codega do Larinho, Viosinho and Verdelho. This comes in at 12.5% and for me is a perfectly balanced round white wine which would be welcome at my table at any time. It is a very expressive aromatic wine with floral and citrus notes and is a perfect lunch time wine.

Finally do keep an eye out for special promotions in your local independent off-licence and the multi-nationals. You can often pick up great bargains in both wines and spirits. And for the time of year that is in it, don’t forget to have lots of bubbly, even cheaper bottles, so that you can make cocktails. From the simplest to the most elaborate, a cocktail is a wonderful way to celebrate. Pink Gin and Prosecco for example, is one of my favourites, and so easy to make.

Enjoy your festive celebrations, stay happy and healthy and we look forward to raising a glass or two in the new year!

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Cookery

Using your loaf Five recipes from the ICA Book of Bread and Baking

Sun-Dried Tomato and Pesto Bread Rita Carolan, Clones Guild, Monaghan

Boiled Guinness Cake Patty O’Brien, Abbeyknockmoy Guild, Galway This is a versatile cake that can be baked into a cake or a loaf, or as a couple of small loaves, which make handy gifts when visiting a friend. You can replace the Guinness with equal quantities of tea to make a boiled fruit cake. Serves 12

275ml (½ pint) Guinness from a bottle or can 225g (8oz) butter 225g (8oz) soft brown sugar 225g (8oz) raisins 225g (8oz) sultanas 110g (4oz) dried cherries 50g (2oz) mixed peel 1 rounded teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 570g (1lb 4oz) plain flour 1 rounded teaspoon mixed spice 1 rounded teaspoon ground nutmeg 50g (2oz) ground almonds 3 eggs, well beaten

A family friend recently shared this recipe with me and it’s quickly becoming a favourite among my friends and family.

It’s lovely to serve with homemade soup or simply straight out of the oven, smothered with butter.

Makes one medium loaf

450g (1lb) plain flour, plus extra for dusting 1 heaped teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 85g (3oz) sun-dried or semi-dried tomatoes, in oil 300ml (10fl oz) buttermilk 2 tablespoons basil pesto 50g (2oz) Parmesan cheese, grated What you’ll need : Baking sheet , Rolling pin , Wire rack

32

What you’ll need: Spatula or palette knife 1 x deep 20cm (8in) cake tin or 2 x 900g (2lb) loaf tins or 4 x 450g (1lb) loaf tins Baking parchment, Tinfoil, Wire rack 1. Preheat oven to 170 ˚ C/325 ˚ F/Gas 3. Grease the tin(s) and line the base(s) with baking parchment.

2. Combine the Guinness, butter and sugar in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer, stirring, until the butter is melted and the sugar completely dissolved. Add the dried fruit and mixed peel and simmer over a low heat for another four or five minutes.

3. Remove from heat, add the soda and mix well before setting aside to cool. (If you want to speed up the cooling, you can fill the sink with cold water and partly submerge the saucepan in it, stirring to help the cooling process.)

3. Meanwhile, sieve the flour and spices into a large mixing bowl and add the ground almonds.

4. Add the beaten eggs to the cooled Guinness mixture, mixing well. Add the sieved ingredients and stir together, mixing until you have a slow dropping consistency. Turn into the prepared tin(s) and smooth the top with a spatula or palette knife.

5. Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 90 minutes if using one deep 20cm (8in) cake tin. Alternatively, bake for about 75 minutes for 900g (2lb) loaf tins, or about 60 minutes for 450g (1lb) loaf tins.

Whichever size you are using, check the cake after an hour; it is ready when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin on a wire rack to cool fully before removing baking parchment. Wrap in fresh parchment and then tinfoil and store in an airtight container, where it will keep for at least a week. If you can resist cutting for a few days, the flavour will improve in that time.

60 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

ICA Tip This would work just as well with Irish wild garlic pesto if you 19 want to celebrate the seasons and use some local produce.

1. Preheat oven to 180 ˚ C/350 ˚ F/Gas 4. Grease and flour a baking sheet.

2. Sieve the flour, soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.

3. Remove the tomatoes from their oil and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Chop roughly and mix into the bowl of flour. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough, taking care not to make it too wet – you may only need about three-quarters of what you have.

4. Turn the dough onto a floured worktop and use a rolling pin to roll gently into a square of about 30cm (12in). Spread with the pesto and sprinkle over the grated cheese. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll and transfer to the floured baking sheet. Dust the top with flour.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45–50 minutes until golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little before serving.

Oat and Honey Crunch Biscuits Eileen Bambrick, Drumboylan Guild, Roscommon Crunchy and slightly chewy, these biscuits are delicious served with your morning coffee. Just one or two will certainly do, though, as they are quite rich.

You can simply double up the ingredients if you’d like to make a larger batch. Makes 12 biscuits 110g (4oz) softened butter, plus extra for greasing 110g (4oz) caster sugar 1 teaspoon clear honey 1 1/2 tablespoons hot water 110g (4oz) rolled oats 110g (4oz) plain flour ½ teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda What you’ll need 2 x large baking sheets , Wire rack

Cookery

ICA Tip Lightly dampen your hands before flattening the balls of dough onto the baking sheets – this will prevent the dough sticking to your skin.

1. Preheat oven to 190 ˚ C/375 ˚ F/Gas 5. Grease two large baking sheets with a little butter.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Add the honey and hot water and stir to combine. Add the oats and sieve in the flour, baking powder and soda. Mix everything together well.

3. Use two spoons to shape the dough into 12 balls (about the size of a golf ball) and flatten these onto the greased baking sheets, placing just six on each tray and spreading well apart – they will expand while cooking.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 10–15 minutes or until golden all over.

5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool fully on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before using a spatula to transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.

6. Store in an airtight tin where they will keep well for about a week.

Cheddar and Spring Onion Bread

Iced Lemon Squares Janice McCandless, Carndonagh Guild, Donegal This quick and clever no-bake recipe is a great example of how a little personal TLC can upgrade ordinary shop-bought biscuits and a few store-cupboard items into something quite special. The results are very sweet, so a bite-sized square works nicely. You could swap the lemon for lime, which would pair very well with the white chocolate as well as the coconut flavours of the biscuit base. Makes 32 bite-sized squares

350g (12oz) Nice biscuits 225g (8oz) margarine 225g (8oz) white cooking chocolate 2 tablespoons golden syrup 110g (4oz) desiccated coconut 10 4

Margaret O’Gorman, Camross Guild, Wexford

For the icing: 285g (10oz) icing sugar

This delicious savoury bread is my twist on a white soda loaf. Like most white soda breads, it is best eaten within a few hours so do make it on the day you plan to eat it. Toasting it will help give it fresh life later in the day.

Makes one round, crusty loaf

450g (1lb) plain flour 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon salt 100g (3 ½ oz) Cheddar, grated 4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped 310–350ml (1 0 ½–11 ½ fl oz) buttermilk

To garnish: a little extra desiccated coconut, for sprinkling

1 lemon, juice and grated rind

What you’ll need: Large Swiss roll tin, about 23cm x 33cm (9in x 13in) Food processor (or clean tea towel & rolling pin) ICA Tip When binding white chocolate with margarine like this, it is important to use good-quality chocolate as cheaper cooking chocolate can have a very high fat content, and may separate slightly. The addition of a little warmed milk can help to bring the two together.

8

What you’ll need: Flat baking sheet , wire rack 1. Preheat oven to 220 ˚ C/425 ˚ F/Gas 7. Lightly flour a baking sheet.

2. Sieve the flour, soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the cheese and spring onions.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add about 300ml (10fl oz) of the buttermilk, and use a wooden spoon to mix gently and quickly until you have a nice soft dough, adding more buttermilk little by little, if necessary, to bind the dough together but without letting it get sloppy.

4. Turn onto a floured surface and knead very lightly before shaping into a round of about 15cm (6in) in diameter. Place on the baking sheet and cut a deep cross in the top.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200 ˚ C/400 ˚ F/Gas 6 and bake for another 20–25 minutes or until the base sounds hollow when knocked and the top is golden all over. Remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool.

1. Lightly grease a large Swiss roll tin.

2. Finely crush the biscuits in a food processor. Alternatively, place the biscuits between parchment or a clean tea towel and crush with a rolling pin.

3. Melt the margarine, white chocolate and syrup together in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the crushed biscuits and coconut and mix well to combine.

4. Press this biscuit mixture into the greased Swiss roll tin and set aside or refrigerate for 30 minutes to cool.

5. To make the icing, mix the icing sugar in a small bowl with the grated lemon rind. Add the lemon juice a little at a time until you have an icing that is of a fairly soft consistency; about 50ml of juice should do.

6. Cover the biscuit base with the icing and sprinkle with a little extra coconut. Allow to set fully before cutting into squares; 30 minutes in the fridge is perfect.

Four copies of the ICA Book of Bread and Baking to be won!

Senior Times, in association with publishers Gill Books, are offering four copies of the ICA Book of Bread and Baking in this competition. To enter simply answer this question: The recipe for Guinness boiled cake serves how many?

Send your entry to: Baking Competition, Senior Times, Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Or email: john@slp.ie The first four correct entries drawn are the winners.

Deadline for receipt of entries is 15th February 2020.

The ICA Book of Bread and Baking is published by Gill Books, priced at €22.99.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 61

Cinema

Green pastures Thomas Myler on Hollywood’s successful Irish

Peter O’Toole was nominated eight times for an Oscar and never won the statuette once, an all-time record?

As Shakespeare himself could have put it, ‘There’s something rotten in the state of Los Angeles.’ How else can the peculiarities of the Academy Award people be explained when it is remembered that Peter O’Toole, a hell-raiser extraordinary but a fine actor, one of the best, was nominated eight times for an Oscar and never won the statuette once, an all-time record?

His Best Actor nominations were Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye Mr Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favourite Year (1982) and Venus (2006). He was given an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 2002 but he always regarded that as a secondary prize.

According to his daughter Kate in a new book Hollywood Irish, written by Dublin journalist Jason O’Toole, Peter was pressurised into accepting the award. ‘They forced one onto him,’ she says. ‘He said, “No, I don’t want one because it’s not in competition.” He turned it down.

They said that was grand but they were giving it to him anyhow because they said they called the shots. They said if he didn’t turn up, it wasn’t going to look very good. ‘It was horrible,’ she recalled, shaking her head in disgust.

Kate was unable to shed any light on the mystery of her father’s actual birthplace, Ireland

or England. ‘He wasn’t even sure himself,’ she says. ‘In his own memoir, he said he had two birth certificates. One giving Connemara in Galway as the origin of birth and the other as Leeds. I was born in England and have an Irish birth certificate. I was registered with the Department of Foreign Births.’

Kate herself has a fine body of work, including roles in John Huston’s The Dead (1987), appearing in the Meryl Streep movie Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), alongside Ewen McGregor in Nora (2000) and starring alongside U2 drummer Larry Mullen in his film debut Man on the Train (2011).

Whatever about Peter O’Toole, there was never any mystery concerning Maureen O’Hara. Dubbed ‘The Queen of Technicolour, she was a true Dub, born in Ranelagh and growing up in Milltown.

‘A chance meeting with a popular American singer named Harry Richman in the Gresham Hotel led to me being offered a screen test by Elstree Studios in London,’ she said in an interview at her home in Glengarriff in West Cork in 1990, shortly after she had turned 90.‘This led to me being offered a contract with the production company Mayflower Pictures owned by the Anglo-Irish actor Charles Laughton and Eric Pommer, the great movie producer. My first starring role was as Maureen FitzSimons, my real name, in a musical comedy My Irish Molly.

62 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Maureen O’Hara.

Dubbed ‘The Queen of Technicolour, was a true Dub, born in Ranelagh and growing up in Milltown.

‘But it was changed after Laughton cast me as his leading lady in Jamaica Inn in 1939, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, whose mother also happened to be an Irish woman.

‘It was Laughton who changed my name. He said ‘That surname would be horrible on a marquee’ and he changed it to Maureen O’Hara, much to my protest. ‘Take it or leave it,’ he said.

That was it. After the success of Jamaica Inn, I was cast again alongside Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, my first American film.’

Maureen said that of all the actors she worked with, her closest bond was with John Wayne.

They made five films together. ‘He was a wonderful person, and a wonderful person to work with,’ she said. ‘I was also close to the director John Ford. Ford’s real name was Sean Aloysius O’Fearna, which was John Martin Feeney in English. He was the youngest child of Irish immigrants from Spiddal in Galway. He was very proud of that.

‘One of my all-time favourite movies was The Quiet Man, with John Wayne and directed by John Ford. You’d be surprised how long it took to raise the money to make the movie.

We couldn’t get it anywhere. Before we made The Quiet Man, we made a movie called Rio Grande and when Republic Studios heard all the hullabaloo about the money problems to make The Quiet Man, they agreed to finance it.

Cinema

Gabriel Byrne is also featured in the book. A born and bred Dubliner, he studied for the priesthood and was a teacher before going into acting

We were thrilled.’

Maureen came out of retirement in 1991 to make Only the Lonely with John Candy. Sadly, he died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43. ‘He was a charmer,’ she said. ‘He was coming to Ireland to play in my golf tournament and he had to go to Southern California to do a job and he died.'

‘We were all looking forward to him coming to Ireland. Can you imagine John Candy out on that golf course? He was a very, very nice person, a very strong Catholic. We used to meet after mass on Sundays with his wife, his kids and my relatives. We’d all go yakety yakety yak, and it was wonderful.’

Also featured in the book is Brenda Fricker, who has the distinction of being the first and only Irish actress to ever win an Oscar. She got the award for her portrayal of Christy Brown’s mother in Jim Sheridan’s powerful movie My Left Foot in 1989. She is best known to TV viewers for the hospital drama Casualty and the RTE urban soap Tolka Row. ‘I was born in the Liberties, a rough working-class district in the centre of Dublin, the youngest of two children,’ she told the author.

‘My mother Bida was a schoolteacher and my father Desmond was a journalist with the Irish Times before working in public relations. I originally wanted to be a writer but switched to acting when offered Tolka Row.’ However, the old adage about fame and fortune not being able to buy you happiness is certainly true when it comes to this self-described ‘reclusive’ and multifaceted woman.

Featured in the book is Brenda Fricker, who has the distinction of being the first and only Irish actress to ever win an Oscar

The startling truth is that Brenda was putting on a brave facade. Back in 2012, she stunned TV3 viewers when she revealed on a midday chat show that she had been suffering from crippling depression for 50 years. Things were so bad, she said she attempted suicide 32 times.

‘It was a mistake to say that,’ she says in the interview. ‘I might have done something very silly like cut myself, which would be just a cry for help. I don’t think they were serious attempted suicides. They were just screams for help and you just got tired of nobody hearing you that I just went and tried it for real. I would say that out of all off those, there might have been two or three serious suicide attempts.’

Happily she does not suffer from depression anymore. She did for 50 years until she found, in her own words, ‘a wonderful cure.’ Having tried every combination of medication and spending a fortune ‘that could have bought three houses on Leeson Street on psychiatrists,’ she found a place which had a treatment. On their advice, she listened to Mozart music for two hours every morning for a week for two months before having a break and then going back a month later for about a week or ten days.

‘You lie down during the treatment and go to sleep. Then you have three weeks or so off and you go back and you’re cured. Back in the old days you would call it a miracle. You see the world with clear eyes for the first time.

You can walk down the street without being terrified. You can think clearly. I’ve sent about five people to them and they’ve all being cured.

It’s quite extraordinary.’

Brenda lives a very secluded life these days, saying she feels elated as having retired from acting since doing a TV show in 2015. As she puts it in the interview, ‘I was always uncomfortable with fulfilling the annoying obligations that are part and parcel of being a movie star, whether it was promoting films on the red carpet at Cannes, going to events like the Oscars or conducting the many interviews they are always writing into movie stars’ contracts when they sign up to make a film. I found them very nerve-wracking.’

Gabriel Byrne is also featured in the book.

A born and bred Dubliner, he studied for the priesthood and was a teacher before going into acting. He first made his name on television in the RTE soap The Riordans and the spin-off Bracken before branching into what has become a very successful movie career.

‘I lived in Hollywood and I thought I would make some really big Hollywood projects,’ he says, ‘which I did. I had a great time doing them. Then I moved to New York for family reasons. I have continued to work now in New York independently, in independent films. I never set out to have a career in films. I have always worked on the assumption that directors fascinate me because they are able to tell a story, and if I think I would like to be part of that story, well then I will go and do the picture with them.

‘As I get older, I think the idea of travelling is not so interesting to me anymore so I tend to stick around New York.’

Hollywood Irish: Interviews with Irish Movie Stars, is published by BearmanorMedia.Com. Check it out in major book stores.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 63

Culture Focus on photography

Maretta Dillon previews what’s on in the arts around the country in the next few months

The Dancers by Barbara Morgan

Photography is front and centre with two exhibitions currently running in Dublin. Moment in Time at the National Gallery of Ireland is a collection of photographs drawn from Bank of America's renowned collection featuring iconic images by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Man Ray and many others.

There are overlapping themes including people, documentary and nature. The beautiful images of leaves and landscapes by Ansel Adams are particularly lovely. The National Gallery has only begun to show photography exhibitions, but the lively education and learning programme provides context and perspective. (at nationalgallery.ie until Mar 22).

At the same time and sharing some of the same photographers is Ireland in Focus: Photographing the 1950s at the National Museum at Collins' Barracks. These images record a very different country that looks strange and oddly exotic. For more see museum.ie/decorative-arts-history.

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth is in 2020 so expect celebrations at all turns.

No laggard, Galway's Midwinter Festival is to focus primarily on Beethoven's early solo piano and chamber music compositions. A performance of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, straying into the master's glorious middle period is a highlight from internationally celebrated duo team of Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova and French pianist Cédric Tiberghien. What a treat – see musicforgalway.ie for more information and booking.

Derek Jarman, enfant terrible of British cinema as well as artist and gardener, enjoys a significant retrospective at IMMA this year.

Derek Jarman PROTEST! captures Jarman’s engagement with both art and society, as well as his contemporary concerns with political protest and personal freedoms arising from the AIDS crisis. A selection of film work will also screen at the Irish Film Institute. Jarman’s artistic vision remains highly influential, and this is a welcome opportunity for assessment. (See imma.ie and ifi.ie for more details).

Two festivals returning in the New Year are First Fortnight which features events, talks, film and theatre to challenge and explore our mental health. See firstfortnight.ie and find something where you are. At the end of January, Tradfest in Temple Bar has assembled an exciting line up of musicians including Maria Doyle Kennedy, Séamus Begley & Oisín Mac Diarmaida with Samantha Harvey / Brona McVittie and many more.

Finally, our very own Saoirse Ronan plays Jo March in a new film of the perennial favourite, Little Women. This new film is the sixth adaptation of the classic novel by Louisa May Alcott, but presumably, director Greta Gerwig who worked so well with Ronan in Lady Bird feels she has something to add.

64 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

From Dec 26 nationwide.

Culture

Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova will perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, at the Galway Midwinter Festival.

Events around the Country December 2019/ January 2020 DEREK JARMAN PROTEST! Music / Cinema A major retrospective of the acclaimed British artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman marking 25 years since his death.

Until Feb 23 / IMMA Information: imma.ie HOW WILL SANTA FIND US? Book A new Irish book for children around homelessness in Ireland supported by a raft of Irish illustrators and designers.

Now / in all bookshops Information: booksirelandmagazine.com IRELAND IN FOCUS: PHOTOGRAPHING THE 1950S Photography Photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange and Robert Cresswell’s images of 1950s Ireland.

Until April 2020 / National Museum of IrelandDecorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7.

Information: museum.ie/Decorative-ArtsHistory MOMENT IN TIME: A LEGACY OF PHOTOGRAPHS - WORKS FROM THE BANK OF AMERICA COLLECTION Photography Iconic photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Smith, Robert Frank, Dorothea Lange. Until

Derek Jarman’s INRI 1988

March 22 / National Gallery of Ireland Ticketed / information: nationalgallery.ie LITTLE WOMEN Film Director Greta Gerwig’s new take on the American Civil War classic with Saoirse Ronan as Jo March.

Dec 26 nationwide FIRST FORTNIGHT Festival Uses arts and culture to challenge mental health stigma – wide range of arts events and performances.

January 2020 / nationwide activity Information: firstfortnight.ie VISION X Visual Arts Curated by Diana Copperwhite RHA, this exhibition shows previously unseen works by new emerging Irish artists. Until Jan 26, 2020 / RHA Gallery, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 Information: rha.ie RTÉ RADIO 1 - NOLLAIG NA MBAN Music / Poetry Join RTÉ Radio 1 for a celebration of women in Ireland through readings and music. Presented

by Sinéad Gleeson.

Jan 05 / Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1 Information and booking: abbeytheatre.ie ANXO LORENZO, JIM MURRAY, DÓNAL O’CONNOR & JACK TALTY Music This quartet of Galician and Irish artists are players, composers, arrangers, accompanists and producers.

Jan 14-30 / nationwide Information and booking: musicnetwork.ie

BOMBSHELL Film A group of women decide to tackle sexual harassment in the Fox News workplace ruled

by Roger Ailes. Jan 17 island wide.

MUSIC FOR GALWAY MIDWINTER FESTIVAL Music A three-day festival of themed concerts to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020.

Jan 17-19 / Town Hall Theatre, Galway Information and booking: musicforgalway.ie TRADFEST Music Fantastic and diverse lineup for Dublin’s celebration of trad, folk and world music.

Jan 22-25 / various Dublin city centre Information and booking: tradfest.ie

DÓNAL LUNNY AND PADDY GLACKIN Music Two legendary and innovative figures in Irish music team up.

Jan 25 / The Dock, Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim. Information and booking: thedock.ie THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE Theatre Martin McDonagh’s satire on terrorism and the beautification of violence in contemporary culture.

Jan 27 – March 14 / Gaiety Theatre, Dublin 2 Information + booking: Gaiety Theatre Box Office, 0818 719388 10 am – 7 pm / Mon – Sat / ticketmaster.ie Finally, if you would like your event to feature in our list of arts events please email: events.country@gmail.com

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 65

Meeting Place NOTICE SEAN FROM RAHENY, got a wonderful letter from you but lost your contact details. Please get in touch! CATHERIENE, MEATH NORTH WEST LADY WLTM gent 68-75 for companionship. Interests include C/W music and dancing.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A1 DUBLIN-BASED country man, 70s, single, WLTM romantic, single lady for outings, travel etc. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A2 FOREVER YOUNG LADY, 60s, North Co Dublin, with outgoing personality, NS, SD, WLTM kind, respectful gent with no ties for initial friendship/companionship. Age group 6070. Interests include cinema, theatre, concerts, all types of music, eating out, conversation, travel and healthy lifestyle.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A3 SOUTH WEST IRELAND GENT late 60s, ex teacher, enjoys dancing, walking, eating out, cinema, all types of sport. GSOH, kind and sincere. Separated for many years. WLTM lady with similar or other interests. Positive outlook on life very important.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A4 TIPP LADY, 60s, NS, SD, GSOH, WLTM kind gentleman who likes walking, dancing and travel. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A5 OFFALY MAN 60, slim and single, usual interests WLTM a reasonably slim lady 50-70 with a relaxed outlook who is not afraid to show her feelings. Let’s chat and see whether there is some common ground.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A6 DUBLIN SOUTHSIDE WIDOW late 60s, sincere, young at heart, good appearance, fit and active, GSOH. Interests include theatre, concerts, golf and country breaks. WLTM sincere, well-presented, refined, educated, outgoing gent. Age range preferably early to mid-70s to share interests and enjoy life with.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A7 NORTH DUBLIN GENT, late 60s, retired, never married. Walker, artistic. Seeks relationship full of romance, respect, high regard and support.

Where every day is an adventure\ in friendship to share the joy of living. High fives!

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A8 TIPP GENT 63, self-employed, unattached, athletic build NS, SD, loves nature, short breaks, walking, dining out, cinema, concerts, reading.

WLTM attractive, pleasant lady Irish or foreign for friendship and relationship, preferably North Munster and Galway.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A9

MEATH LADY 70s NS, SD, retired professional. Lives spiritually and mindfully. Family grown up. WLTM personable, educated gent preferably a widower, for friendship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A10 MID 70s KERRY MALE, enjoys walking, dining out, current affairs, sport and many other interests. WLTM lady of similar age to share friendship, conversation and a good laugh, preferably from Munster area.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A11 REFINED RETIRED LADY seeking women friends in Dublin with strong values and standards. Age range 50-75 REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A12 ATTRACTIVE EDUCATED MIDLANDS LADY, many interests including travel, theatre, bridge and music. WLTM that special man to share life with, chats, laughs holidays etc.

Preferable in age range 55-70.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z1.

ATTRACTIVE NORTH WEST LADY 70s, WIDOW slim build, outgoing personality, NS/ SD WLTM gent similar age, genuine, GSOH to dancing, etc. Ideally Connacht/Ulster for convenience of meeting but not exclusively so. Interests include social dancing, music, travelling, walking etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z2.

SOUTH MUNSTER MALE, looking for companionship with sincere lady to share interests, particularly walking, weekends away, travel, dining out etc. am 70s, love a good laugh and conversation. Looking forward to hearing from you.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z3 OFFALY WIDOW LATE 60s, GSOH, classy and loves rock and roll.WLTM male companion for chats, dinners or listening to music.

Would also be interested in meeting a female for friendship with same interests.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z4 RETIRED, RETURNED IRISH EXILE WOMAN, attractive, cheerful, unpretentious, NS. WLTM independent male with positive attitude to share travel, socials, walks etc. Ideally from Limerick/Killarney, Kerry, Kilkenny areas.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z5.

TIPP LADY 60's NS, SD, GSOH, WLTM kind gentleman. Likes walking, dancing and travel.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z6 SOUTHSIDE DUBLIN WIDOWER, EARLY 70s WLTM a nice romantic lady 50s-60s for visits to cinema, theatre, and meets for cof-fee.

Only romantics need reply.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z7

66 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

DUBLIN PROFESSIONAL LADY, EARLY 60S, RC, no children, never married. Interests include ballroom dancing, theatre, GAA and other sports, classical music, charity work and cultural travels. WLTM tall, Irish professional RC, NS gentleman 65-75 with similar interests, especially dancing and travelling, for friendship and possible relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z8 FRANK FROM DONNYCARNEY would like Ken from Artane, who gave him a lift to Santry, to contact him. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z9 DELIGHTFUL LADY, MEATH AREA, late 60s cheerful disposition, caring, dignified, widow, family grown up, no ties, NS ND, WLTM refined gentleman of mature years 75/85, preferably a widower, for chats and friendship from Dublin and surrounding areas.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J1 GENT MID-70s, living alone in Dublin, with wife in care, but still very involved in his creative career, WLTM a younger, educated and lively woman for coffee and conversations at a location to suit in south Dublin, but close to city centre. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J2 SOUTH DUBLIN LADY 60s enjoys history, art, travelling, cinema, reading, history, WLTM respectable gentleman with similar interests for friendship/relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J3 CORK LADY, MID 60s, honest and considerate, SD, NS, GSOH, loves chats, travel, music, cinema, reading, WLTM kind gentleman 60s to 70s for friendship. REPLY TO BOX NUMER J5 MIDLANDS LADY MID SIXTIES, retired, professional, young in outlook, genuine, kind and caring gent (Preferably midlands, Galway, Dublin). Good Health essential. Interests include walking, cycling, golf, gardening, travel, music and eating out etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J6.

SINGLE MIDLANDS GENT, 61, 6ft 4in, slim, athletic build, NS, ND, loves nature, driving, walking, eating out, outings, current affairs.

WLTM a pleasant, attractive Irish or foreign lady for friendship/relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J7 ATTRACTIVE NORTH MIDLANDS LADY, early 60s but looks much younger, slim, fit, GSOH. Enjoys walking, nature, travel, concerts and theatre. WLTM gentleman with similar interests. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J8 NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN LADY WLTM, genuine, romantic, caring gent aged 60s-70s.

Interests include nature, music, animals, romantic meetings etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J9

MID WEST LADY, new to area, down to earth, genuine, NS, WLTM single ladies late 50s-60s living in north Munster or Galway for coffee, cinema, concerts, walks, friendship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J10 REFINED, FIT, SOUTH DUBLIN LADY 70, WLTM educated, sincere, caring gent. Interests include tennis, golf, travel.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J11 IRISH LADY, NS, kind, attractive, WLTM practical, respectful, honest, interesting, kind, single NS gent early to mid-60s. Are you living in the north Munster area seeking soulmate for friendship/ companionship? Love gardening, trad music, reading, concerts etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J12 FRANK FROM DUBLIN would like Greg and Barbara from Bray to contact him. ‘We met outside the Royal Hotel in Bray a few years ago and you brought me to your home. So, I would love to visit you again’.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J13 VERY YOUNG-LOOKING WIDOW WLTM a sincere gentleman, honest and kind of nice appearance, friendly and gentle. NS, SD, thoughtful and swell mannered, affectionate.

Would prefer a widower. Background in farming. Would love to meet that special gent.

Interested in friendship possible relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J14 WE ARE THE WEDNESDAY CLUB, South Dublin social group of widows, widowers and singles aged 55 up wards. We number 75. We are seeking new members and men would be especially welcome to improve our female/ male mix. Our activities include dining out, visiting interesting places, card games, concerts, holidays at home and abroad, theatre and much more. Interested?

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y1 MUNSTER GAY LADY 60s, WLTM a friend/ companion for chats/outings/holidays etc.

Must be NS REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y2 NORTHSIDE DUBLIN LADY MID 60s, NS, SD, WLTM nice ladies in the 65-75 age bracket for social outings and holidays at home and abroad. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y3 ROMANTIC NORTHSIDE DUBLIN GENT, 60s, never married, country origin, walker, DIY, artistic. Seeking female soulmate to share joy of living, wonders of the world. Lets daily celebrate each other with romance, kindness, support, motivation laughter, fun.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y4 RESPECTABLE MEATH LADY, WIDOW, family grown up, retired professional. WLTM reasonable, caring, interesting gent for friendship and companionship. Age range 75 upwards. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y5 LEINSTER LADY, LATE 70s, young at heart, widowed, varied interests. WLTM educated,

refined gent to share coffee and conversation.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y6 DUBLIN-BASED FOREIGN WIDOW, 63, medium build, young in outlook. Interests include nature, reading, travel, arts. WLTM honest, caring gent for relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Y7 CO GALWAY LADY MID 60s WLTM genuine gent for friendship, outings and perhaps more. Varied interests.

REPLY TO NOX NUMBER Y8 KILDARE WIDOWER, MID-60S, RETIRED loves country life, many interests, NS, SD, Likes to travel at home and abroad, particularly, South West, Kerry. WLTM lady for friendship/ relationship to enjoy life.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F1 NORTH WEST LADY WLTM others in the North West who are free to socialize and go out weekends. Interest include dancing, cycling, walking and country pursuits.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F2

love to meet a gent to share the happy times with. Interests include dancing, cinema, eating out, theatre, genealogy etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F10 SINCERE, CARING, TRUSTWORTHY, VIVACIOUS lady from North East, retired professional, young in outlook, nice disposition.

Interests include reading, theatre, walking, current affairs, seeks a warm, friendly gent for chats and friendship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER H1 SOUTHSIDE DUBLIN MAN, 60, seeks pen friends of either sex. Interests include sport, reading, cycling, wildlife, music.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER H2 SOUTH COUNTY DUBLIN WOMAN, 60s seeks male and female companions who like to travel by rail in Ireland, on short visits abroad and explore various cultural attractions in our cities. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER H3

TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT

DUBLIN GENT, MID 60s, YOUNG APPEARANCE, enjoys reading, walking, dining out, current affairs, WLTM lady for friendship/relationship. REPLY TO BOS NUMBER F3

If you are interested in meeting someone of the opposite or same sex, send your advertisement, with four stamps (which is the average reply rate) enclosed in the envelope, to:

GALWAY LADY, LATE 50s, WLTM a practical gentleman who is reliable and down to earth for companionship/romance. ND but no problem with someone someone who drinks in moderation. Not on social media. Free most weekends. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F4

Meeting Place, Senior Times, Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.

Or email: john@slp.ie

NORTHSIDE DUBLIN GENT seeks lady for ballroom and latin dance practice and possibly to participate in competitions. Age not important. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F5 MONAGHAN WIDOW, 60s, looking for friendship with a genuine man from the North East area. Religion, or none, not important.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F6 YOUNG AT HEART LADY,70, WLTM other educated people, similar age group, for friendship and socializing. GSOH essential as honesty and sincerity. No materialist people.

REPLY TO BO NUMBER F7 ROMANTIC NORTH DUBLIN GENT, cheerful, kind, caring, considerate, respectful, never married, 60s, house, car. Interests include walking, art, DIY, documentaries. Seeks life partner for permanent relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F8 SOUTHSIDE DUBLIN GENT, 65, sincere, caring and romantic, great company, GSOH. ND, NS but likes to frequent pubs for social reasons. Interests include reading, writing, eating out, cinema, theatre. WLTM lady of similar age with similar interests.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER F9 DUBLIN LADY, 65, relaxed outlook, would

IMPORTANT Ensure you give your approximate age and the area you live, noting your interests. The advertisement should not be more than 60 words.

If you are replying to the advertisement via Senior Time’s email, ensure you include your postal address for those not on the Net. (Only Senior Times will have these details). Deadline for receipt of advertisements for the next issue is 15th February 2020.

TO REPLY TO AN ADVERTISEMENT Each reply to an advertisement should be enclosed in a plain, stamped envelope, with the box number marked in pencil so that it can be erased before being forwarded to the advertiser. Send these envelopes in a covering envelope to the address , above, so that we can forward them to the advertiser. There is no limit to the amount of advertisements to which you can reply, provided each one is contained in a plain, stamped envelope. Ensure you give your approximate age and the area you live.

For those submitting their advertisements by email ensure that you also supply Senior Times with your postal address so that we can post replies from those who have replied by post. (Only Senior Times will have your postal address).

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 67

Motoring

‘Beefed up’ SUV ticks a lot of boxes Breda Corrigan tests the new ‘revitalised’ Suzuki Vitara

Many modern SUV buyers want the rugged looks and raised driving position of a 4x4, combined with the running costs of a conventional hatchback. The new Suzuki Vitara SUV is certainly a car that fulfils that criteria very well, and comes to the market with a starting price of just €20.995 (ex-delivery).

Ever since its launch in 1988, the various generations of the Suzuki Vitara have earned high acclaim for their stylish designs, compact and easy to manage dimensions, good on-road performance and genuine off-road ability. Over the years, the Vitara has evolved through changes in body size, engine technology, safety systems and chassis development.

are two petrol (Boosterjet) engine options – a 1.0-litre, and a 1.4-litre, with annual road tax costing €270, and €280 respectively.

Thanks to Suzuki’s new Boosterjet technology, both engines offer low emissions and greatly enhanced fuel economy. The 1.0-litre petrol engine comes with 110bhp and 160Nm of torque, making this car so much fun to drive. This eager engine goes hand-in-hand with a chassis that is equally enjoyable. Body control is excellent and engine responses are fluid and natural, giving the new Vitara a sporty and dynamic character.

The 1.4-litre engine comes with 139bhp and 220Nm of torque – figures which represent a 17% increase over the 1.6-litre engine it replaced back in 2015.

Petrol-only engines Stylish good looks The new Suzuki Vitara is available in petrol engine guise only, but transmission choices consist of a five-speed manual, six-speed manual and a six-speed automatic – depending on the model chosen. There 68 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Available in up to 11 different colours (single-tone and two-tone paint) the new Vitara stands 1.61M tall, 4.175M long and 1.775M wide, and will

Motoring

fit comfortably into any car parking space, while turning heads with its stylish good looks. Thanks to these well thought-out proportions, the new Vitara looks great from every angle and offers excellent head and leg room inside too. The quality of the materials used in the cabin is impressive, while the infotainment system in my test car provided satellite navigation, Bluetooth, radio functions and images from the standard reverse camera all on one centrally located touch screen. With the rear seats in place, the boot in the new Suzuki Vitara has a capacity of 375-litres, but this can be enhanced greatly by dropping the standard 60:40 split-folding rear seat backs.

satellite navigation, roof rails, LED rear combination lamps, and 17” alloys with a painted finish. Upgrade to the range-topping SZ5 model, and the standard equipment tally also includes front & rear parking sensors, panoramic glass sunroof, lane departure warning, blind-spot detection, electric folding mirrors, dual sensor brake support, adaptive cruise control, and keyless entry & start. The sweet-revving 1.0-litre engine in my test car is capable of propelling the car from 0-100km/h in 12.5-seconds, on the way to a top speed of 180km/h (where permitted). Suzuki quote a NEDC fuel consumption figure of 5.1l/100km on an extra-urban driving cycle, which is very impressive indeed.

Trim levels

Suzuki Allgrip

There are three trim levels available in the new Suzuki Vitara – SZ4, SZ-T, and SZ5, with even the entry-level SZ4 model equipped with 16” alloy wheels, engine stop/start, chrome front grille, LED daytime running lights, cruise control with speed limiter, CD/Radio/USB port, Bluetooth™, auto climate control, leather trimmed multi-function steering wheel, front centre armrest, luggage area cover, front & rear cupholders, driver & front passenger seat height adjustment, electric windows front & rear, removable double-level luggage compartment floor, front fog lights, electric mirrors (heated), ABS, EBD, ESP, hill hold assist, front passenger seat airbag deactivation, alarm, tyre pressure monitoring system, deadlocks, locking wheel bolts, ISOFIX x 2, remote central locking, and multiple airbags (including a driver’s knee airbag).

Optional on the Vitara SZ5 model is Suzuki’s ALLGRIP system, which has four driver-selectable modes for safe, enjoyable driving on diverse surfaces. The system has a ‘feed forward function’ that allocates torque to the rear wheels before any slippage can occour. The four modes are auto, sport, snow and lock, and the system provides the reassurance of four-wheel-drive safety and stability, with the low running costs of a two-wheel-drive.

Verdict and pricing;

Test car

With its strong SUV styling, the new Vitara has the bold good looks to stand out on the streets, and fit in on the toughest terrain. With powerful performance to match its rugged design, the new Vitara is built to excite and designed to thrill.

My test car was a Suzuki Vitara 1.0-litre Boosterjet SZ-T 2WD, fitted with a 5-speed manual gearbox and finished in ‘Bright Red’ paintwork with a contrasting ‘Cosmic Black Pearl’ metallic roof. Over and above the SZ4 model specification, the mid-range SZ-T model benefits from rear privacy glass, rear camera, DAB radio, Smartphone linkage display,

The new Suzuki Vitara is very competitively priced, with the SZ4 model priced from just €20,995, SZ-T priced from €22,995, and SZ5 available from €26,495 (all prices are quoted ex-delivery). The Vitara expresses Suzuki’s SUV styling heritage with its striking lines, and is destined to be yet another big-selling model for the iconic Japanese manufacturer.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 69

Gifts in Wills, no matter what size, lead to enormous steps towards a future without cancer

More people are getting cancer in Ireland, and worldwide, today. By 2045 cancer rates are set to double. This is why support towards research advancements has never been more important. Already, and with the help of public donations, cancer is no longer a death sentence. 6 in 10 patients will survive the disease for at least 5 years. This is up from 4 in 10 just 20 years ago. There is much more that still can be done however.

Cancer research carried out by Irish Cancer Society researchers includes cancer prevention, laboratory research, clinical trials and quality-of-life research for survivors, to help the 40,000 people in this country alone, who are affected each year. While research is extremely important for cancer patients being treated, much of our cancer research will benefit the next generation of cancer patients.

Many people of Ireland leave a gift in their Will to the Irish Cancer Society as their way of improving cancer treatment and care for generations to

come. This will help ensure that patients diagnosed with cancer will have access to the most cutting edge treatments and the best possible care.

Gifts in Wills, no matter what size, lead to enormous steps towards a future without cancer.

“Research is everything. It has made a difference to me and hundreds like me; I wouldn’t have survived without research into new and better treatments. Even if it’s not in my lifetime, there is hope that in the future people won’t have to go through this”. Stephanie Powell, Breast Cancer Survivor.

For your free information pack please contact Aoife McDarby at 01-2316629 or on amcdarby@irishcancer.ie and we can share in the difference that you can make by getting involved today.

We can’t thank you enough for taking the time and consideration.

Relax in total comfort and enjoy what Sligo has to offer

The 4 Star Sligo Southern Hotel in Sligo Town is a family owned and operated hotel with a blend of elegance and intimacy of a more gracious age, with the best of modern comforts. Originally constructed by the Southern Railways in 1928, as a resort hotel and then Great Southern Hotel was one of the first resort hotels in Ireland.

Located beside both the train and bus station in the heart of Sligo. The Sligo Southern Hotel is the only 4-star town centre hotel in Sligo with a full Leisure Centre a 3-metre swimming pool, a children’s pool, sauna, steam room and a fully air-conditioned gym. Our rooms are

tastefully decorated to the highest standards.

Accommodation comprises of 93 well-appointed bedrooms and suites, with a direct dial telephone, multi-channel television, hair dryer, tea and coffee making facilities and complimentary WIFI. Relax in total comfort and enjoy what Sligo town has to offer, after touring the surrounding area taking in all amenities of a town-based hotel. Yet within a 6 km radius experience all the activities associated with a country getaway based on the North West Coast of Ireland on the Wild Atlantic Way. Sligo, home to the poet and playwright WB Yeats offers a wide range

70 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

of amenities from 340 seat Hawks Well Theatre which hosts a diverse programme of arts and entertainments, to the 12-screen multiplex Gaiety Cinema.

The Sligo Southern Hotel and Leisure Centre offers a variety of holidays to suit all tastes, including our New Active Retirement Activity Breaks, Line Dancing, Bowling, Coach Trips from Belfast & Dublin, Bridge, Social Dancing and Turkey and Tinsel Holiday Breaks For further details call the hotel directly on 071 91 62101 & for Group Bookings call Tara on 087 0505773.

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Western Ways George Keegan on happenings along the Western Seaboard in travel , the arts, food and entertainment

Ireland’s own Camino

On the Kerry Camino

The story begins in 2002 when a French man named Roland Monsegu moved over to Ireland. At that stage he had not made a decision to live here permanently. However a few years later following a trip around the world taking in Asia, parts of Europe and much of South America he finally decided to make Ireland his new home. During that global journey Roland discovered the Camino de Santiago for the first time so on his return he set about founding his first adventure travel company named Greenlife Tours Ltd in 2011. A short time later the first brand called Caminoways.com was launched. The aim was to introduce a new option for Irish pilgrims and walkers eager to experience one of the famous Camino routes. The idea proved to be an outstanding success story.

Speaking to Senior Times Roland said ‘It quickly became apparent to me that the Camino resonated with people and I thought it would be a good idea to have a brand dedicated to it. Being an Irish company many returning clients would ask if we had walking packages for them in Ireland, so Irelandways.com was launched’.

It was in 2014 the decision was made to add this new brand specialising in trails across the Irish countryside. The major focus was on offering a new range of walking routes along the Wild Atlantic Way and other parts of Ireland, with options for those who prefer to travel by bicycle. Today 72 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

this sister company offers several different packages to suit all tastes and fitness levels. The following are two of the most popular routes on the Western Seaboard.

The Kerry Camino: walking from Tralee to Dingle takes just three days.

In times past pilgrims travelled from all parts of the West to take a boat from Dingle to the port of Coruña in North West Spain then continue by foot to Santiago de Compostela.

Today the Kerry Camino takes you on the same path from Tralee along the spine of the Dingle Peninsula to St.James Church in Dingle. All along this route are wonderful views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Kerry mountains. It passes through an area once home to St.Brendan known as Brendan the Navigator. It was from here he set off to preach the gospel in coastal areas of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, as well as Brittany.

Roland points out that the Kerry Camino has its own pilgrim passport just like the Santiago routes and a certificate can be requested at St.James Church, issued by the local Kerry Camino Association.

In addition anyone who completes the Kerry Camino can also request an Irish ‘Compostela’ in St.James Church Dublin issued by The Camino

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Western Ways

One of the many splendid vistas on the Dingle Way

Society Ireland, then complete their journey to Santiago by walking the 75km of the Camino Ingles from A Coruña in Galicia. This is known as the Celtic Camino.

The Dingle Way: if you wish to take a longer walking adventure in the West and continue enjoying magnificent scenery then follow the marked Dingle Way which wraps around the whole peninsula and takes approx 10 days to complete. Along this walk are important historical sites such as Celtic Ogham stones, Fahan beehive huts, ring forts and much more.

IrelandWays.com has useful eBooks including the Ireland Essential Walking Guide all easily downloaded.

Cycling route: another option is taking a leisurely cycling break and the company offers a package on the Great Western Greenway from

Westport to Achill Island. I have travelled on this route several times and it can be highly recommended. Most of it is away from the busy main road and the terrain is not difficult. The views are really stunning especially between Newport and Achill Island and there are some excellent coffee shops and picnic areas to take a rest.

CaminoWays.com has grown from an original cast of just three people to a production company of almost 40 from all corners of the globe, specialising on all things Camino.

Useful websites: www.irelandways.com www.caminoways.com www.wildatlanticway.ie www.discoverireland.ie

Donegal festivals

Whatever your interest, there is a festival for you ! says the Donegal Festivals & Events web page and to prove the point there are not one but two festivals taking place during this month setting the ball rolling for 2020.

Letterkenny Trad Week The Letterkenny Trad Week is about to celebrate its 6th year and will be held from the 19th to 26th at the Regional Cultural Centre and the An Grianan Theatre. A host of Irish traditional and world music acts are set to appear during the weeklong event with such household names as Sharon Shannon , the Lisa O’Neill Trio, Laoise Kelly and Tiarnán O’Duinnchinn, Xylouris White and Navá , Paul Harrington and Friends, to name just a few on the programme. Sharon Shannon will be accompanied by Alan Connor on keys/guitar to showcase music from her back catalogue starting in 1989 through to the present day. In the first five years many top performers have appeared at this festival including Altan, Irish super group Usher’s Island, Billy Bragg and many more. For full details and booking visit: www.regionalculturalcentre.com .

Atlantic Irish Fest The second festival is the ‘Atlantic Irish Fest – a Music & Cultural Tour of Northwest Ireland taking place from 18th-22nd January in Bundoran, organised by The Institute of Study Abroad Ireland. It is a celebration of the traditions of history, culture and music. There will be talks, tours, outdoor activities and a full programme of live music performed by some of the county’s best musicians. Note this festival is a 4 day add to Dublin’s ‘TradFest’ which is marketed in the USA as ‘The Calling’. While it might be geared mainly to a younger generation there will be lots of interesting cultural and music events to suit all ages.

Paul Harrington will appear at Letterkenny Trad Week

Among the highlights in Bundoran are classes on Irish history, language and culture, guided visits to ancient tombs and historical sites. There will be tastings of Donegal’s craft beers and whiskeys and for outdoor enthusiasts surfing, golf, guided coastal walks or riding by horseback on Ireland’s stunning Wild Atlantic Way. On Tuesday 21st a visit with guided tour of Derry/Londonderry will take place to include tour of Bogside murals, Free Derry Museum and the Historical Walls.

For up to minute programme and booking details click on www.atlanticirishfest.com

74 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Coming in January: Home Instead’s Senior Citizen Guidebook 2020

Home Instead Senior Care is now taking advance orders for its free annual publication, the Senior Citizen & Family Carer Essential Guidebook 2020.

In 2020, Home Instead Senior Care celebrates 15 years of operation in Ireland. During that time, tens of thousands of Irish families have entrusted the home care company to look after for their older loved ones.

Home Instead is proud of the difference that it has made to those the company cares for and their families, by enabling Ireland’s seniors to live happy, healthy lives at home.

In its 15 years of operation, the company says it has instilled the concept of ‘relationship-based care’ at the heart of its service delivery model.

Therefore, the 2020 edition of the Home Instead Senior Citizen & Family Carer Essential Guidebook, which will be available in January, takes relationship-based care as its theme.

Readers will be introduced to a number of clients, CAREGivers and key staff, who explain what relationship-based care means to them in their own words.

The Senior Citizen & Family Carer Essential Guidebook, which is made available to you free of charge, is undoubtedly the most comprehensive ageing resource in Ireland.

It is often referred to as a ‘bible’ for seniors – and it helps the company to honour its mission and truly enhance people’s lives.

By sharing the experience and expertise that it has accumulated through 15 years of operation in Ireland, Home Instead hopes to make it easier for seniors, their family members and healthcare professionals to learn more about ageing in Ireland.

Whether it’s understanding the value of a reablement programme, or learning ‘handy hacks’ to improve your home, or discovering the benefits that Consumer Directed Home Care can bring, the company hopes that the guidebook can help you make informed decisions.

Free copies may be requested by emailing info@homeinstead.ie, or over the phone by calling 1890 989 755.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 75

Retirement

The value of retirement courses Interview with Retirement Planning Council of Ireland course attendees, Alan and Avril Nason.

Alan and Avril Nason who found the course immensely useful

Alan worked with PermanentTSB for forty-two years before retiring in September 2019. Avril continues to work as a nurse and is considering her retirement options.

social welfare content, the taxation content and the enduring powers of attorney and wills. They really stuck out in my mind as being excellent and very pertinent.

Alan, how did you feel about taking retirement? What was the impetus to do the RPCI course?

The impetus was to be organised and to know a little bit more about the opportunities that are available in this state of retirement. I don't look on myself as being retired. I've just moved on to another phase of my life.

Avril: I wouldn't be so interested in the tax. It is terribly important, I know, but I generally leave that to Alan. I found the dietician superb and particularly as a nurse; I felt she was extremely relevant. You know, she did a little bit of everything. She recommended exercise. And she particularly recommended Pilates and yoga because of the stretching. Alan has since joined a Pilates class.

Avril, what about you?

Was there anything you felt was missing from the course?

Somebody had said to me the partner is entitled to go to the course. I felt it impacts on me. But I am also at retirement age. But I would think it would have been much better if we were doing it six months before Alan's retirement. We did the course post his retirement.

Alan: I felt that all the topics in the course were highly relevant. There was nothing there that should not have been there. I'd say that the emphasis on pension planning, investing of money. I had that all done; it was all completed, that door was closed.

How did you know about the RPCI?

Your identity in retirement and relationships. Do you feel each of those was covered in enough depth?

Alan: I knew about them through an event in the RDS where they had a stand. That was maybe two or three years ago. It had put the RPCI in my mind. I knew that they were there. And that they provided some facilities for retirement, but I didn't know the detail.

Avril: Somebody at work said to me, has Alan been placed on a retirement course? And you're entitled to go to us as well. It's very worthwhile.

I nurse in the Mater, and I didn't know the facility was there for nurses to go from the Mater. I have said it to quite a few of the staff around my age group.

Alan: I think it should be an automatic facility for somebody who's about to retire. Or indeed, mandatory.

How long was the course?

Avril: Two days. We did the course at the beginning of September 2019 in the RPCI offices in the city centre. There were about sixteen other people on the course.

Alan: Well, I know my identity going forward. I won't use the word retirement. I'm very happy with that, where I'm going and what I have to do. I found with regard to identity that the retirement workbook was excellent.

It was quite challenging to fill in some of the items in this workbook, such as my Wheel of Life, current interests and hobbies, my personal goals. I had definite ideas. But there were a few blanks, some gaps in the future that I needed to fill, around hobbies etc.

Avril: I think in a marriage it's important to always have your own friends, do your own thing. One of the men on the course, I don't think his wife was there on the day. And he retired. And he said, he just thought she would be at home all day waiting for him. And he said well, maybe we'll go here on Tuesday and she was saying, oh no, but I always play my Bridge on Tuesday morning. She had her week constructed doing different things. And it suddenly dawned on him that he had to do his thing, that she wouldn't always be sitting there waiting for him. She had mapped out her life because she had been home before him.

Which topics did you find most helpful?

Avril, do you feel that because you did the course with Alan that your thinking has changed?

Alan: I found all the topics very interesting, and those that stuck in my mind was the health one. As a man, I find it most unusual that I found the health talk given by a dietitian to be as good as it was. I liked the

Avril: To a certain extent, I have seen so many people retire. And then they either get dementia or their health suddenly fails. Alan is at home now. So, if we saw a cheap trip to somewhere next week, we could just

76 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Retirement

go, the two of us. And when we have our health, we should grasp it and do these things. Before the course, I had thought I might work until 67.

But since the course, I have revised my thinking. I probably will go at 65.

Alan, you spoke about hobbies, Pilates class and ECDL. Alan: One of the best things I did was when I was 65, which is four months ago. I went to the Department of Social Protection because one is entitled to sign on for Job Seekers' Allowance. I looked at all the courses that were available. One of the best courses was Jobs Club which runs for three weeks in the mornings. It was a wealth of information. I found out about doing First Aid Responder. I found out about lots of websites and facilities through the Department of Social Protection, where one could volunteer for activities. Indeed, the RPCI also provided that information. I found out about Obair. One perhaps might want to work part-time or work on a voluntary basis. It provided the information for all these doorways for the future.

What about the free lifetime support facility offered by the RPCI? Would you see yourself taking up that offer?

Alan: Yes. I don't have any issues at the moment. But it's very comforting to know that I had a specific issue, say social welfare, legal, taxation. But I would certainly use them as a port of call.

Avril: The RPCI also emphasised the importance of signing on for credits with social welfare. These are the little things, but they are very important around keeping your social welfare contributions topped up.

What're the positive things about this period?

Alan: I think the positive things for me are looking at new opportunities, training. I'm probably reflecting my thinking that I am not retired. I'm reflecting on the new facet in my life looking, which is not sedentary.

What would you both like to be doing in two year's time?

Would you be actively interested in doing other work, even in a voluntary capacity?

Alan: Very much so. It's a necessity, to be engaged in further activities, to get out and about and meet people. I feel that by giving, I will receive.

Whether I'm paid for it or not.

You talked about friendships in work. How have those friendships changed?

Alan: Those friendships close in very quickly indeed. They are based on the work chat. So out of manners and a desire to keep some bond to the past, I do pursue them. But it is really a facet of one's life that recedes into the past. One has to pursue activities outside the workplace.

Avril, do you see the work friendships as very important or less important?

The majority of my friends are actually from my training days. I have a very good work group. But I work in a unit and a lot of nurses come and go. And I'm now with quite a young group. I'm the Granny. I always sort of say I have three families. I have our family. We're quite involved in the church. So, I have my church family, and I have my work family. To lose the work-family will be big. I first nursed and then I went into Aer Lingus.

And I stayed there for sixteen years because when I had my three children, you could take unpaid leave in the winter. Then I got redundancy from Aer Lingus, and I took ten years off when the boys were in secondary school. So, I'm not burnt out; many people who never leave nursing are burnt out.

Avril: I would love to volunteer in the hospice. I would like spontaneity, heading off on a weekend. I've never had that freedom.

What single piece of advice would you give to others approaching retirement?

Alan: I would go, don't think about the word retirement. One doesn't want to leave work on a Friday and have very little in one's life from the Monday morning onwards. You do have to prepare. I would look at the jobs club if you are on Job Seekers Allowance. And listen to the opportunities that one will be told about. They are not necessarily opportunities for work. It's an activity.

So, we're trying to do is find activities which keep us engaged for the future. And because retirement is a terrible word. It's just moving to another phase in your life.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Alan: I was interested in the other activities which the RPCI offers such as ancestry and genealogy. I'd like to pursue that. I think as one gets on in age; one becomes more interested in that topic. And I did tick that box at the end of the course.

Avril: I would love to have the time now, to take out family photographs, put names and dates and who is who. And do a family tree in photographs.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 77

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Northern

By Debbie Orme

Notes

A real doggy’s tale...

When Andrea McKernon experienced a difficult period in her life just over a decade ago, she could scarcely have realised how much her life would change and how much she would change others’ lives – for the better.

Andrea on Carrick-a-Rede bridge

‘Around December 2007,’Andrea told Northern Notes, ‘I was going through a difficult time in my life. A few months earlier, I had taken voluntary redundancy from my job and was unsure what I was going to do with my life. I felt isolated and unhappy. I was very much at a crossroads.

‘Coincidentally, around the same time, I had taken on a rescue dog, so I was spending a lot of time walking him. Where some people might get benefits from learning cognitive techniques on the NHS to adapt into and improve their everyday life, I found I was just doing it – helped by my springer spaniel, Bosco, and our many walks. We walked everywhere, including on the Belfast Hills. Before I knew it, I was working in the Belfast Hills Partnership learning all about the mountain trials.

‘Around this time, I’d also started taking Bosco to Beechgrove Doggy Fun Park in Banbridge. The fun park, which was open from April to September, contained agility equipment for dogs. The staff showed me how to bring Bosco through the agility course and explained to me how agility was worth five times any other exercise because the dog was processing and learning. It was really heart-warming to see Bosco learning – and having fun! He was also learning how to look to me for instruction and our bond was getting stronger. I asked the operators if they would consider opening a facility in greater Belfast, but the one in Banbridge was a farm diversification scheme and they were not into interested in the city. I was convinced that urban centres would benefit from a dog park.

‘I started to think of how good it would be to have something that merged the social needs of people in my walking group and the needs of dog owners in the city along the lines of rural dog parks. A dog park/centre that would be off-leash, allowing good exercise with an agility course, but a place where people would feel safe with staff present, and a place where dog owners could socialise and interact with others. A place that would be fun for dogs but provide socialisation and a relief for people feeling isolated and lonely.

‘At that time, I’d also discovered meetup.com and thought about how good it would be to set up a hill-walking group. As a woman, I wouldn’t have gone to hill sites in other parts of the city I didn’t know alone and I knew other women would feel the same. The Belfast Hills were opening up and people were venturing into them so I set up the Belfast Dynamos hill-walking group in 2008. Having led walks at Belfast Hills Partnership, I was able to bring members safely into the hills.

After a year, I introduced a yearly fee for the group, but I waived this fee for unemployed and people recovering from depression. My dog-friendly walking group now has over 2,500 members online, with about 300 active walkers at any time.

‘It rapidly became clear to me that isolation, loneliness and mental health issues were present in my walkers. They were not financially poor, but

had lost a spouse, child or other person, or had reached some sort of crossroads in their lives.

‘They wanted to walk as I had to deal with the issues in their lives, get to know new people, learn about flora and fauna, get fresh air and not be afraid of joining a group. Being a woman, I think, encouraged other women to join.

‘My walkers were also very diverse in nature. I had a blind, gay couple, for example, and a blind man who came along to give the guide dogs time to be simply dogs and to get some exercise. I also have a deaf young man with Aspergers who has found the group beneficial. I’ve had adults getting over the death of a child when often their marriages did not survive the tragedy. Mostly it’s just people who would otherwise be walking alone.

‘The dogs benefit greatly too. Since I started the walks, I’ve seen how much some unsocialised dogs have improved and become socialised running as one of the pack within just a couple of visits.’

With her hill-walking group well established, Andrea turned her attention back to the idea of the funpark for dogs. In July 2018, she approached Antrim and Newtownabbey Council, and was able to set up two dog parks!

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 79

Northern Notes

After walk sit-down tea

‘We know with well-exercised dogs and educated owners - along with vets and council animal welfare officials providing advice and knowledge - that we can reduce animal aggression, reduce the number of dogs being given up or abandoned, and see more abandoned dogs being homed as we provide support to dog owners,’ Andrea continues.

‘A social worker member of my walking group supplied some young people in care who are aching to work with animals but cannot get into Belfast Zoo. These young people have had problems and do not trust adults, but they love working with dogs. We hope to channel young people into training and bursaries and into dog behaviour courses. People who love dogs but can’t have one are on our volunteering list. Many pensioners, professional workers and families have shown us how they are committed to being members of Doggy Dynamos.

‘We are confident that our dog centre will create a vibrant dog-centred economy in the Glengormley, Newtownabbey, Antrim and greater

On the walk

Belfast area. We have already observed and experienced the positive reception and support from dog owners in the greater Belfast area.’

Socialisation for you – and your four-legged friend!

Council calls out to World War Two veterans Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is calling for information about World War Two veterans who reside in the area.

The presentation is aimed at anyone who was a member of the Army, Navy, Airforce, Royal Marines or the Merchant Navy who served in hostile waters anytime from 1939 to 1945.

The council is set to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day by presenting surviving veterans with a special silver Poppy of Remembrance to mark their significant contribution to the fight against fascism and Nazism.

If you - or someone in your family or community - played a part in World War Two in this way, please contact mayorsoffice@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk before 5pm on Friday 3 January 2020.

80 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Northern Notes

Borough war veterans recognised at special reception

Veterans and their families join with military representatives at the recent poppy of remermbrance recception.

Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for the County of Antrim, Mr David McCorkell and Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John Smyth presenting Eva Elizabeth Tweedale (Lil) with a commoremorative poppy wreath

To launch the Council’s VE Day 75 commemorations, a special veterans’ recognition reception was recently held at the Museum at The Mill at Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey. This intimate gathering was hosted

by Her Majesty’s Lord- Lieutenant for the County of Antrim, Mr David McCorkell and The Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John Smyth.

achieving victory in Europe and restoring peace across many countries.

Watched on by their families, elected members, military and Royal British Legion representatives, seven World War Two Veterans from the Borough, were each presented with a specially-commissioned Poppy of Remembrance as a token of the Council’s thanks for their contribution in

‘It is my honour to present this special poppy to each one of you,’ said Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Alderman John Smyth, ‘but, as I do so, I am also remembering all of those from our borough and beyond who were lost in the war, and who are not here with us today. I know each one of you will have memories of fallen comrades and friends and I can assure you - we will remember them both today and in the future.’

Following the official proceedings, the guests were treated to an afternoon tea and music from the 1940s era by The Courtyard .

Let your legacy help their future.

Leaving a gift in your will, no matter how small, can help to make a real difference to children and adults with Down syndrome throughout Ireland.

Help us to share the journey.

To learn more, visit www.downsyndrome.ie or contact alisonk@downsyndrome.ie 01-4266500

Four copies of A Great Beauty to be won!

Senior Times, in association with publisher Poolbeg Press, are offering four copies of A Great Beauty by A. O’Connor as this issue’s crossword prize. Based on actual events in the 1920’s during the War of Independence, the book’s main characters are Michael Collins and Lady Hazel Lavery, the beautiful socialite and the face on Irish banknotes for decades. The book is a fascinating account of a love and a relationship that both shocked and had deep political implications for Ireland at the time.

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82 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Send your entry to: Crossword Competition, Senior Times magazine, Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane Dublin 6 Closing date for entries is 15th February 2020. The first four correct entries drawn are the winners.

Crossword Crossword Number 103 by Zoë Devlin

ACROSS 1&5 5 10 16 18 19 20 21 22 24 26 30 31 32 34 & 44 37 39 43 44 46 47 52 53 54 55 58 60 63 64 68 69 70 72 75 77 79 83 84 85 90 91 92 93 96 97 100 101 102 103 104

Good King 30 Across looked out __ __ __ __ __ (2,3,5,2,7) See 1 Across.

Brilliant, of surpassing excellence (6) I relate to this artist’s workroom (7) Garment to protect cook’s clothing (5) Invisible spirit in Aladdin’s bottle (5) Leather sheath for carrying handgun (7) Entrance to field or Dublin theatre? (4) Take an onion trip with this red wine? (5,4) Frenzied .. agitated .. unrestrained (7) Sages who bore gold, frankincense & myrrh (4) King who got new scales for Christmas? (9) Historical Irish novel, ‘___ City’ (8) Starred in ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner’ Spencer ___ (5) Seasonal wish (5,3,4) Tenth month of the year (7) Bright yellow spring-flowering bulb (8) Breakfast cereal made of oatmeal (8) See 34 Across.

Sugar coating on the Christmas cake (5) Tree bearing red berries & prickly leaves (5) Mild yellow Dutch cheese (4) Nut used in cakes & marzipan (6) Were elves seen taking this morning break? (9) Christmas carol ‘The 47 Across & the ___‘ (3) Not very bright .. shadowy (3) Native of Reykjavik perhaps (9) Type of building where Christ was born (6) Pleased .. cheerful (4) Joyful religious song celebrating Christmas (5) Boredom .. tedium .. dissatisfaction (5) Fine grained, scented powder (4) Amorous .. quixotic .. impractical (8) Province where many a listener live! (8) Dickens’ famous skinflint, Ebenezer ___ (7) One who lives at a particular place (8) US writer & poet, Sylvia ___ (5) Latin prayer set to music by both Gounod & Schubert (3,5) & 100 Down. Traditional Christmas dinner (6,3,3) Set of questions to test knowledge (4) Performance to raise money for charitable cause (7) Author of ‘The Secret Scripture’, ___ Barry (9) Jane Austen’s 1816 novel ‘___‘ (4) Slope or ascent (7) Symbol of love or one of Santa’s reindeers? (5) Established custom or religious attire? (5) Operating or living in water (7) Danger! Plants are cultivated here (6) Christmas entertainment for children (9) Person who tolls to summon congregation to prayer (4-6)

DOWN 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 17 23 25 27 28 29 33 35 36 38 40 41 42 45 48 49 50 51 56 57 59 61 62 63 65 66 67 71 73 74 76 78 80 81 82 83 86 87 88 89 94 95 98 99 100

Round fruit or pigment between red & yellow (6) Building where 103 Across takes place (7) Author of Noddy & the Famous Five, ___ Blyton (4) Occurring at a particular time of the year (8) Device for creating a current of air (3) Small boat designed to pull larger ships (3) J M Barrie’s eternally young creation ‘Peter ___‘ (3) Time without end .. in its entirety (8) Unsightly .. unattractive .. hideous (4) Wide part of river as it nears the sea (7) Edifice that came down 9th November 1989 (6,4) Sphere, field, area or end of an era? (5) The season of good will (9) Long straps to control Santa’s reindeers (5) Short introduction (5) Heavy line made from hemp or jute (4) Synthetic fabric or paint used by artists (7) Could ye dilute the fun of this Christmas time? (8) Fifty per-cent (4) They watched their flocks by night (9) Heavy anorak-type of winter jacket (5) Margin or rim (4) Implement used to strike the ball in snooker (3) City in north central India (5) Receptacle that houses bees (4) English writer of science-fiction novels (1,1,5) Singer __ Stewart or US actor ___ Steiger (3) Drum out, expel or remove from position (4) Chuffed .. gratified .. delighted (7) Residue after burning (3) Consortium or pool (9) Measure of weight of approx. 2.2lb. (4) Somewhere to sleep (3) Resort in SE Florida (5) Celtic goddess or ___ Rosemary Scallon? (4) Macintosh or waterproof (8) Took the weight off your feet (3) Lissome, supply, sylphlike (5) Small pigeon - symbol of peace (4) Actor, model & ‘blonde bombshell’ ___ Monroe (7) Human limb (3) Sparkling .. like tinsel on the tree! (10) Town where Jesus was born (9) Fraudulent business scheme (4) Small ovoid fruit ..source of oil (5) City in Spain - sounds like Co Kerry island? (8) Counter selling ready-to-eat products (4) Translation of movie at bottom of screen (8) One of Santa’s reindeers - he bounces & springs (7) Australian marsupial, eats eucalyptus leaves (5) Label identifying person’s magenta garment (4,3) Walt Disney’s young forest-living deer (5) Nureyev or another of those reindeers? (6) Grape-producing climbing plant (4) Extinct Japanese volcano, Mount ___ (4) Domesticated animal kept for companionship (3) Barrier constructed to contain flow of water (3) See 85 Across Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 83

The Girl At The Funeral He died too soon and she felt the loss .

That flame she carried for so long was now extinguished and he was gone . Being her first love the emotion was woven into her soul forever , but now this loss weighed heavily on her . Her capacity to love hopefully will never die nor her desire for it , but that's a thought for another time and place .

She stole her way slowly up the church aisle almost unknown and not the acknowledged one experiencing grief . As she sat in silence in her seat the congregation filed in and a silence descended on the church .

The coffin was carried slowly and reverently towards the altar . She hides her feelings , and retains her dignity.

Her identity has changed, facial features now lined with the passing of time . The eyes he once loved remained intense , a tear evident now and again falling on cheeks he kissed many years ago .

Short Story

By Catherine Garahy

Her reflections on the past were heartbreaking . Our memory is a diary , we sometimes decline on rereading . Past happenings are better stored in our mind for another day , the choice is always ours .

She played her part and never neglected work or family commitments.

On some rare occasions a chance meeting or a journey to some place can reignite the trials and tribulations of the past , mental torture and regrets are usually the result .

The many tributes paid to her now dead lost love were she presumed were deserved .

Reminiscence is not a profitable exercise , sometimes it is better to let the past rest .

Yet today she thinks of her own past life and what might have been .They say a life without love is liking to a year without a Summer !

She had her Summers but always dreamed of other doors opening and bringing something more exciting than the present ordinary happenings in her life .

Despite. her grief she never neglected the elegant style in which she dressed , and today was no different. Her coat and hat smacked of good taste with bag and gloves of matching leather . Yet a heart full of sadness beat within that outward display of confidence.

As the funeral Mass continued she remained inert and contemplative .

Several clubs and associations honoured his memory and paid tribute to the contributions he had made during his life .

Now her mood changed . Regardless of the solemnity of the occasion she felt jealousy consuming her very being . She was not the chosen one , never at his side on special occasions.

Yet she asked herself , how could one man attend all these meetings and spread himself in so many directions ? Perhaps home was not the happiest place , was he running away ?

She thought this was her consolation prize , yet she had loved him and hoped his life had been happy !

What did this man mean to her who now lay cold in a coffin gone to his eternal reward and soon to be received into a grave with the respect he deserved.

They met in the small town where they lived , shared trips to the Cinema , walks in country lanes , and enjoyed every moment .

The Show Band era was in full swing so weekend dancing was a major part of their entertainment.

He did not score highly with his movements on the dance floor but she cared less , wrapped in his embrace the night was hers !

His appearance was very pleasing , blue eyes , athletic figure and a smile to die for , what more did a nineteen year old girl want ?

Back to realisation as she sat at the funeral taking in all the proceedings.

No familiar faces , too much time had passed. Years rolled into decades and now half a century almost since she had shared this mans life . She watched as if from a distance, solemn faces all around listening to the Priest as he read the eulogy. The expression on her face was evident of her deep sorrow, an anonymous soul lonely in a crowded church .

84 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

In the concluding part of the ceremony his remains passed passed down the Church followed by his grieving family . Her sorrow did not extend further than her own soul , to nobody else .

She heard his voice saying "I love you my Goldilocks forever and a day " Alas that golden hair had turned to grey , and the love of her life was gone !

She left the church and mingled among the crowd for a moment . Suddenly she turned left the scene and made her way back to her everyday life and living .

Beauty and Pampering

New year – new you!

Last minute gifts or a treat for yourself.

Mairead Robinson has some suggestions

and we have highlighted some of the best over the last few years. But there is one that stands out from the rest, as it is not part of a hotel, but is a stand-alone international award winning adults only destination spa – and that is the five star Monart located near Enniscorthy in county Wexford.

The bath and the pool at The Monart

Vouchers have become very popular in recent years, and are a very acceptable gift option. There is nothing more acceptable than a voucher for a spa break, something that is top of the pampering list for most of us. For those who have had a difficult year, they can be particularly precious and by nature of their flexibility, they can be used at a time that suits over the following months, or even up to a year. There are some excellent spa facilities throughout the country these days,

Recently the spa welcomed two Shaolin monks from China who stayed at Monart until December giving lessons in Tai Chi and meditation, demonstrations and Chinese massage techniques. As expected, they were hugely popular, and I was fortunate to spend a night there and catch a couple of their classes along with enjoying the wonderful food and facilities that Monart has on offer all year round. Always a leader with innovative treatments and therapies, check out what is on offer throughout 2020, give a voucher to a special friend or book a treat for yourself. There is currently a new Way to Wellness package being launched for the new year, which includes a series of cleansing and rejuvenating treatments to energize and inspire you for the year ahead.

More on www.monart.ie Now this is the time of year to protect our skin against the harsh winter weather, and organic skincare brand, Eminence have two products to do just that. Now if you skin is also drying out and feeling the effects of central heating and firesides, Sweet Red Rose Tonique reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. Another gem from Eminence is their Light Defence Face Primer which gives the skin a healthy glow.

Great gift ideas – once again for your good friends or indeed your good self. www.eminence.ie Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 85

Beauty and Pampering

When it comes to looking after your skin, especially those with sensitive skin, Eucerin has been the go-to brand for many. I regularly use their sun protection products, and they are leaders when it comes to menopausal skin care. Hyaluron-filler night cream really plumps up the appearance of deep wrinkles and improves skin’s elasticity. And now a new product range from Eucerin of anti-pigment products is a great addition to our anti-ageing armoury. Hyperpigmentation is the term used to describe areas of uneven pigmentation in skin – it appears as darkened patches or spots on the skin. Age spots and sun spots are common names for hyperpigmentation.

What is especially effective with this new range is the active ingredient Thiamodol, which acts directly to reduce melanin production in skin – the root cause of hyperpigmentation. Melasma,also known as chloasma,

is a condition where larger patches appear around the face, often triggered by changes in hormone levels. You can use day and night creams, and a sun pigment control if you are away in the sun for the winter, and even a spot corrector pen to target specific areas.

What is exciting with this product range is that real results can be seen after just two weeks, and continued use up to twelve weeks can see the almost complete disappearance of all signs of hyperpigmentation.

And finally, if you are looking for something new and exciting, checkout IT Cosmetics – launched last autumn in Tralee. Developed with leading plastic surgeons and dermatologists, IT Cosmetics really make life simpler and so much better. Take their CC + with SPF 50 product for example, this is a colour

86 Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

correcting full coverage cream with anti-aging hydrating serum. It is an all-in-one foundation, sunscreen, colour corrector, hydrating serum, pore-minimiser, dark spot corrector and moisturising day cream. All that in one tube! Since discovering this at the launch, I have become an avid fan and now so too has my daughter, who is thirty years younger. Another of their hero products is their Bye Bye Under Eye concealer which has become one of the best-selling concealers on the market. Their Transforming Moisturising Super Cream is also called ‘Confidence in a Cream’ and is another great anti-aging product. You can find their full range of products at CH Tralee and also check out the Brown Thomas cosmetic area and cosmetic counters nationwide.

Have a happy and beautiful festive season and a wonderful 2020.

Crafts

Connie McEvoy shows you how to make an attractive ring cushion

The New Millennium 20 Years On 1 spool of white no 40 machine sewing cotton thread Greaseproof paper, water erasable pen, black pencil Chenille or darning needle size 20, tapestry needle for working the buttonhole loops at base of flowers and the two needle-woven rings, a sharp and some pins Masking tape, a white nylon zip 20cms some wadding and enough white lining fabric to make a cushion pad 24.5cms x 24.5cms finished size Embroidery scissors, hoop and thimble if used Expertise – advanced Time – about 25 hours Begin by drawing the design (freehand as the motif is simple) on greaseproof paper using the black pencil Place the design centrally against the back of Mountmellick work fabric and pin securely As the Festive season of 1999 started early in December there was an extra dimension of anticipation experienced in all homes as the first day of a new millennium January 1st 2000 was fast approaching. Some senior citizens looked forward to celebrating the event in the knowledge that even though they may not have remembered the early years of their childhood they would have lived through one century and started another.

Using the masking tape stick the fabric right side facing on a window pane or glass with the light shining through, draw the design including the square shape of cushion using the water erasable pen onto the right side of the fabric for cushion front

New Millennium coins went into circulation, parish churches distributed special candles and calendars and there were plenty of other souvenirs/memorabilia available for purchase while Christmas shopping was in progress, I still have the black and silver silk scarf that was worn during the New Year’s celebrations then I also designed, constructed and enjoyed working some projects in Mountmellick work embroidery, including a ring cushion- Lily of the valley and two wedding rings motif (having been informed by my elders that this little flower was very popular for use in Spring wedding bouquets long ago), also a diary cover incorporating a Celtic design, fringe and Mountmellick stitch and a Christmas card with a Christmas rose motif, all projects included a 2000 motif.

The ring cushion has been displayed on the silk scarf for photography, it is rather difficult to photograph white on white projects but fingers crossed.

Stitch key as follows The two large leaves at motif top are worked in fishbone stitch and the two small leaves on outside of each are worked in backstitch The four leaves below are worked as follows –two on outside of motif fishbone stitch, two on inside slanted irregular satin stitch with backstitch veins

Requirements for ring cushion Two pieces of Mountmellick work fabric 1 piece measuring 28 x 28cms for the front and 1 piece measuring 28cms wide x 33cms long (seam allowance for zip) for the back 1 cone of white mercerised soft cotton non-sheen thread, 2 ply or 4ply

Remove the masking tape, pins and greaseproof paper You are now ready to start your embroidery

Group of three leaves below as follows- outside slanted irregular satin stitch, centre fishbone stitch, inner detached lazy daisy stitches along the outline which is then couched using the tying stitches of the lazy daisy stitch, the centres are worked in back stitch The four leaves below this group are worked as the four above and the four small leaves at centre of motif are as follows, two on outside fishbone stitch, two on inside backstitch. Leaf stems are worked in stem stitch All leaves are worked from top to bottom and begin with some backstitches in order to achieve fineness at tips.

The flowers are worked over the leaves which means that it will only be necessary to take the needle and thread through the fabric occasionally.

Senior Times l January - February 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 87

Crafts Stems- long stem stitches overcast, flowers- padded satin stitch with Buttonhole loops at bottom. The figure 2000 motif is worked in stem stitch overcast and backstitch. The two rings are needle woven by taking four threads from the back of fabric at stem stitch outline which will then be laid side by side and taut along front of fabric to seam allowance at cushion bottom where they are taken to back of fabric and secured in order to begin weaving.

Place both pieces wrong sides in on a white folded towel, tack neatly and squarely together along the outline (these stitches will act as padding for buttonholed edge).

Begin needle weaving at the stem stitch outline weaving under two and over two threads until enough is woven to form a ring. Release the four threads from back of fabric, take three threads one at a time and in staggered lengths neatly into ring in order to secure. Cut each thread quite close to ring, take the remaining thread through the fabric to the back and secure there.

When all edges are finished press well on both sides and carefully cut surplus fabric away using the embroidery scissors ensuring that none of the loops are cut in the process.

Cushion back- take the piece of fabric measuring 28cms x 33cms, cut right across the centre from side to side. Place the two pieces together right sides in, tack along one edge 2cms in, from side to side. Starting 2cms in from edge work a 4cm row of backstitching (or machine stitch) on each side leaving the centre section free for the zip. Press the seam open and remove tacking stitches, insert zip and press again.

Make up the cushion pad and insert wadding distributing evenly throughout, carefully insert the pad into the finished cushion.

The edges are finished in indented buttonhole stitch looped around a pencil, which is held against the edge, as stitching is in progress the thread is wound around the pencil once after each stitch.

Use a length of thread to tie the rings together in a bow, make a knot close to each end of bow.

The Mountmellick work fabric used in this project was purchased at the Voirrey Embroidery Centre, Brimstage Hall, Wirral L63 6JA and the 4 ply thread at the Empress Mills stand during the 1999 Knitting & Stitching show in the RDS Dublin. All other requirements are available at most craft shops.

Put both back and front to steep in tepid suds over- night and wash in a laundry bag at 40 degrees in a washing machine. Press while quite damp on several layers of blanket or towel.

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Three copies of One Pot Feeds All by Darina Allen Sean Farrell, Dublin 6W Nora Matthews, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan Kathleen O’Regan, Buttevant, Co Cork

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Acorn

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Age Friendly Technology The Acorn Way The Acorn is Ireland’s first Age-Friendly Smart Tablet. Designed with you in mind.

It is easy to use, easy to navigate and uncluttered, making Online communication and access to the Internet simple and rewarding for even the most inexperienced user. Connecting to the Internet is easy too. If you don’t have Wi-Fi, don’t worry we also offer a mobile data service.

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