SUNDAY BLOG: REMEMBERING AND SATELLITES FOR SUNSHINE

Within two hours of each other two special friends passed away.  Friday evening and news came through that Betty Scott had died quickly followed by Maire Browne Mahaffey’s death.

Betty was a diva in the best sense of the word, she was a showbiz woman with a big heart, she was chair of the Ladies Taverners in Northern Ireland tirelessly raising funds for disabled children, she supported the arts and children’s theatre projects and she was a born entertainer. Betty’s parties in her Holywood home were legendary – always fascinating people, lovely food, music and singing.  She would have been a famous singer if she hadn’t fallen in love with Alf Scott who brought her from a thriving career in Blackpool to live in Belfast and help him run his theatrical business.  The Boom Boom Room was the first of his entertainment centres with artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Adam Faith, Roy Orbison and the Rollins Stones who performed in the Ulster Hall.   Betty was a delightful and generous woman and tributes are pouring in, amongst them Martin Lynch and Marie Jones, Candy Devine sent her sympathies from Australia  but most are from people whose lives have been touch by this lady who worked so hard for others.

Maire Browne came to work in Ulster Television in the 60s from her home in India where her father ran a tea plantation.  She was feisty and fun, I loved going to her house in Holywood where her mum would whip up a pancake mix and toss them on the skillet over an Aga.  We had lots of adventures and even though she left to marry Calvin Mahaffey we  stayed in touch through the years and it was only a few weeks ago that she was there when the Ulster Television Golden Oldies met for our monthly lunch.  Her many friends will be saddened to hear this news.

The Pinnacle Of Awfulness

The Eurovision ‘song’ contest and Madonna – what a travesty.

Respect to the boys who held up the ‘Palestine’ scarf.

 

The Satellite Dish Of SunShine

I went to see Calendar Girls The Musical during last week and the Grand Opera House was filled with sunflowers and  the laughter of WI ladies and their friends plus a very appreciative audience from all over the place.  This is a must and it runs until Saturday 25th May.

The story of Calendar Girls is well known, a group of women in Rylstone & District Women’s Institute decide to rise money to buy a settee for the family room in their local hospital in memory of the husband of one of their members.  John (Phil Corbitt)  and his wife Annie (Sarah Jane Buckley) own and run a flower shop but he is diagnosed with cancer and in Act 1 we see him go from full health to his death. The pace is measured and we get to meet the men and women of the small village in the Yorkshire Dales.  The ladies knit, make cakes, (general advice on baking  by the way is rub the dish with butter, use a warm spoon and if it’s a special event, go to Marks and Spencers) and jam, squabble and make up but with John’s illness they come together to support his wife.

To be honest the first half is slow and it takes time to sort out who is who, this is a musical so there are some numbers with the entire cast singing about the beauties of the countryside and some solos where the actresses especially have a chance to tell their individual stories and show off their excellent voices.  It was really scene setting because once the interval is over the show goes into overdrive.  

The girls decide the only way to raise money is to produce a saucy calendar and getting agreement to fill 12 months is very funny.  It’s here that 73 year old actress Lesley Joseph shines.  She sings of growing old with such force and vigour that we give her long and heartfelt applause.  She knows how to command the stage.  She’s unwilling to bare all at her age but relents as do the others.  The shenanigans of getting ready for the photographer are hilarious, so is the actual photo shoot.  The calendar requires each month to have a nude WI member and this is so well choreographed that we almost fall off our seats laughing and clapping at the risqué poses.  There is very little false modesty on the stage of the Grand Opera House!  But there are also tears and the combination, the acting and the music all go to making a very special night of theatre.

The foyer and the stage was filled with hundreds of sunflowers, why?  They are ‘a satellite dish for sunshine’.

This story began 20 years ago and since then there’s been a film made, a play written and now a musical by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth and to date all these ventures have raised around £5 million for Bloodwise the leukaemia research charity. There’s a sad aspect to the story as there was  a lot of in-fighting and jealousies from the launch, strong characters flexing their muscles.  Eventually after some years the group broke in two, one lot going back to their roots the others continuing to develop their own side interests from their fame.  Some of these original Calendar Girls still appear around the country side, I had the pleasure of introducing them at a charity event and they are a delight and quite dedicated to raising as much money as possible and, as Bruce Forsyth would say, didn’t they do well.

 

Special Day For The RAFVR

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Their’s is a story of bravery and of comradeship which began in 1939 at the Sydenham aerodrome at a time when planes were basic, some even had table tennis balls stuffed into the wings to give buoyancy if they ditched, and many did with fatal consequences.   John C. Hewitt writer and aviation historian who has arranged this memorial service, has put together the history of the RAFVR and it makes difficult reading, the average age mid 20s, sinking U-Boats in the Bay of Biscay, the Battle of Britain, Tiger Moth bi-planes to Hurricane, Heinkel 111 to Spitfires.  There are so many personal stories, one volunteer asked his pilot if he would circle his home in the Ardoyne as they left for war, family and friends came out to wave little knowing it would be the last time they would see him alive.

John takes up the story of the guitar.

“In November 1939 Sidney Ireland met up with the 30 other RAFVR boys at York Street Railway Station. His best friend, Noel Corry, asked him, ‘Where’s your guitar? The reply, ‘I left it at home’.

“There was no way that they were going without a guitar for Sidney and a farewell sing song.  So Noel went up to the engine driver and told  him they were off to war and asked if he could wait about 30 minutes until they went to purchase a guitar. The engine driver was happy to oblige.

“Noel and two compatriots rushed out of the station, hailed a taxi. ‘Quick as you can – drive to Matchetts in Wellington Place and don’t spare the horses’. They duly bought the instrument, rushed back to the LMS, thanked the engine driver for waiting and presented Sidney with the guitar.   They had a great old sing on the way to Larne and then by boat to Stranraer.”

As they were approaching Stranraer, Sydney asked his friends to sign the back of the guitar because goodness knows when they would see each other again. 

“Noel tried with his fountain pen but it rubbed off. What were they going to do? Cecil Smylie had an idea.  He pulled out his Boy Scout knife and opened the spike and they all engraved the back of the guitar.   

At 22 years of age, Sidney Ireland was one of the first to be killed but his guitar survived.  Many of the men ended up holding a senior rank and decorations but so many died.  Sidney Ireland’s best friend, Squadron Leader Noel Corry DFC, AE. wrote a poem in memory of all his RAFVR friends who were killed during the war.   This is the first verse:

Young men, little more than school boys,

Jousting with the Luftwaffe in the sky

To determine whose turn it is to die today.

The service will be held at St. Anne’s Cathedral today at  3.30 p.m. 

The Change Of Life

The menopause is a mystery to many, there seem to be no rules of engagement, no time table, no warning of severity and no full proof way to cope.  However,  help is at hand.  Anne McGale is a practice nurse in Belfast, a holistic therapist and a health educator.   “I had a bad start to my menopause so I decided that if I could help it, no other woman would get to that point without information.  After two years research I’ve started a business called Positive Wellbeing”.   

Anne has also included the Equality Commission in her research.  “By 2020 1 in 3 women over 50 will be in the workplace but there’s no policy or legislation available to support them through the transition.  We have no government at present however two cases in England have been taken regarding how women were treated during the menopause.  These are the same women who have been supported through pregnancy and maternity leave as there is policy in these areas so there’s hope for the future. I am passionate about giving women the knowledge and information to empower them to make educated choices in their health.”

Anne is organising an event, The Big Pause, focusing on the menopause on Thursday 30th May from 9am until 1 p.m. in Ormeau Business Park in Belfast.  There will be a doctor, a lawyer and a psychologist speaking during the morning as well as Anne’s own presentation.  She plans to take The Big Pause to venues around the North.

And The Men Are Not Forgotten.

“I hope to follow this with something concerning the Andropause, the midlife symptoms men experience  during their transition into the second half of their life.”

Here’s a related conundrum – in the television show, Mrs. Brown’s neighbour, the somewhat dowdy Winnie McGoogan, is also his sister, if you know what I mean!  In ‘real’ life, Brendan O’Carroll’s sister is Eilish O’Carroll and she has a brilliant one woman show during which she discusses the menopause, she certainly doesn’t play it down but she is funny about it too.  Her advice is, think of it – Men O Pause – in other words,  take a break and concentrate on yourself. 

More information about The Big Pause will be available at www.positivewellbeingni.com later this month.