NEEDS MUST
Sometimes when I can’t get over to sleep I play my relaxation tape from hypnotisist Alan Gilchrist and it’s very effective. Other times I play a recording of Princess Diana’s funeral service. Strange you might think and somewhat depressing but no. The music is superb, the readings too, Elton John sings Candle in the Wind and I for one came to realise what a good musician he is and how gifted Bernie Taupin is with words. Then there’s the then Prime Minister Tony Blair reading, or performing, from Corinthians 13 about love .
He must have spent hours with a vocal coach and other hours with some Shakespearian actor.
Mostly I can visualise what was happening but last night I decided to take a little time to watch that extraordinary morning – over four hours of BBC coverage with David Dimbly commentating outside and Tom Fleming in Westminster Abbey. I didn’t actually sit through the entire four hours of coverage but I did watch the slow procession of the coffin with the three arrangements of flowers from her children and Prince Charles. The silence amongst thousands of bystanders was broken only by sobbing and the occasional I Love You Diana shouted from someone who worshipped her. The clip clop of the horses hooves and the rattle of their bridles made for very riveting viewing.
The queen and the family came to a side gate of Buckingham Palace to watch the cortege pass, she had the decency to bow her head, Princess Margaret didn’t bother and to me seemed slightly disinterested in the whole thing.
Heart breaking to see Charles, William and Harry with Diana’s brother and Prince Philip move in behind the gun carriage and their long walk to the Abbey, Harry, only 12 years of age, slightly in front to be closest to his mother, William hands clasped in front of his slim young body never once lifting his head.
As they walked down the Mall to Whitehall and onto the Abbey the bells began to ring out the solemn message of grief and 500 members of different charities Diana supported joined the procession.
It was interesting when the camera showed the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks standing to one side, unable to join the service because it was Saturday the Jewish holy day.
Two outstanding pieces of music as far as I’m concerned, the BBC Singers with soloist Lynn Dawson singing from Verdi Requiem and at the end, as the coffin was carried shoulder hight by the young guardsmen, John Tavener’s Allelua ‘May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest’.
Then it seems everything froze for a one minute of silence concluded by the half muffled bells giving the whole scene an eerie feeling.
That was last night, this is today. A birthday to be celebrated, an unwell member of the family to be thought about, a surprise visit from Donegal including two enthusiastic dogs, a new wooden table also from Donegal and cake! All overshadowed by the bleak forecasting of a ‘spike’ in covid 19 – it doesn’t deserve a capital C so it’s not getting one. God help those going through this pandemic and their families. We’ve had worries but thank goodness unfounded so I know when your heart squeezes and your tummy turns over in fear. What must it be like for those going through a positive diagnoses. Thoughts and prayers are with them.
BRUCE AND HIS BEAUTIFUL BOWL
When you’re travelling at 2000 revolutions per minute you’ve got to have your wits about you. One false move and – disaster. One slip of the hand and it’s all over.
That’s the challenge facing Bruce Switzer every time he puts a piece of precious timber on his lathe and as it revolves at high speeds he carefully shapes bowls, candle sticks, plates even pens, you name it and he will fashion it. Most recently he has been working on exquisite pieces from an 100 year old monkey puzzle tree which fell during a gale in the grounds of a gentleman’s mansion in Kells Co. Meath.
“It’s not easy to get more unusual pieces these days because all round the world forests are being burned or felled and the timber is just not available so to get this magnificent piece so close to home was a great pleasure.” He went on to tell me that it’s the national tree of Chile, “and was named as an endangered species in 2013 so I value this very much and obviously a great deal of care has to be taken to do it justice.”
When I saw one of the bowls for some reason I immediately thought of the Sistine Chapel, the colours and the pattern, the richness of the wood, the silky smooth texture. When he finds or buys a rare log he’s at his happiest in his workshop in Kesh. A few weeks ago he turned a protected tree from Africa, the pink ivory, into a delicate picture frame, in fact it was during a visit to Zambia that he began to notice the variety of trees and in Canada the red cedars took his fancy but the local oak, the ash and beech and cherry all turn and polish into works of art, his favourite being yew and so he named his creative enterprise Wood4Yew!
He gave me a quick lesson on successful turning. “There are two types, wet turning and kiln or natural dried wood. When the sap is still in the wood there are weaknesses and as you turn it cracks might well appear and the planned item just doesn’t work. But with wood which has dried over a period of time there is a great pleasure setting it onto the lathe, centring the piece and spinning it using hand held tungsten carbide chisels and ‘gouges’ and the rest of the equipment to gradually form the finished piece.”
Change of Life
July 2006 marked a complete change in this creative man’s life. Once over dinner at home he had admitted to Janet that he loved wood and sometime later she took him up on the remark and presented him with a large box and wished him a happy birthday. She couldn’t have known the impact that thoughtful gift would cause.
Bruce had just retired from Ulster Television where he was a sound supervisor working on the top programmes and meeting fascinating people. “My favourites were John Denver and Gareth Brooks and the Highway programme with Harry Secombe, in those days artists mimed to their songs so I spent a lot of time in London studios recording the performers, every day was exciting.”
Leaving the heady atmosphere of television to contemplate retirement could have been a problem had it not been for Janet remembering his chance remark years before – his birthday present turned out to be a wood turning lathe. “It sat in the garden shed for a couple of months before I decided to clear the shed, make a workshop and take a three day course at The Wood Shed in Templepatrick.”
Now he’s working on one of the rarest timbers you can turn. His monkey puzzle bowls are the heaviest he’s ever made and probably the most beautiful, the story too is fascinating. No wonder there aren’t more of these trees around as the male and female cones are usually on separate trees and pollination is wind powered or courtesy of small animals and birds. It’s a sacred tree amongst some of the Mapuche Native American tribes and the popular name derives from 1850 when a specimen was brought to Cornwall to the garden of Sir William Molesworth. As he was showing off the sapling to a group of friends, one of them remarked, “It would puzzle a monkey to climb that.”
If you would like to grow a monkey puzzle tree, no problem. Jim Bradley at Mid Ulster Garden Centre in Maghera is your man. He has some in stock, about two and a half foot in height costing around £75 although he can provide bigger trees. Incidentally, takes 10 years to grow to maturity.
You can get in touch at: www.midulster.co.uk
Bruce Switzer is available at email: lakelandlucy@btinternet.com
Beauty and Heritage
Four and a half minutes just might make all the difference when it comes to protecting our natural heritage. Following on from the campaign to save the ancient oak forest in Rostrevor and epel the threat from developers who would ride rough shod over this historic ground, rich and rare, Colum Sand, founder member of Rostrevor Action Respecting our Environment, has produced a short film “Rhyme for Justice?” It’s raising a voice in defence of nature, opening an eye to ‘wilful blindness’ in positions of power and encouraging the enforcement of environmental and planning law in Northern Ireland and beyond.
“It’s a letter in verse addressed to Justice Minister Naomi Long and Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan,” Colum explained. “The letter is based on a plan to impose inner city style development on the edge of Rostrevor’s ancient oak forest where the Invisible Tree – strangely it has disappeared from developers maps – which is one of the ‘missing’ oaks, actually won the Woodland Trust Tree the Year award in 2019.”
The oak is the king of trees, hopefully it will defeat the planners and remain to rule Rostrevor’s unique and sacred forest.
See the film at https://ejni.net/films/#
Cheer yourself up, watch a flippant, colourful, funny, spectacular Netflix series called Selling Sunset. Fashion for women, glamour for men and houses costing up to $50 in Hollywood US of A. No not Trump Towers.