Wednesday 4 p.m. live coverage of Joe Biden inauguration ceremony and no doubt before that we’ll be treated to the ignominious departure of Trump from the White House. I think the media at large should just ignore him and his family, 30 seconds on the evening news would befit him well and his passing out parade. He must be gutted with banks, golf clubs, and so many other institutions turning their back on him and the city of New York terminating contracts worth $17m and the prospect of his assets being seized to cover his bills. Apparently he is worth one billion dollars less than four years ago when it was his turn to take on the mantle of president and what a hash he made of that.
Now Trump is off to Key Largo with his tale between his legs his sons and daughters scuttling along behind him. I hope he’s cold shouldered by his neighbours and begins to feel what it’s like to be marginalised. I have nothing but contempt for a man who separated little children from their parents and held them in cages. How could that have been allowed or condoned, were people frightened of incurring his wrath? And where are those children now, have they ever been able to reunite with their parents? Thank goodness Biden will be sorting this and many other of Trump’s decisions immediately he takes office. Good luck to the new president and his vice president, a strong woman by his side will be a blessing.
MAKING HIS MARK
Billy Austin lives in the townland of Brackagh, near Tandragee. ”I’m a townie in amongst farmers but I’ve been so for 55 years, I think they’ve accepted me!”
He shares his little bungalow with Averil his wife of 55 years and it’s something of a Tardis, unremarkable from outside but inside and ‘round the back’ is an Aladdin’s cave representing a lot of hard work and determination.
Billy is now 82 years of age and has been working since he was 14. His first job was in a weaving factory in his home town of Portadown. Then he joined Morton Newspapers as a reporter with the Portadown Times where, with his interest in art and his eye for design, he soon became the paper’s first advertising representative at £12 a week. “The Morton group grew rapidly with the introduction of web-offset printing machinery, the first in the country, and it quickly became the largest provincial weekly newspaper group in Ireland.” They were exciting times which he loved and when he was only 29 Billy was appointed group advertising director.
Print Was in His blood
When he left Mortons it was to built up a thriving print company of his own – in his bedroom. Soon he had to move his equipment into the garage which was grand until the orders outstripped the facility, the orders just blew in he says, so he and Averil put their heads together and planned an extension.
“I was doing some printing for a digger man and I was telling him we were going to have to expand. ‘Where are we building?’ he asked. The following morning he and his digger moved into the back garden and the foundations were laid by lunchtime. ‘There you go,’ he said, ‘now you can build your new printshop.’
Billy and his wife took it literally.
With Averil manning the cement mixer they built the walls, got timber for the roof trusses, tiled it, put in big windows for maximum light, plastered inside, white marble clippings outside and eventually gave in and had a plumber install the heating!
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All the time, since he was a child, this born artist was sketching and painting and when he reached 65 he sold the business and he and Averil concentrated on holidaying in the South of France, travelling Ireland, especially Achill, and roaming the continent in the family camper van Billy painting as they went, churches to chateaux, stream trains to donkey carts and blacksmiths to locksmiths.
He displays his work on Facebook and as a result has almost 13,000 followers who are also friends. He has built up a worldwide clientele and now his work hangs on walls in Russia, China, America: “Mostly Irish scenes as Americans still think we’re all living in thatched cottages and getting around in donkey and cart”, Europe and Australia and all over the UK and Ireland.
Passing On The Love Of Art
Although he wound up his official print company seventeen years ago, this talented man still prints in his bedroom but it’s the kitchen table that is now the focus of attention, that’s where he sits to create his remarkable portraits. “Thankfully Averil doesn’t worry about the mess! I mostly work from photographs and always in watercolours, no room for mistakes. I look for the tones and shadows, make my sketch, mark the light and shade then basically fill in with colour.” He makes it sound easy.
Their son Roger wasn’t interested in taking over the print business, he had other fish to fry; when he finished his training he became the youngest actuary in Britain, devising pension plans using his mathematical and statistic skills and now has his own practices in Edinburgh, London and soon in Dublin. However, Billy’s three grandchildren have always shown an interest in painting with Granda and two of the girls have exhibited their work on their Facebook page. “I’m very proud of them, all the advice I’ve ever passed on is – always paint what you see not what you imagine.”
His favourite painting is of his father that was done some years ago for St. Thomas Street Boys Brigade company in memory of the years Mr. Austin senior was volunteer caretaker. “They wanted a picture of him to hang with the dignitaries, a Church of Ireland man in amongst the Methodists!”
Billy has scaled down his commission work to a couple a month, sometimes working from nine to midnight but most days he’s to be found in the kitchen spending a couple of hours on his own choice of subject, pop stars or favourite dogs, personalities to scenes of poverty however most often personal portraits often as a surprise for a friend. I am fortunate to fall into that category.
See Billy’s work on Facebook.
THE MEMORY LINGERS ON
Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King’s special memorial day. All over America people will be honouring the memory of this pioneer for non-violent civil rights. He preached against discrimination, racism and oppression before he was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis Tennessee. His message is more relevant today than ever, hopefully it will permeate around the world and end up in the UK and Ireland. Northern Ireland needs to take heed.
Another week has brought sadness and hope.
So many families are grieving, others are afraid and some are ignoring what is asked of us. On Wednesday 27th of this month we honour the memory of those who lost their lives and their families in the Holocaust. They bravely faced dreadful cruelty, those who survived have to live with appalling memories and younger people have been sobered by the stories. And we complain about wearing a safety mask or staying at home for six weeks. Think on people.