So two weeks of sport come to an end tonight and what a two weeks it has been. It was two weeks of visual delight as we toured Paris again this morning with the women’s marathon and last night the spectacular entrance of the two taekwondo women walking down the spiral staircase in the Grand Palais gave a glimpse of what it must have been like in the days of the Sun King.
Whether or not you’re are into sport you will either be cross that so much time was devoted to television and radio coverage or you will have enjoyed the excitement. The opening ceremony was controversial, curate’s egg – good in parts, for me the most worth while few minutes was watching Celine Deon standing in the rain in a sparkling white gown, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower singing her heart out most perfectly. The look of admiration on her pianist’s face said it all. The other outstanding aspect was the camaraderie between the athletes, genuine hand shakes, hugs and good karma. And heart felt sympathy for the French pole jumper Anthony Ammirati who knocked the bar off its perch with his front bottom, even I winced in pain. So while we were watching this exhibition of sport, hate filled marches were happening in the UK and even here in Northern Ireland but then the people of this province came together to march in positivity and support of all that is good. Isn’t it so sad that the deaths of three little girls can promote such despicable behaviour.
FROM DAISY HILL TO THE PASIFIC ISLANDS
Funny how when you’re miles away from home and you meet someone from Northern Ireland you immediately fall into conversation, I was introduced to a lady at a recent wedding in Scotland, turned out she was originally from Newry but has lived with her husband near Glasgow for the last 32 years. Of course we began swopping notes and sharing memories. She had some story to tell.
When she was eight years old young Caroline McGrath lived opposite Daisy Hill Hospital and it was her playground. “In the early 70s we weren’t allowed into town so we had to make our fun at home. I was lucky that I was so close to the hospital and in those days people came and went without all the restrictions of today. I was welcomed and I helped where I could, in fact I thought I was in charge!” Caroline has always been a woman with an imagination and an entrepreneurial spirit. She saw the Guinness being delivered for older patients in the belief it would build up their health and strength: my own mother-in-law, a Dubliner, never allowed a day to pass without her glass of stout and she lived to 99 years of age.
Business Is Business
However, in her young wisdom Caroline reckoned these patients needed other nourishment so she saved her pocket money and bought a supply of Love Hearts. These sweets, in the shape of a heart, were important to shy boys and girls who wanted to get a message across; since 1954 these were very straightforward – I love You, Be Mine, Kiss Me, My Hero, Hug Me etc. No one in Daily Hill knew what they’d get until, as she says, they parted with brown money because she had the wisdom to offer them face down! You can imagine the fun between staff and patients as the sweets were offered around. As time when on the messages changed to Fax Me and Text Me and today they specialise in emojis but when Caroline was eight they were just love hearts. “I got a shoe box and tied a string to the lid and that was my tray as I went round the wards selling the sweets, I had very good sales figures!” But the proceeds were not for Caroline, rather to replenish the tray and keep her business going and her customers happy.
When she went to Queens University in Belfast she studied computer programming, “97 males and 2 females but I never made it to the Ferrero Rocher level.” Although she laughs now, the fact was finding a job wasn’t easy and tensions in Northern Ireland were high.
Up Up And Away
“For me it was a sad place, I couldn’t wait to get away, so I went to Australia.” And that was an adventure. “I was there for a couple of years and, apart from working in an orchard, one of my jobs was on the Fair Star, although we called it the Holy Mary, a famous entertainment ship for 18 to 30 year olds, that’s where I got my education not in a Catholic Secondary School in Co. Armagh! As a waitress in the cocktail bar you can imagine the fun as we sailed round the South Pacific Islands and it was great.” Sailing out of Sydney this ship which was build in Govern Glasgow became a famous vessel for passengers and crew but still home was home and Caroline decided to return to Northern Ireland after two years in Australia but before long she got itchy feet and decided to head back to her life of sunshine and freedom.
“Although I’d had a tremendous time when I was there I didn’t really think ahead too much or plan for the future so when I came home I was all love and peace but my friends had moved on, married with families or set up in business, all I had were my memories and my camera. When it came to work and socialising I didn’t fit in.”
The plan was to head back to Australia. So this adventurer set off from Larne to Stranraer determined to hitch hike to London and then travel on to Australia in the cheapest possible way.
“But I met Terry and I’ve stayed in Scotland ever since.”
Unexpectedly she found love with a Scottish man whose mother came from Ireland to Scotland where her family settled, a remarkable woman who loved reading and sat her ‘O’ levels at 70 and whose favourite film was the raunchy Commitments. She went home to Donegal to die in the home and the room where she was born.
This cottage is Caroline and Terry’s go-to place to relax away from her marketing agency in Glasgow, maybe to enjoy a few Guinness but not a Love Heart in sight!
One of the smartest things I read about this week was the idea of strapping a bag filled with wild flower seeds onto the back of an energetic dog. The bag has holes in it and as the pet runs round the fields the seeds spill out and take root and before long bloom in a colourful display. Broad Casting takes on a new look.