Beyond reproach? Consummate professional? Throughly nice man? Well, that’s what we reckoned. Doesn’t it show how being judgemental is a dangerous thing?
Hew Edwards wasn’t the man we thought he was and yet his mates still protect his image despite his admission to pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. According to reports he admitted to having 41 indecent images of children including seven category ‘A’ images, the most serious classification, two showing a child aged around seven and nine. Now there are fresh allegations coming to the fore.
The bottom line is Edwards is nothing but a despicable old man who milked the situation without shame.
His wife must have struggled with the knowledge yet bravely she told the world the suspect within the BBC was her husband. How the mighty have fallen. National treasure? National revolting, in-human being like all others of his ilk.
The awful worship of celebrity is dying fast and the faster the better and that includes employers – in this case the BBC – shocked they said to learn of Edwards twisted and vile behaviour despite knowing months ago.
It was only when I listened to a professional man whose sad job was to sift through such images before they went on to court procedures that I realised what was involved, not just pictures of unclothed children but the terrifying trauma they are subjected to in order to obtain shocking images and videos, he spoke of the screams of pain. That has lingered in my mind.
Concerned About Your Thoughts?
Stop It Now is a confidential online help line for anyone worried about their own sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour towards a child. At this confidential helpline on 0808 1000 900 you can use the live and confidential chat or send a secure email. From the Republic of Ireland, you can call the helpline on +44 1372 847 161 (charges subject to your service provider).
Stop It Now also offers advice if you’re worried about another adult’s online or offline sexual behaviour towards children, help if you’re concerned about a young person’s sexual behaviour or concerned about the behaviour of another adult and information on how to keep children safe from sexual abuse on the Parents Protect website and Learning programme. More details at www.stopitnow.org.uk
Wood You Believe It!
Gardeners take great care of them, King Charles hugs them but Belfast born international sculptor Tim Shaw rescues them for the sake of art. Walking in the Cornish village of Mawnan Smith he came on the remains of a huge tree, the stump was there but where was the rest of it? Some detective work and he discovered the trunk of the Monterey pine and laid claim to it. In his studio in Falmouth it now stands ten feet tall, with a wide girth and weighing four tons.
“It was difficult but we moved it to the studio with the help of a tractor driver and his trailer, then manoeuvring it into the upright position was something else. We were scared setting it up, it wobbled to the left and to the right and to the left again, if it toppled one of us would have been killed!” Eventually it stood firm and Tim was able to start work. This magnificent piece of wood will be used to create a large figure of a Mummer, the first of a group of ten figures intended to tour sculpture parks in the UK and Europe before ultimately finding their resting place along the Irish border. The project celebrates the tradition of strawing up and rhyming, when Mumming was once common in towns and villages across Ireland and something that has fascinated Tim for many years and, although he has made smaller bronze figures, this is very ambitious project. Working closely with the Armagh Rhymers has given him a unique insight into the drama of storytelling with the ritual of masks and music.
Why take on something that requires chain saws of all size and months of work? “The Mummers represent our heritage, the days when community mattered, they went from door to door and village to village and in this day and age of clutter in our lives, things that we don’t need; maybe it’s time to look back on tradition of community, especially at this time of conflict and between humanity and the earth when the climate crisis demands that we change our ways.”
Not only is Tim working on one figure he also obtained the rest of the pine tree trunk and has enough for a second Mummer. His plan is that once he perfects these prototypes he’ll then cast them in bronze, his chosen material. A selection work of this Royal Academy of Arts member will be exhibited in the Royal Ulster Academy exhibition at the Ulster Museum in October.
It’s been a difficult week. Since last Sunday six friends have died from 55 years of age to 93. Heart attack, cancer and simply old age. The older you get the more frequent will the news be and sometimes it is terribly sad. Noel Henry was a modest man who worked with me in Ulster Television on a medical series called Casenotes. Apart from deciding on half a dozen topics, finding medical people and patients was time consuming, then there was the scripting, filming and editing, a really interesting and satisfying job. However afterwards there was the followup booklet with the stories behind the programmes and the vast number of organisations to help people needing more information on a variety of medical needs. This is where Noel came into his own, he took on this detailed job and joined our little team. He was a delight to work with, decisive, tireless in his research and proud of the finished project. My love and sympathies to Elish and Noel’s sons and grandchildren.
