HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Hallowee’n, a time of magic, visitors from other places, fireworks and parties. So it was 65 years ago when the big double doors of a renovated shirt factory were flung open to allow Ulster Television fly out and into the homes of Northern Ireland. On a small street off Ormeau Road in Belfast, Havelock House glowed in its powder blue paintwork as dusk fell on the afternoon of 31st October 1959. Crowds gathered, a string of cars came and went, bouquets filled the foyer with their perfume, workmen with last minute jobs to complete as the clock ticked towards 4 p.m. when the ‘On Air’ sign lit up. The great and the good streamed into the building for drinks in Studio One, the only studio there was in those days, the studio where soon Tom Jones would strut his stuff in black leather trousers and a ruffed white shirt, where Lulu first sang ‘My Boy Lollypop’, Elsie Tanner from Coronation Street arrived, Frank Carson cut his teeth on a live commercial for Jacobs Water Biscuits. He was never one to stick to a script; he showed the orange packet, said what he had to say and then stopped, thought, looked into the camera, held the biscuit aloft and said: “That’s a cracker!” And so a catchphrase was born.
Lawrence Olivier, later Sir Laurence, arrived to make the first welcoming announcement and the party started. Famous faces, politicians, society belles, thespians of all shapes and sizes and us, the staff of about 30 at the time. It was heady stuff and the beginning of a dream that came true day after day.
Ulster Television spawned many talents but little known were the Thompson twins who achieved their big break appearing on Teatime With Tommy. Derek and Elaine were 15 when they sang ‘Yellow Bird Up High In Banana Tree’. Such was the unsophisticated nature of television at that time props man Isaac climbed a ladder and held a branch of a tree over their heads – with a bunch of bananas tied on. They became famous locally but Derek Thompson’s fame came as Charlie Fairhead in BBC’s Casualty.
Tom Jones didn’t expect to be a sex bomb 65 years on. When I knocked on the door of his dressing room and asked him to sign his 15 guinea contract I wished him well with ‘It’s Not Unusual’. “Love,” he replied. “I’ll enjoy it because it’ll be a one off.” How wrong can you be.
Technology was also in its infancy. On screen white shirts drained face tones so male interviewees had to change into pale blue shirts, ministers of religion swopped their dog collars for UTV blue; no one escaped. Denis Ireland, later Senator, a giant of a man whose luxuriant white hair had to be powdered down with Creme Puff ‘Tempting Touch’, even a roast turkey taken out of an oven on a Christmas show had to be rushed to makeup to be basted in Revlon ‘Toasted Beige’ foundation to help it look more succulent. My memories are legion. Brigadier Ronald Broadhurst describing a World War One battle made all the more realistic as someone crouched behind the map and, through a small hole at the site of the battle, puffed cigarette smoke through as the cannons raged.
On Roundabout Ivor Mills topic was the new fangled dictaphone and he expressed the opinion to a secretary that she might well be out of work soon. She rose to her feet, moved to Ivor, sat on his knee, took his face in her hands and gave him a passionate kiss. Then turned to the camera, winked and said: “A dictaphone can’t do that!”
Those early days of live television were indeed groundbreaking but the most important time was covering The Troubles, the newsroom was frenetic, visiting reporters and film crews from round the world vied with our own crews, a different dynamic. The visitors waded in, got their stories and left, our boys and girls had to go back time after time and it took its toll. I recall Ivan Little coming back with harrowing footage to edit and then sitting in the canteen face to the wall, back to us all, trying to come to terms with witnessing the latest atrocity. On one occasion a call came through that there was rioting on the Falls Road, “Send a film crew.” Ten minutes later the same caller, “Hurry up, we can’t start without you.”
The doors of Havelock House closed and the building bulldozed to the ground last year, little was taken to the new home of UTV, now owned by Independent Television, on the top floor of a glass cube overlooking the River Lagan, a place much less of creativity, much more of space age technology.
And still Coronation Street carries on regardless and we will all gather to celebrate friendship over 65 years.
BAKE BREAD FOR PEACE
BREEZY KELLY (CENTRE) WITH GEOFF GATT AND KAREN WILSON
Imagine a stout wooden shed, cosy and warm, the smell of pancakes sizzling on the skillet, vibrating to the sound of fiddle music and singing. A couple of dozen people laughing and the babble of conversation spilling into the colourful garden outside, a sun flower lauding it over the vegetables patch and beds of bright orange nasturtiums.
The centre piece of this gathering is Donegal woman Breezy Kelly and she’s whipping up a storm of fun and laughter, she pulls her green beeny over her head, dons her apron, fetches her baking bowl, flour and buttermilk, turns on the cooker and we’re off. She sings her welcome and we all join in.
Why All This Performance?
To advertise the thing that’s most important to her – baking bread for peace. She explains that her father was an alcoholic and many a day he would be roaring and shouting and her mother would take the children into the kitchen and they’d all get involved in baking bread. To drown out the noise Breezy’s mum would sing and so Breezy starts, arms waving and again we all join in – ‘When I was just a little girl – Que Sera Sera’, with our hostess dancing with storyteller Sharon Dickinson!
But this was a party with a message. The safety of that childhood kitchen stayed with the young girl and over ten years ago, one night when she couldn’t sleep she came down to her own kitchen, switched on the kettle and the television and was astounded to see graphic pictures of the wars in the world; at that moment she thought back to the days when peace came to her with the aroma of baking bread with her family. “I thought I’ll bake bread and share it with my neighbours in the name of peace. It took off as I shared in my home town Glenties and people picked up the idea and Bake Bread for Peace is now an annual event on October 24th – last Thursday. Don’t worry if you missed it, you can bake bread for peace anytime. And you know Anne, it’s now international.” She read stories and letters she’d received
from round the world, from Alaska to Palestine to Isreal to Australia and it was moving. All this time she was kneading the dough which soon became scones enjoyed with a cup of tea and she was right, we shared with each other and there was peace in the little shed on the Rosetta Road.
Grateful For The Basics
Breezy talks of the dis-ease in the world, fear for self and family and, she adds, wild life on the earth and in the sea. I’ve written about this special woman many times but every meeting brings something new to ponder and appreciate, “We’ve become disconnected from nature,” she tells us. “Just think, the one thing we share with each other is bread, which is common to all mankind. And what about water. We turn on the tap and expect it to come flowing out, we are fortunate when it does but do you ever wash the dishes and say ‘thank you water for all you do’, do you ever stop when cleaning your teeth and give thanks to the water?” This is a woman with logic by the bucket load.
Stephen Knox Bangor poet reads from his book of poems Sensing Wonder.
Her Saturday afternoon guests were musicians and storytellers, Bangor poet Stephen Knox read from his new book of poems Sensing Wonder and we walked through bluebell woods with him, Karen Edwards told hilarious stories and played the penny whistle, Geoff Gatt played guitar and sang and we all joined in.
The wonder of all this activity both in the shed and the garden is that it happened on Belfast’s Rosetta Road, walk off the pavement along the little ‘loney’, wander in and you’re welcome. This wildlife haven belongs to Knockbreada Methodist Church and since it’s development on a plot which was once an allotment, the community garden has been making friends far and wide.
It was especially important during lockdown as it was a safe outdoor space for people from all backgrounds to visit and help with the gardening, it’s open to all comers and there is no shortage of volunteer gardeners, Schools get involved, a recent Apple Fest drew people along with their baskets of apples which were pressed into gallons of juice, the lord mayor of the time Councillor Ryan Murphy planted a climbing rose tree last April. There’s an orchard, beehives, a pond, bug hotels and, music to my years, ‘untidy corners’. Charity fund raising events include coffee mornings, pizza evenings and plant sales. Next big event is carols round the Christmas tree in the garden. And the surprising thing is that all this is going on only a few yards off Rosetta Road BT 6 0LU towards the west of the city and Breezy promises to be back sometime in the future, hopefully before Christmas.
Belfastman, now living In Cornwall, Tim Shaw exhibits at the Royal Ulster Academy exhibition at Belfast Museum and last week news came that he’d won a prestigious prize for his work Man On Fire. More of this later. The exhibition continues to draw crowds and applause from the visitors, it’s one of the best from every point of view, the works on display, the organisation and the venue.
President of the RUA Dan Dowling shows Mike McCann one of his latest paintings showing Queen Mary’s Gardens on Belfast’s Antrim Road. It’s his take on the Gardens in 2024 where the elegance of visitors many years ago has been replaced with vibrant young people in jeans and baseball caps. puffas jackets and sneakers! One of two of his works the other being Belfast Castle at night – very atmospheric ” Walking the Dog at the Castle” oil on canvas 150X120 cm.
Cavehill Country Park and Belfast Castle are one of the great lungs of Belfast City. The Castle shown flying through the night sky reflects how much life has changed in the last few years-anything is possible. The painting is at the 143rd Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition in the Ulster Museum, Stranmillis, Belfast. The exhibition continues from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm until 6th January 2025 and admission is free.
Last night I watched Melissa Hamilton, a local ballerina who has danced with the Royal Ballet at London’s Royal Opera House plus many prestigious venues round the world during her professional career over 20 years. Excerpts from Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake plus other ballets all beautiful, elegant and memorable. Born in Dromore Co. Down and taught by Jennifer Hall (Bullock) and Fiona Campbell, she had a huge welcome when she first came on stage with an excerpt from Swan Lake. There followed more traditional ballet, some contemporary works and dances from individual members of this new company, Hamilton Christou Productions. The final number ‘Into The Light’ with music by Richard Strauss celebrated nature’s beauty and featured soprano Mary McCabe who sang as Melissa and her colleagues danced. The applause at the end of the show was tumultuous and the company looked very happy; Melissa especially looked quite emotional to be performing in front of a home crowd. Sadly scheduled for only three performances – just one left this afternoon, the Sunday matinee is at 3 p.m. My only disappointment was that I didn’t recognise any of the music so came home with visual memories but no music in my heart.
Did you remember to have that extra hour in bed? Wasn’t it great to turn over for another wee while. However, already I’m looking forward to loosing that luxury as we build up to next year’s spring and whatever that holds.