The low sun has thrown up some beautiful rainbows and colours on the trees but what is before us. Keep warm and don’t travel unless you have to.
I am a fan of EastEnders but really, it’s more like a pantomime at the moment rather than a serious soap. The scripting and acting are second to none but the situations are ridiculous, hospitals in Weatherfield are stuffed with EastEnders characters. Nish, Suki and Eve, Cindy and Denise – who is next, who cares?
Better is the story of Luke Littler a young man who is now the very best darts player in the whole world, a world champion and it seems a modest son of adoring parents.
So 2024 has come and gone! I can’t help looking back at the year that was, the people I met and the stories that have appeared in the newspaper I write for, the Irish News. Frank Galligan comes to mind. I first met Frank in Bellaghy with Seamus Heaney and renewed our friendship only last year when early one wet Sunday morning the back door of the Corner House in Ardara was left open for us to sneak in and grab a coffee and a scone thanks to Grainne. We’d a great chat, he talked about bringing young people from Belfast to the grandeur of Baronscourt, the headquarters of the Pushkin Trust where he is creative writing facilitator. “One of the boys began chasing a sheep and his mate scolded him. “I only wanted to feel its fur,’ came the reply and I explained that it wasn’t fur but wool and the benefits of wool. Jimmy had a better approach. ‘You leave them alone, don’t you know this is the time of year when they lay their eggs.’ For many years Frank has charmed listeners to Highland Radio every Saturday with his show Unchained Melodies. Sadly he has announced that the end of December was also the end of his programme, it’s a pity and I know his friends will miss his banter and choice of music.
Radio is a very special medium, somewhere you can be more intimate than on television and become a friend to so many. During my time on Radio Ulster I got a letter from an elderly lady, she was worried, how she could get a grave organised for herself and her husband. I phoned the council to be told she would have to come to the offices to complete the forms, it would be simple and she would be welcomed. I explained that she was well on in years and that her husband was ill. To my delight the woman at the other end of the phone asked for her address and promised she would go to the house with the papers and sort it out there and then. A few weeks later I got another letter from the listener simply saying, ‘Thank you Anne, all has been fixed up and now we can die happy.’
Memories
That was in the days of Walter Love and my heart was sore when he died. We had a dinner date arranged but it wasn’t to be. I’d know Walter since I was 17 and our lives wove in and out of each others until we worked together and Ask Anne was born. We did all sorts on his radio programme, on one occasion I went to a fancy cosmetic establishment to find out about some new procedure they were offering and they made my face up when I was there. I didn’t like it and even less so when Walter announced to the world, “Anne has just walked into the studio looking like a Belisha beacon!”
When it comes to phoning a friend only a few weeks ago I sat in Ray Wilson’s cosy home in North Belfast and heard her life story and how at the grand age of 90 she is working with the Volunteer Now befriending organisation. She has her special friends at the end of the telephone mostly housebound, some suffering depression or isolation all wanting to hear a friendly voice, someone with time to spare and an interest in what’s going on in the world and that person is Ray.
Ray Wilson
The year was saddened by deaths. Candy Devine died in October, she was one special lady who touched many lives, again through radio, this time Downtown. She was also a regular visitor to Ulster Television studios and I remember keeping a look out in case her husband and manager Don McLeod might take a walk into the makeup room where, totally against his rules, she enjoyed a couple of sneaky cigarettes. She was naughty, funny, loyal and a true friend, as someone said, simply divine.
But sadly, the year has begun with the sad passing of John O’Hara, broadcaster, actor, writer and friend. He was always fascinating to talk to, full of chat about all sorts of things and all sorts of people. His later years were difficult and it is a comfort that, although missing him, he is now at peace. Thanks for the memories John.
Timely Warning
I’m also thinking today of Daniel Boomer the young farming student I talked to last July. To highlight the suicide rate amongst the farming community, blindfolded and wearing yellow wellingtons with yellow roses round his feet, at six foot eight he stood during the Royal Welsh Agricultural show holding a sign which read: 95% of young farmers in the UK say metal health is the biggest hidden danger in the industry. If you agree give me a hug or take a flower, He had a queue of huggers. Because he experienced his own issues Daniel was determined to make the public aware. The stress is all the more so since Labour came into power, so spare a thought. Lastly, sadly after 176 years reflected in an article last February, the sign above the Londonderry Arms goes with the sale and apparently this historic hotel will be known as Harbourview. Another example of our past heritage being wiped off the map.
Question. How can you walk through freezing rain? (Whoops. My fact checker has pointed out that frozen rain is hail so I really mean frozen fog). It doesn’t make sense. If the droplets that make up fog are frozen together surely where they fall would make a solid wall, impenetrable! If that was so, and obviously it isn’t or we’d know about it, imagine being surrounded by ice blue translucent walls. The other thing I can’t fathom is who on God’s green earth allowed the erection of that huge apartment block in front of the beautiful Titanic building, obscuring this gleaming landmark known all over the world. Drive over the bridge on the way to Holywood and it will make you despair at the wisdom of our city planners.
However, I learned something important over Christmas, never mix potatoes, one bag at a time! This Donegal man knows is onions so finish one bag before opening another. A good metophore for life.
2024 went out with a bang of fireworks and 2025 came in in a hail of coloured sparkles. Last year wasn’t good for everyone and there are many sad stories and experiences told over the last 12 months and 2025 will bring its challenges; all we can do is live one day at a time and look after each other and those around us. I wish you a peaceful and positive, healthy and happy New Year.
