MAKE A DATE, MAKE A JOURNEY, MAKE YOUR DAY
LYRIC TRIUMPH
Last Wednesday saw the press night for Agreement and certainly as far as I know there has been unanimous agreement this is a play to savour and remember. Those of us who recall the time 25 years ago when the Good Friday Agreement was imminent, this play written by Owen McCafferty and superbly directed by Charlotte Westenra is a sober reminder and for those too young to remember it is a lesson in history. And because it’s written, directed and performed in such an intriguing way it’s a lesson in fascination. Seven players in a room in Castle Buildings at Stormont thrash out the pros and cons, it seems an impossible situation to get agreement between such diverse parties. I was working in Castle Buildings at that time and it was heady stuff meeting the participants in the corridors of power but little did I know just how tense the situation was that was being played out behind closed doors. George Mitchell (Richard Croxford) is like the conductor of an orchestra drawing in the violins, calming the French horns, encouraging the tubas. John `Hume (Dan Gordon), Gerry Adams (Packy Lee) David Trimble (Patrick O’Kane) argue it out, Mo Mowlam (Andrea Irvine) tries to calm everyone with reason and tea and Tony Blair (Rufus Wright) really can’t get a take on local politics and Bertie Ahern (Ronan Leahy) brings more confusion as he travels north to join the talks. Even though I knew the outcome of those days leading up to Easter, I was on the edge of my seat – would they, wouldn’t they, could they, couldn’t they ? The man beside me had travelled up from Galway just for one night to see the play and he wasn’t disappointed. This is a night of theatre that should not be missed, it runs until 22nd April and you can get more details at www.lyrictheatre.co.uk.
BLUE LIGHTS
I’ve watched all the episodes of BBC’s Monday night programme Blue Lights the latest police drama set in Northern Ireland. It’s the first time I’ve actually watched any of these such shows so I didn’t think I’d get involved but I was wrong. This is fast moving, brutal, totally believable and so well made and acted. When you see each episode one after the other with no time between its powerful stuff – no chance of forgetting what has gone before, like a boxing match it is one blow after the other. There is talk about some continuity issues – a change of car model in the middle of one chase – but I was too caught up in the story line and didn’t notice. The editing is outstanding, fast and furious when necessary, thoughtful else were. Recommended.
HORSING AROUND
How many of us have had a brilliant idea that will take the world by storm but we never followup on it. I devised a toothpaste dispenser when I was a child, a simple device where you put the tube into a cradle with the bottom between two rollers and as you turned a handle the rollers squeezed the toothpaste out of the nozzle. I didn’t do anything about it, too young I suppose, and since I’ve seen my device advertised and I presume selling well.
Patrick Finnegan had a brilliant idea when he was young and he did followed up on it and now Finnegan’s Tools is a worldwide concern. One item in hundreds is Finnegan’s famous Hoofstand, a basic tripod in stainless steel where a horse’s leg is held securely and safety as the blacksmith fits the shoe.
Now imagine a four year old boy crouching in the corner of a Co. Down barn, wide eyed watching the smithy shoe a big black Shire horse, the sights and sounds mesmerising him, the smell of burning hoof bone filling his young nostrils. Little did he realise the impact it would have on his life, little did anyone else standing round that horse ever think that young Patrick Finnegan would become an inventor, an entrepreneur and support people in South Africa villages – and it all came about because of his love of horses and especially donkeys.
The World At His Finger Tips
His first job was in engineering at Harland and Wolff shipyard; in 1990 he worked for McDonnell Douglas, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defence contractor in California, Paddy established the first horseshoe factory in Mexico City, he was an engineering lecturer for 20 years, he worked with Queen Elizabeth ll’s head groom in Windsor Castle training grooms in the use of his invention and was a VIP guest at the Windsor Horse Show. And once he was a cowboy riding down Kircubbin main street astride Judy, his beloved pony, shooting right, left and centre with his spud gun.
So watching the smithy holding up the horses leg as he hammered home the shoe made an impression and later in life gave him the idea to make tools for handling some of the 100 million working equines around the world, the first of the production line being the hoofstand. Over the years Paddy’s business expanded; today Finnegan’s Tools has branched out and in his retirement the boss is dedicating himself to building equipment to help villagers in South Africa make their daily living less backbreaking and much more efficient and he’s enlisting help from a number of local sources.
Helping him make his carts and wheel kit are men and women at HM Prison Hydebank Wood.
“I’m working in the wood working shops and car maintenance workshop each Tuesday to get some students involved in making the kit which we want to send out to the villages.”
Providing Much Need Support
These will be flat packed and sent to South Africa where they will be assembled by villagers to transport water and for use in agriculture in the Eastern Cape. “We’ve a technical college there lined up to build the cart kits, they will be training both young engineering and woodwork students in their workshops and people from the six pilot villages we’ve identified with our welfare training group facilitators.”
The carts are fashioned in such a way that once assembled they are easy for the donkeys to pull using special shafts and harnesses that lessen the impact of rough roads pitted with potholes. However he had a problem. “I needed some design and practical help in coming up with a cost effective braking system for these carts, also a cost effective solar charged battery drive assist motor to help on hills and steep inclines. I’m thinking along the lines of the sort of motor used in a golf bag trolly.” He contacted Crosslé Car Company and they are now talking ideas and solutions.
All this takes a lot of money, £50,000 for a long term project, so he contacted the charitable trust Armagh Tigers who have promised £5,000 and he’ll soon know if he’ll be granted other funding to follow his plans. He is also visiting craft groups throughout Northern Ireland demonstrating his crafting tools and asking for help and contributions.
“Great response from the ladies of church groups and I plan to visit Bangor library soon and Holywood library’s Knit and Natter group have given the go ahead to use their craft rooms to film ‘How to Weave’ videos to show on YouTube. In fact I’ve just made inroads in getting all the libraries Knit and Natter groups involved and if I can get a couple of people weaving for an hour or two each week in the fifty libraries in Northern Ireland I could send out twenty complete sets of donkey harnesses each month to the hundreds of welfare groups throughout the developing world.” Paddy always thinks big!
This active 68 year old who, with Peter Muckle of Saddle Aid Uk and Christine Casey of Kiri Cottage crafts Kircubbin and himself at Finnegan Tools, has formed the World Enterprise Hand Skills group alongside his other interests.
Here is a man who doesn’t take no for an answer and all his life grabbed opportunities to progress his skills and help others. And he’s appreciated by those he deals with and known to all as Happy Paddy. What ever next! Oh yes, his book which promises to be a blockbuster.
The Australian GRAND PRIX this morning was something of a scrambled egg event but yur man won – eventually. His dad would be proud.
