Holocaust Memorial Day is always held during the last week in January and is a time when we remember the millions of people murdered under Nazi persecution and in more recent times the genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. It is always a moving ceremony and a time where men, women and children come together to pay tribute. It was due to be held this Wednesday at the City Hall but due to Covid 19 it will now be available on line and is free. To registrar go to Eventbrite Events Holocaust Memorial Day Belfast.
AMAZING MAN
I’ve long been in awe of George Orwell’s ‘fantasy’ novel 1984. How did he know what life would be like in the 2000s. He foresaw homes being equipped with ‘tele screens’ so the Thought Police could watch the population. He wrote:
“Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well.”
I now whisper any sensitive discussion, like would you like an omelette for tea, and I do it out of range of Alexa’s vision. She sits in the corner and dear knows what she has transmitted to the Thought Police where ever they are. Orwell died on 22nd January 1950 and left us amazed at his ability to look into the future, was it just fantasy or did he actually work out how life would evolve after he left us with predictions in 1984 and Animal Farm. We now have Big Brother watching us no matter where we go in towns, cities and even the countryside. Double Think is rampent in politics, the ability to believe two contradictory things at once. He wrote of Telescreens, two way television where viewers were ‘watched’ and through which propaganda was broadcast. For ‘was’ read ‘is’, in 2015 Samsung admitted that some of its TV models might listen to users and record personal or private information! And how often have you discussed a certain gadget and suddenly you are inundated with information about that certain gadget on your laptop screen?
S
This from my daughter yesterday: Was I worried or was I worried?
Sorry but I need to vent!!! 
I experienced the WORST customer service earlier today at a shop in my town. I don’t want to mention the name of the shop because I’m not sure how I’m going to proceed. On Tuesday I bought something from this shop. I paid cash for it. I took it home and found out it didn’t work. So today, less than 48 hours later I took it back to the shop and asked if I could get a refund. The girl in the shop told me “NO” even though I still had the receipt. I asked if I could get a replacement instead then. Again this person told me “NO.” I asked to talk to a manager now as I’m really not happy and I explained that I had bought the item, had got it home and it didn’t work. The manager just smiled and told me to my face that I was “OUT OF LUCK.” ??? No refund. No FREE replacement. I’ll tell you what, I am NEVER buying another Lotto Ticket from there again !!
COMING HOME
I don’t take salt on my food, haven’t done so since I was about eleven. Why? Because Derek the window cleaner said it hardens your arteries. I didn’t understand what he was going on about but I knew if he was a friend of the McCooeys it must be right.
If you’re a young thing you might not know what I’m talking about, if you are more mature you’ll recall Saturday nights on the BBC Home Service. Families would gather round the wireless at teatime waiting for Havelock Nelson’s arrangement of ‘My Aunt Jane’ and another story of the McCooeys thanks to the pen of Joseph Tomelty; an ordinary working class family, maybe Catholic maybe Protestant, there was no reference to religion or politics but there was a lot of every day life there, paying bills, saving for repairs, romances and occasionally a bit of scandal. Those were the days when doors were left open, neighbours came and went at will, but dear help them if they arrived during the McCooeys. Apparently even in the highest house in the land at that time, Lord Brookborough’s staff petitioned him to delay dinner long enough for them to tune into the 20 minute ‘soap opera’.
This Belfast family have been brought back to life a couple of times thanks to Roma Tomelty and since her death in April 2020 her husband Colin Carnegie and her daughter Hannah have established this legendary radio programme as part of modern day theatre without loosing any of the original ethos or the lovable characters.
The Family Come To Town
Rehearsals begin this week and the family will be back again in the Studio at the Grand Opera House on Wednesday 16th February until Saturday 26th February with episodes unheard since they were first aired on the Home Service between 1949 and 1955. Now there is an opportunity of making new friends and catching up with old faithfuls.
Aunt Sarah will be played by Christina Nelson, a role she has played before and now feels very much at home as the spinster with a big heart.
“Yes, she’s the heart of the family, she can mix the pot, she has a great sense of humour, no nonsense and although mature she loves the young ones and they come to her for advice, she’s firm but fair and full of fun.”
When Sarah was originally played by Min Milligan, she even got a proposal through the post addressed to Aunt Sarah, Broadcasting House, Belfast! People wrote in when the family were doing up the front room advising them to get an estimate before making up their minds and telling them the best place in Belfast to buy wallpaper. Hollywood heart throb Steven Boyd played the part of a policeman and got one foot on the ladder of success and the author himself played the local grocer Bobbie Greer.
Sarah is much like Christina herself, people graduate to her and audiences love her. Although in her early 50s and mother to four children, this most versatile of actresses hasn’t stopped working since she first set foot on stage at the age of 10 in the Lyric production of Oliver. Since then she has gone from the chorus line to leading lady, she has played a nun, a ghost, a garden gnome, a cabbage, a risqué dancer in Cabaret’s Kit Kat club, Bilbo Baggins in Lord of the Rings, Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Man, woman or child Christina will find joy in every part.
Her own joy is being with her four children, Lennin who is an Ariel Artist working in circus in London, Jazzmin who is also an actress and teacher of disabled adults and works with children’s festivals, Owenea who is 16 and named after a river in Donegal as is Reelan her youngest. Jazzmin and Reelan are in the Co ownership advertisement at the moment. Christina has obviously passed on her love of theatre and her love of life to her family.
With this latest reincarnation of the McCooey family there is drama as well as fun, they are burgled, comedy when Henrietta Toosel (Mary Moulds) makes her first appearance and then there’s Granda’s (Dan Gordon) lost raffle ticket. In a top flight Centre Stage Theatre Company cast, Carol Moore plays Maggie, Joseph Tomelty’s granddaughter Hannah Carnegie is Sally, Patrick McBrearty is Bobby Greer and Colin Carnegie is the plummy BBC radio announcer with Michael Quinn directing.
Gone But Not Forgotten
“We were overwhelmed by the support we received when we revived The McCooeys online for audiences during lockdown,” Hannah said. “It really struck a chord with such a wide range of ages that it encouraged us to bring it back for a live stage production.”
Christina, who has much experience in street theatre and bringing the stage to car parks outside nursing homes over the last two years, loves Tomelty’s writing, the Ulsterisms and the catch phrases. Reminds me of that saying which might well have come from Tomelty’s pen – ‘Says she to me, is thon you, says I who, says she you, says me, says she aye, says me – naugh.’ Or maybe the two women about to cross the road at the front of the City Hall. A cat runs out in front of them and dashes through the traffic to the other side. Says one to the other: ‘If that cat was our dog it would be a dead duck.’
More details at https://www.goh.co.uk/whats-on/the-mccooeys
Out With A Bang
Watching Casualty recently Dr. Dom’s mother’s ashes were fed into a firework and shot into the sky in a fantastic display of colour and sparkle. What a brilliant idea – that’s for me.
The company is Heavenly Stars. There are a variety of options which are described on the web page www.heavenlystarsfireworks.com and the cost quoted varies from £250 upwards.
“Our compassionate and caring staff will help you with arranging all aspects of your special firework tribute and can liaise with yourself, family member, the funeral directors over the carriage of your loved one’s ashes, the incorporating process and return of your ashes firework or the set up of your memorial fireworks display.” Novel send off with a smile.
LET THEM EAT CAKE
Could hardly believe my ears last week listening to the local BBC News. A report on inflation and one of the endless Vox pops this time in Bangor Co. Down – not the most cash strapped area of Northern Ireland. Queried about their concerns they were asked what items they found were going up in price, one answer was “cream” another was “strawberries”. Was I hearing correctly!
Then came news of the hibernation period for covid reduced from seven day to five. On the fifth day do a lateral flow test and also on the sixth day and if you are clear off you go – if you do these before bed does that not add up to seven days?
Following my mention of Glasgow School of Art and Rennie Mackintosh last week I had this note from friend and colleague Charlie Warmington.
“Re Mackintosh, here’s a few lines from the News Letter’s Roamer in 2018. ‘Sometime around 1910, on a page in his sketchbook entitled Queen’s College Belfast Library Charles Rennie Mackintosh noted the red and black bricks and the black and red mortar‘, while sketching an interior detail of the Library.’
The designer of Glasgow’s iconic School of Art undoubtedly had an interest in expanding his portfolio from Scotland to Ireland! And there’s more than a little evidence that he also had his eye on the competition to design Belfast City Hall in 1896. A News Letter report at the time recounted controversy surrounding the project, with proposals ‘for so large and complex a building’ that would take months to complete. And when Mackintosh was working as an architect in Glasgow’s Honeyman, Keppie and Mackintosh partnership, some notes in his sketchbook suggest that Charles Rennie intended entering the 1910 competition for additions to the library at Queen’s College Belfast, renamed Queen’s University. He certainly visited the library, making some detailed drawings and writing down his observations. Imagine – we might have had not just one, but two, Mackintosh buildings in Belfast!!!!
