The company said: “In its current state, P&O Ferries is not a viable business. We have made a £100m loss year on year, which has been covered by our parent DP World. This is not sustainable.”
What a dreadful state of affairs at the top of the P&O chain of command. They admit to loosing £100 million every year – what sort of a company allows themselves to sink into such a money mess. Incompetence rules the waves with this outfit. Obviously they can’t face facts like statesmen and captains of industry – they hide behind some poor employee reading out a statement with a deadpan expression and a heavy heart. The result 800 men and women plunged into trauma. It looks as though they have broken employment rules but that won’t matter in the long run they will still deprive those involved of the work they have enjoyed and the service they have loyally given through the years.
Redundancy will help but it’s a bitter pill to swallow. And as has been said, if this action goes unchecked this could well be the modus opporandi for the future, the termination statement and then the bully boys move in and you move out. Will the replacement crew know the intricacies of the ferries? If there is a problem will they immediately know what to do? On going story.
Ukraine is another on going story it seems without any sign of conclusion and the plight of men, women and children grows ever more heartbreaking, witness this morning’s news. Harrowing. Those who can offer hospitality will find it quite an experience not without its complications and those who can’t offer respite could always twin with another household and invite our visitors on days away or a meal or a trip to the pictures and so offer a change of scene for the Ukrainians and a little respite for the family here at home.
I hope the money raised is providing food and medicine and the wherewithal to get families out of Ukraine and to support workers trying to get people trapped in buildings to safety. It’s all so terrible.
HISTORY GOES ON TOUR
Like father like son! Louis Rolston senior was one of our most prolific theatre stars in the 60s until his death in 1991. He worked alongside luminaries of the day, JG Devlin, Joseph Tomelty and Harry Towb and in 1960 he was caught up in the turmoil that was Sam Thompson’s Over The Bridge. Infamous, controversial, ground breaking – all of these things as for the first time it spoke out publicly about sectarianism and murder in the Belfast shipyards.
Now his son, also Louis – with television roles in Game of Thrones and Line of Duty – appears in the most recent production celebrating the 60th anniversary of the play produced by the Bright Umbrella Drama Company and about to go on tour with actors Robert McGregor, Louis Rolston, Matt Cassidy and Glenn McGivern with Louis reprising his father’s the role of Mr. Fox. The Rolston family has another string to the acting bow, Louis son David has also trod the boards.
A Play Is Born
Louis senior worked in the shipyard where he and Sam Thompson discussed the developing plot line and Sam asked him to play the part of the ‘head hat’, the foreman. “He’s sleeked”, said Sam, “so I’ll call him Mr. Fox,” and that became Louis’s role.
He played Rabbie White in the 20th anniversary production and was due to play in the 30th but sadly he took ill and died a short time later,
Over the Bridge is the story of shipyard bigotry and violence, Catholic verses Protestant, union verses union, a tea boy who isn’t allowed to fill the Protestant can because he’s already filled the can of a Catholic. Rumblings explode quite literally and there are thoughts it was an IRA bomb and the play kicks off with a tense story line developing into a tragic finale. The premiere was due to open in the Group Theatre where a young actor Jimmy Ellis had just been appointed artistic director. Richie McKee was chairman of the board, also chairman of the Arts Theatre and of CEMA, today the Arts Council. He was also regional governor of the NI BBC so an influential member of society and a formidable opponent to take on!
The cat was put among the pigeons at a press conference to announce the new season’s plays with details of Thompson’s script. McKee was horrified, wanted sections of the play removed, even one major character was under threat, he criticised the language, stating: “It is the policy of the directors of the Ulster Group Theatre to keep political and religious controversies off our stage.” His board fell in behind him and the production was cancelled.
Ellis felt he had no choice but to resign his position as theatre director in order to direct the production he knew had to be seen. Together with Thompson, they went on to stage the play in Belfast’s Empire Theatre where 42,000 people saw it over seven weeks, including hundreds of shipyard workers enjoying ‘their’ play. Since then Over The Bridge has been staged in Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Brighton and London’s West End, 80,000 have seen it already, now Bright Umbrella and the cast ensure many more members of the public will see it during the tour.
The cast have already been in Newry, and the Waterside Theatre in Derry, next will be Smock Alley Theatre Dublin Wednesday 13 to 16th April and Strule Arts Centre Omagh 20th April. Details at The Bright Umbrella Theatre Company
Show Understanding and Support
Letter from a mother who is concerned for her son. “I know he’s troubled about something and I am worried he’s gay.”
This implies you don’t approve of people who are gay and that attitude is not going to help your son. If indeed this is his thinking he will need your support not your negativity, ‘what will the neighbours think’ isn’t helpful. I talked to a gay man about this and once he admitted to himself and his family that this was the case, he became happy in his own skin, he talks of ‘coming home’ rather than coming out. Your child is still the same child, he’s just coming to terms with his identity, something we all have to do at some stage in our lives. Compare this to Florida’s Republican controlled state legislature that has just passed a widely criticised measure called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ banning instruction or conversation on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Thankfully here public attitudes are changing, Graham Norton makes us laugh, Blu Hydrangea did us proud in Ru Pauls Drag Race, excellent young man who talks sense and loves his homeland, two men dance beautifully on Strictly, two men with a little daughter carried for them by one of their sisters, born into a wonderful extended family. To think a child growing up with two men or two women will loose out is usually quite wrong, there are aunts and uncles, grandparents, all the usual warmth of family. The Pride parade through Belfast is enjoyed by as many ‘straight’ people as gay, a chance to relax in a colourful band of happy people. I asked my friend about language and the word ‘queer’, “We are using it as an alternative to the wide spectrum to distinguish people from heterosexuality. It’s often used to describe art or literature. It’s also less cumbersome than going down half the letters of the alphabet!”
A gay couple still can’t marry in a church but can arrange a blessing after a civil ceremony. Northern Ireland has emerged from conflict with a variety of equality and human rights provisions, primarily through the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Section 75 of the Act requires public bodies to have due regard to promote equality between people on the following grounds: between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation.
It’s a huge subject but as a parent, and also for your son should he want to, please contact cara-friend.org.uk for a chat, freephone 0808 8000 390 or email switchboard@cara-friend.org.uk Also there’s a comprehensive list of many local organisations at helplinesni.com. Well worth looking at.
No reason for this pic only that it reminds me of days of wine and roses. It was taken during my time working with the Ulster Actors Company resident in the Arts Theatre. Wonderful days when we thrilled and delighted audiences of all ages and girls could sit on the walls of an old church and ogle handsome bare chested talent.