SeniorTimes Magazine May/June 2020

Times

The magazine for people who don’t act their age

Issue 105 May - June 2020

FREE Covid 19 Special Issue - No Paywall Here!

Hoe down in the lock down

Dancers give two fingers to the virus

Mike Murphy talks to President Higgins and Denis O’Brien in the new series of Senior Times Podcast

Senior Times also launch a classical music podcast

Guess the year

PLUS: History - Creative Writing - Competitions – Motoring – Travel – Gardening - Health - Meeting Place and much more...

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Issue 105- May - June 2020

Contents

35

60

2

Bloomsday, Ulysses and all that jazz:

43

Opinion: Conor O’Hagan on Covid-19

5

Princess Diana’s Legacy: She made her unique mark on the world

45

Remembering Digby Morton: Matthew J Hughes traces the life and work of one of Ireland’s greatest fashion designers

6

Eurovision drought: Shay Healy investigates our lack of recent winners

49

14

Golf - A Stroke of Luck: Dermot Gilleece on superstitions of our top golfers

52

Mozart: John Low traces the life and work of arguably the greatest mind in Western music

Writes of Way: Lorna Hogg on the literary heritage of the capital

55

Dublin Dossier: Pat Keenan on happenings around the capital

19

Take Me Home, Country Roads: Eithne Hands memories of the highways and byways

58

Mecanics of Memory: Caoilainn Doyle explains why we remember and forget

22

Creative Writing: Flash fiction addressed by Eileen Casey

60

Coping wiith Cataracts: he condition , the symptoms and the treatment

26

Guess the year: Gerry Perkins tests your recollection

29

Motoring: Coping with crime: Genealogy:

63 65 66

30

Podcasts: We’re topping the charts - all you need to know

69

Should I Stay or Should I Go?: Maretta Dillon explores Retirement Deadly Love: Short story by Karen Ryan

32

Thelma Mansfield: Lorna Hogg catches up with Thelma for us

35

Michael Palin - Time Traveller: Nigel Baxter profiles our favourite expolorer

39

Collecting: Know your rights: Health & Fitness: Cosmetics and beauty: Wine World: Meeting place: Crafts:

73 75 80 72 82 84 86

News:

Cover Image: CoisCéim Broadreach have moved their popular weekly dance class for people aged 50+ online – and you’re invited to dance from the comfort of your home. Every Wednesday a new video of Philippa Donnellan’s class is posted on CoisCéim’s website at https://coisceim.com/classes-fifty-plus/.

Publishing Directors: Brian McCabe, Des Duggan Editorial Director: John Low Advertising: Willie Fallon Design & Production: www.cornerhouse.ie Contributors: Lorna Hogg, Dermot Gilleece, Maretta Dillon, Peter Power, Matthew Hughes, Mairead Robinson, Eileen Casey, Debbie Orme, Connie McEvoy.

Published by S& L Promotions Ltd., Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 Tel: +353 (01) 4969028.

Fax: +353 (01) 4068229 Editorial: John@slp.ie Advertising: willie@slp.ie

Sign up to our newsletter and be in with a chance to win some great prizes at www.seniortimes.ie Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and don’t miss our chart topping series of podcasts!

News Now Irish Heart Foundation launches support service for newly discharged stroke survivors A national phone support service to help newly discharged stroke survivors make the transition back home in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has been launched by the Irish Heart Foundation in conjunction with the HSE’s National Stroke Programme.

The check-in service is a response to significant reductions in community supports for stroke survivors resulting from both illness and the redeployment of large numbers of healthcare professionals to help tackle the COVID-19 emergency, coupled with earlier than usual discharge of many patients from hospital.

COPD Support Ireland Information Pack to Support cocooning sufferers

Initially, the calls are being made by the Irish Heart Foundation’s team of stroke support coordinators – who are already supporting hundreds of members of the charity’s stroke groups across the country. But as volumes increase, volunteers including stroke survivors and carers will also be activated. The callers are backed up by the Irish Heart Foundation’s support line nurses, whilst a traffic light system is in place to escalate calls when necessary to stroke nurses or the emergency services.

It’s estimated that around 7,500 people are hospitalised after a stroke in Ireland each year

– the equivalent of 21 strokes a day nationwide and the majority of people will be discharged home after spending an average of around two weeks in hospital.

In addition to the phone check-in service that actively makes calls to stroke patients, the Irish Heart Foundation’s nurse support line is available to answer questions any member of the public may have on any aspect of heart disease and stroke. Nurses can be contacted by calling 01 668 5001 or emailing support@irishheart.ie.

Cobh remembers Titanic anniversary

A “Cocooning with COPD” information pack with tips and advice for protecting physical and mental well-being for people with COPD has been announced by COPD Support Ireland.

The pack contains the COPD & Me self-management booklet, the Staying Well – Cocooning from Coronavirus booklet, and a COPD communication card which patients can complete with their healthcare professional in making an action plan to help them manage their COPD on a daily basis. It features information on COPD, its risk factors, symptoms and diagnosis, as well as providing techniques to cope with breathlessness, exercises that people can do at home, tips for minding mental health, and guidance on nutrition. The pack has been developed in conjunction with the HSE National Clinical Programme Respiratory and the COPD Adviceline.

The pack is available to download at www. copd.ie or can be ordered for postal delivery free of charge by texting the word COPD, plus name and address to 51444 (standard network charges apply).

2 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Junior Cert student Bláthín Verwey from Cobh prepares to place a floral tribute in the sea from the pier where 123 passengers departed Cobh to join the Titanic 108 years ago.

For the first time in over 20 years, there was no public ceremony to mark the anniversary of the sinking of The Titanic in its last port of call, Cobh, Co. Cork, as a result of the Coronavirus lockdown measures.

Instead, a member of the Cobh Tourism Board placed a solitary floral tribute on the Titanic Memorial in the town square, to honour all those who lost their lives 108 years ago.

Commenting, Chairman of Cobh Tourism Jack Walsh said, ‘Instead of a traditional public ceremony this year, we are inviting everyone to say a prayer or share a thought on Saturday (11th April) for all those who embarked on their final journey from Queenstown, as the town of Cobh was then known, on board the ill-fated Titanic’. Cobh (then Queenstown) was the last port of call for the Titanic on her ill-fated voyage

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Frank Carke offering art lessons on Youtube

News

Age Action and Active Retirement Ireland criticise Fianna Fail and Fine Gael’s Framework for Coalition for largely ignoring older people Active Retirement Ireland and Age Action have responded to a framework document published by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil with disappointment at the lack of commitments to older people and our ageing population.

Both NGOs have expressed concern that older people are being ‘largely ignored’.

Maureen Kavanagh, CEO of Active Retirement, stated: ‘The context of this document is very much about getting society back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic, so to see the ones who have suffered the most, and sacrificed so much by cocooning and giving up their normal lives, largely ignored is a huge disappointment and shows how little their contributions to society, to communities and the economy are valued by the State’.

As the world’s leading art instructor Frank Clarke has increased the number of lessons he is streaming via his You Tube Channel We will be putting up 2 new lessons per week at least until this crisis passes.

Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvPj7EiDrulHihajP8GoHw

Blackberry Hearing providing free online hearing tests Blackberry Hearing are providing free online hearing tests. This enables anyone currently cocooning, due to COVID-19, the opportunity to get their hearing checked without having to leave home.

This free online test is available on the Blackberry Hearing website. You need only find a quiet place with a pair of headphones, click on the website link and follow the instructions.

The test is simple and determines your hearing capability at each frequency (pitch). By moving the slider at each point until the volume drops to a level you can no longer hear, a graph called an audiogram is plotted. The audiogram clearly indicates your hearing loss by frequency and an audiologist is available to follow up with you on the phone to explain the details.

The hearing test can be accessed here: https://www.blackberryhearing.com/online-hearing-test/ Customer testimonials may be viewed on Google (link below) and on the company’s own website where many customer Facebook testimonials and many video testimonials have been collected.

Paddy Connolly, CEO of Age Action, added: ‘Successive Governments have failed to adequately plan for our ageing population. We can see the result of this laid bare in the crisis that is happening during the COVID-19 pandemic which has placed many older people in precarious and vulnerable situations whether that is in residential care or at home lacking the supports they that they need. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who between them have held power for over a decade both have the opportunity and responsibility to create a society where everyone in Ireland has the potential to age well’.

Safeguarding Ireland highlights need to protect vulnerable adults amid heightened risks Safeguarding Ireland today highlighted the need to protect vulnerable adults – amid a heightened risk of abuse resulting from the current Covid-19 crisis.

The concerns highlighted include: 1.

Upholding decision-making rights 2.

Vigilance against financial abuse 3.

Short term payment of bills 4.

Care in use of language 5.

Longer-term need for a National Safeguarding Authority The current crisis highlights the need for a National Safeguarding Authority to promote and protect the rights of the most vulnerable in society. It is a concern that there is no single Authority with this overarching mandate and it is something that government should consider as an issue of urgency. More information can be viewed at www.safeguardingireland.org.

Health Insurance Authority welcome measures by insurers on Covid-19 The Health Insurance Authority having worked closely with the Department of Health, health insurers, the HSE and the Central Bank over the last number of weeks welcomes the measures now put in place by insurers in relation to Covid-19. The new measures include a range of supports for consumers and the HIA advises individuals to check with their own insurance company to find out the measures that will be available to them. Each insurer has their own supports depending on the plans and policies customers are on.

The HIA say they will continue to work to ensure consumers are aware of their rights and any financial measures which may be introduced by insurers as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and information will be made public on the Authority’s website hia.ie. Consumers who have concerns about their individual policies can contact our consumer advisors at info@hia.ie where they will try to answer any questions consumers may have.

bit/ly/blackberryhearing

Teeling Whiskey Releases charity edition in support of front line heroes Teeling Whiskey is releasing a special charity bottling of their Distillery Exclusive range with all profits going to charities who are at the front line of the battle against COVID-19 in Ireland. This special charity release, 4 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

labelled with the initiative and individually numbered, will be limited to only 300 bottles and is the first Teeling Whiskey to be matured in Irish Virgin Oak. The Front Line Heroes special release is available to buy now priced E75, via The Celtic Whiskey Online Shop online https://www.celticwhiskeyshop.com/ Teeling-Virgin-Oak-Charity-Bottling

Opinion

We’re all ‘stakeholder’ in this crisis

We’re All ‘Stakeholders’ in this Crisis

By Conor O’Hagan

It’s no surprise that governments in all countries are wrestling with the trade-off between lives and the economy in deciding whether to end or moderate lockdown; or that these may be the most difficult decisions they ever have to make, whether they’re good, bad or indifferent custodians of their offices.

What surprises me (possibly not the right word), though, are reports from the UK such as ‘Six wealthy backers have demanded government fire back up the economy’ (Daily Mail). Not ‘Six wealthy backers have urged government to fire back up the economy as soon as it’s deemed safe’ or ‘Six wealthy backers urge government to consider the economy’ but a demand that the economy be restarted.

That’s in the UK, of course – a country with, God knows, its own set of problems. But it seems naïve to assume that equivalent voices are not making the same representations to government here. But demands?

To state the obvious, this is about lives and livings - not just one or the other, but a ghastly, complex and dynamic set of consequences with no certainty of making the right decision; just an absolute obligation to do the best with the information available.

The implication is that these individuals feel empowered to attempt influence on a decision process that belongs only to government. Only

government has the mandate - moral and political - to make these deliberations. Only government will be held accountable for the outcomes. Only government has access to the full range of inputs that will justify the decisions, whatever they are.

So as far as I’m concerned, for an individual to ‘demand’ anything other than a balanced, comprehensive and painstaking consideration of the risks involved in moderating lockdown is more than just offensive - it’s gob-smackingly outrageous; the more so because the individuals concerned face no accountability for the lives that their ‘demands’ may cost.

But apparently that’s what’s happening. And yes, it’s being reported in both left- and rightwing press. Which doesn’t mean that it must be true, but does make it more likely.

In the UK, there’s apparently a feeling among certain ‘business figures’ that lockdown has been somewhat over-enthusiastically embraced

by British workers. Not many, if any of these notables would dare to express that thought publicly, but these are, almost by definition, people with the ear of politicians – and the underlying sentiment could hardly be clearer; the workers should damn well stop shirking and put their backs back into it. You don’t have to be a signed-up member of the Communist International to find that offensive.

Lobbying is a legitimate aspect of the political

system we share with Britain – perhaps even an essential one; and the fact that business groups have more influence at times than (most) private individuals is to some degree inevitable. The balance between influences and voices is what politics is about, and it varies from system to system, place to place, time to time.

But a national crisis brings different priorities.

COVID-19 doesn’t fit into the existing template of affairs; it requires, like wartime, overarching priorities, not Business As Usual.

Here in Ireland we’re too close, economically and culturally, to the UK to make comfortable assumptions that our system is different; that business is ‘on-message’ with public health. Of course, we need our businesses to survive and to fight for that survival.

Our politicians have not only the power, but the duty to make decisions that will influence all our lives, and may cost many of them. They can and will make mistakes – they probably already have. As long as they’re honest mistakes, and they have been made after listening to informed, properly argued voices from the ‘stakeholders’ in this (which is all of us), they will suffer no more than damage to their political careers.

But any mishandling of this crisis attributable to ‘demands’ of unaccountable interests would be something very different.

The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Senior Times Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 5

Fashion History

Remembering

Digby Morton..

‘My suits are really based on architectural lines, but I must say I’m not much interested in evening clothes.

The sight of massed rolls of chiffon and lace gives me the shudders’

Exotic paddy field location in 1966 for a rose-tinted blouse and lime green slacks for Daks

For such a small nation, Ireland has produced a disproportionate number of movers and shakers in the world of fashion: think of Harper’s Bazaar editor, Carmel Snow, the currently feted J. W. Anderson, Louise Kennedy, Sybil Connolly, Phillip Treacy, Lainey Keogh and Paul Costelloe, to name but a handful. But in the history of fashion, perhaps its most illustrious name, Digby Morton, invariably figures as a kind of footnote to the story of Sir Hardy Amies, couturier to the Queen. For Irish, and indeed British, people of a certain vintage, however, the name of Digby Morton is one that’s recalled with real affection and admiration. One of the very greatest couturiers Ireland has ever produced, he was justly lauded across the world. And yet, he’s largely unremembered today. There are probably several reasons for this.

Perhaps the principal reason for his (relative) obscurity in Ireland now, is due to the fact that Digby made his name in the UK and America. Though it frequently retains huge pride in those who choose to make their fortune elsewhere, a nation of Ireland’s size, tends to favour sons and daughters who’ve chosen to make their home country their place of 6 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Digby Morton: ‘A great innovator’, according to Hardy Amies

Matthew J Hughes traces the life and work of one of Ireland’s greatest fashion designers who, unjustly, is largely forgotten today.

Timeless gown with ruching detail by Digby Morton 1956

Fashion History

Model wearing Digby Morton’s camel hair-and-wool suit with a felt cloche by knox 1953

Fur-trimmed velvet coat 1956

work. This isn’t always easy, of course and the circumstances for an ambitious, perhaps even impetuous, youth looking to excel in fashion, were not propitious in the 1920s and so Digby had to leave Dublin. The fashion houses of London were soon to appreciate this maverick and the speed and momentum of his progress, was extraordinary. Naturally though, the apparent ease and effortlessness of his achievements weren’t possible without a bedrock of intense and relentless hard work, application and courage; not to mention boldness of vision.

A cursory glance online, reveals that fashion archivists at the Victoria and Albert Museum, have amassed an impressive collection of his work and innumerable fashion historians and bloggers clearly exhibit a great

deal of respect for Digby Morton. Sir Hardy Amies himself regarded him as a bold innovator. This native of Dublin, dressed the great and the good and became a society fixture in the 1950s. As the opening quote illustrates, he was indifferent to eveningwear (he witheringly referred to them as “debutante clothes”). He generally loathed fuss, clutter and over-elaboration and made it his sartorial mission to create sharp, elegant and clean lines. He was featured in the aforementioned Sir Hardy Amie’s’ two autobiographical works, Just So Far in 1954 and Still Here in 1984. At his height, he was even couturier to Princess Margaret. In 1928 he was recruited to Gray, Paulette and Shingleton in London’s fashionable Mayfair – an outfit which he duly renamed Lachasse. When asked why he re-branded it thus, he replied that at that time, the moneyed elite Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 7

Treasures of the Oireachtas Library

In 2019, as part of Dáil 100 celebrations, the Oireachtas Library invited guest curators to explore the treasures in its collection and choose their favourites. The Special Collections range from the late sixteenth century onwards and include historical monographs, maps, periodicals, cartoons, prints and pamphlets.

They represent a unique perspective on Anglo-Irish relations and administration during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD, expressed his delight that such a collection has been made publicly available in an online exhibition. And at the launch, the Ceann Comhairle outlined the contents of a booklet which contained three appeals: two from Ireland to America in June 1917 and one from America to Ireland in May 1775. The first appeal is an open letter to President Woodrow Wilson by Patrick McCartan, a medical doctor, revolutionary, and politician. It describes the link between Ireland and America, the American Revolution, Irish efforts for independence, and English attempts to maintain rule over Ireland.

The second appeal is from a group of Irish Volunteers to the U.S. Congress and President. The third appeal is an extract from the Journals of Congress prepared by delegates appointed at the United Colonies in General Congress, Philadelphia, 1775. The appeal is directed to the people of Ireland. It states their motives for taking up arms and outlines the English force against Americans, noting that the United States would offer the Irish ‘a safe asylum’.

The Ceann Comhairle said: “I am delighted that the Houses of the Oireachtas has opened up our collections

to the broadest audience possible, the fact that these materials are also available digitally, will show the breadth and diversity of our Special Collections content.”

In 2019, Martyn Turner, political cartoonist with The Irish Times, revealed a fascinating nineteenth century cartoon collection which is just one part of Treasures of the Oireachtas Library. Dr Aoife Whelan, lecturer at the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore at University College Dublin, explored Oireachtas items on the Irish language and John Lonergan, former Governor of Mountjoy Prison, detailed the history of prisons and penal reform in Ireland.

And in April of this year, Sarah Gearty, cartographic and managing editor with the Irish Historic Towns Atlas Project, Royal Irish Academy explored some historically significant maps.

The delivery of ‘Treasures of the Oireachtas Library’ in such an innovative way, using mixed-media content will allow Houses of the Oireachtas to add other treasures as part of a unique collection which will be maintained and added to for generations to come.

You can explore the ‘Treasures of the Oireachtas Library’ for yourself at https://www.dail100.ie/en/oireachtas-library to browse our galleries of images, video and text. www.oireachtas.ie www.dail100.ie

Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD

Fashion History

Gathered blouse 1952

Dinner dress 1946

of London wouldn’t consider anything else but French labels in their wardrobes! He also took a staple of Gaelic culture, Irish tweed, and utterly reinvented it, transforming something hitherto fusty, predictable and bucolic into a chic and covetable item perfect for city wear. For Digby, the cut was everything, so extraneous details were considered verboten. In the 1920s he also reconfigured the look of sportswear, and as you’d imagine, Digby’s creations were a world away from the ugly, branded and unflattering garb that passes for sports attire now, closer by far to what we’d think of as tailored clothing.

Dublin born He was born Digby Henry Morton on the 27th November, 1906 in Dublin, his father and grandfather had been accountants for Guinness and it looked as if he would follow suit (no pun intended). Digby, however, had other plans. Initially studying architecture at the Metropolitan School of Art and Architecture, the impatient and ambitious youth evidently found the prospect of a seven-year apprenticeship unbearable and so he transferred his allegiances from the austere caste of architectural students to the more glittering and racy world of Dublin’s School of Art. After

Coat October 1938

completing his studies, he arrived in London in 1922 with a return ticket and £4 in his pocket, initially aiming simply to stay with friends. Doubtless beguiled by the gaudy speed of the metropolis (as measured against the - relatively - quiescent provincialism of Dublin), he decided to stick around, working first at Selfridges in the advertising department and then at Liberty, where he established himself as a display artist and decorator. From there he proceeded to the department store Jays, on Oxford Street, finding employment as a house artist, providing impressions of the latest arrivals from the Parisian catwalk.

His greatest break came in 1929, however, whilst drinking in an after hours club in the West End. He was approached by Mayfair couturiers Gray, Paulette and Shingleton, who offered him the post of in-house fashion designer. He agreed to join the company, on the proviso that he’d have carte blanche to hire his own team and work on his own lines.

Setting up in a converted and redesigned garage in Farm Street in Mayfair, Digby Morton had truly arrived. The key material employed for his debut collection, created a sensation and superficially at least, seemed to play to the gallery’s expectations of an Irish designer: Ardara tweeds.

But Digby’s take on this quintessentially Irish fabric was characteristically inventive, employing boldly unusual choices of colour, such as duck egg blue, dark brown and lime green!

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 9

Fashion History

Digby Morton had his first London operation in Farm Street, Mayfair

Digby was determined to move beyond the rigid and somewhat austere world of classic English tailoring; he created outfits with a softer more feminine aspect, more in keeping with the nature of the materials he employed, such as Aran knit, worsteds and tweeds. As previously mentioned, this newly formed operation, was duly rechristened Lachasse (Digby observing that in London society, only French fashion houses carried true cachet) and proved an almost instantaneous hit with the bright young things of London and far beyond. The company subsequently became a by-word for urbanity and glamour. Low prices, small profits and a voluminous turnover were the order of the day and royalty, the titled and entitled, heiresses and top sportsmen flocked to purchase Digby’s creations and meet “that young Irishman in the garage” as he became known. In 1934, Digby struck out on his own, acquiring offices in Palace Gate, Kensington and in 1936, he married a Fleet Street journalist called Phyllis Painting, better known by her work name of Ann Seymour. She was the editor of what would now be known as a lifestyle magazine, called Woman and Beauty. He also reluctantly began to feature eveningwear in his collections, though it was to be strictly tailored.

Two military style coats 1939

In 1942, Digby, along with such esteemed contemporaries and his friend and colleague Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell and Victor Stiebel, joined forces to form the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (also known as the ISFLD) and created a stylish, characteristically unfussy uniform for the Women’s Voluntary Service; the suit cost 79s and 6d. The Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers advised on 10 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Fashion History

Dress with bodice, short jacket Summer 1949

Ford advert 1955

various utility clothes, helping to find inventive ways to cope with the scarcity of clothing materials and also creating a bridge between the government and the fashion industry. In total, thirty-four utility garments were finished for mass manufacture and the organisation served as a true morale booster, helping to detract from the grim reality of rationing restrictions.

Post war success After the war, Digby again moved his operation, this time fetching up in Grosvenor Mews; cheaper premises, but far larger. In 1953, he struck gold in the States. The Hathaway company, who were makers of men’s shirts asked him to put together a collection for women. Taking the example of men’s shirts and their cut and structure, he adjusted them to accommodate women, using blazing colours and bold patterns, often adding bowties to the ensemble. Esteemed magazine Time was so impressed, that they dubbed him “daring Digby”. In 1957, Digby formed Reldan-Digby Morton with Nadler (CEO Cyril Kern), closing his existing offices in the process.

Lady Hathaway gingham shirt

By 1963, Digby had transferred his talents to the design and production of menswear, exhibiting at the Cologne Fair with a collection that featured the abundant deployment of Trevira cloth. He’d been prescient enough to see that couture couldn’t last and that true financial success lay with the embrace of prêt a porter (ready-to-wear). Digby had once opined that couture felt stifling and that he really wanted to work with ordinary women rather than titled and privileged ladies.

He died in 1983, (having retired a decade earlier) at the relatively early age of 77. At the end of his professional career, he was specialising in menswear, but it’s his feel for women’s tailoring that secured his reputation.

Ireland can be justly proud of this scion of Dublin’s professional classes. His professional reputation was immaculate and his expertise, flair, feel for the potential of fabrics and fundamental understanding of how to dress women in a flattering, feminine yet wholly progressive and forward looking manner, was unparalleled.

The ultimate Aran-knit sweater dress, 1955 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 11

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Classical Music

Mozart

The Mozart family. Mozart is sitting next to his sister Nannerl, with his father on the right. His deceased mother is show in a portait on the wall.

the myth and the magic John Low traces the life and work of arguably the greatest mind in Western music

Infant prodigy, genius composer, virtuoso musician, linguist, mason, wit, dandy, billiard hustler, sometime drunkard, gambler, Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart’s life was short, highly eventful and far from sweet.

A large part of his adult life was spent begging from friends and chasing payment from his many benefactors and employers in a mainly unsuccessful attempt to maintain his and his spouse’s chaotic and profligate lifestyle.

There were periods during his Vienna years- he moved there in 1781 aged 25-when he was earning an exceptionally high salary as a freelance composer/ musician, and his subscription concerts were a roaring success. But the cash was often frittered away. He had a penchant for fine clothes and hand-made shoes: he even bought a carriage and a horse and installed a billiards table in one of the many expensive apartments they rented in Vienna. They were, to put it mildly, bad managers.

Mozart’s easy- come- easy- go attitude may well be explained by the 14 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

fact that he could - and , more likely had to - work at astonishing speeds and produce compositions in a fraction of the time taken by his contemporaries; and, of course of infinitely higher quality. It was not unusual for him to work through the night or operate on three hours sleep: today’s 24/ 7 ‘high flyers’, would, in comparison, be a country mile behind him. In a letter to his father he wrote, “This morning is lost in lessons, lunch is eaten at 2 pm, the afternoon is dedicated to various preparations and in the evening I finally have time to compose- as long as I have no concert to perform”.

Apart from the mental and physical strain of his composing, teaching and performing, he was his own agent, manager and general dogsbody, doing everything from booking venues, arranging advertising, printing posters and commissioning orchestras, to selling tickets.

Mozart’s life is well documented largely through the reminiscences of his father, wife, sister, acquaintances, letters and biographies. He was born on January 27th 1756 in Salzburg, Austria (At the time Salzburg was a

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Classical Music

Mozart was composing at age five

The Mozarts’ house in Salzburg

German state an did not became part of Austrian empire until 1816) His father Leopold was a composer and violinist and held an official post at the Archbishop’s court in the city. His mother was Anna Maria Pertl, and he had a sister four years older called Nannerl. They were the only two of the couple’s seven children to survive infancy.

From an early age they both demonstrated remarkable musical abilities.

Wolfgang would watch as his sister was given keyboard lessons. He was improvising himself for the age of three. His father began giving him lessons, and famously told a visitor to their house: “Wolfgang learnt this minuet when he was four. This minuet and trio were learnt by Wolfgang in half an hour, at half past nine at night on January 26 1761, one day before his fifth year” Leopold, like any astute impresario, quickly realised he had a great act on his hands and paraded Wolfgang and Nannerl around Europe, almost as if they were freaks - which in some way they were freaks they wereto the adulation of Royalty , Princes of the church and the nobility. His aims were mercenary – to make money. But “The Travelling Mozarts’ enterprise was largely a financial failure.

After returning from one ‘tour’ Leopold observed sourly: “We have swords, lace, mantillas, snuff- boxes, gold cases, sufficient to furnish a shop but as for money, it is a scarce article and I am positively poor” There were occasions when their travels produced some profit, such as when King George 111 of England paid the wunderkind the huge sum of 50 guineas to compose six sonatas for his Queen Charlotte. But like a modern touring company, putting the show on the road was an expensive business, with travel and accommodation, staff and advertising expenses. These tours, often involving traveling on poor ‘ roads’ in cold and wet carriages for weeks, with the constant fear of being held up by highwaymen, took a toll on everyone’s health and this period in Mozart’s life is often cited as a contributory factor for his later ills and early death.

Their firs important trip involved them being away from home for nearly three and a half years. And from early childhood to adolescence Mozart visited Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Italy, and England. The travelling continued relentlessly in his adult years when he was planning, rehearsing or directing performances of his operas, or performing as a soloist.

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The last trip of his life was to Prague in the late summer of 1791 to the coronation of Leopold II as the King of Bohemia. In all his 35 years it has been estimated he was travelling for a period of ten years.

Mozart spent most of his early adult life in Salzburg composing and performing as part of his duties for the Prince Archbishop Colloredo. During this period Mozart wrote most of his liturgical works we know today; he also wrote and performed symphonies and concerts, including one of his earliest landmark works, the Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola.

But he hated his job. He did not get on with the Archbishop and court musicians, who he found uncouth and largely incompetent. He was also becoming increasingly disillusioned with the narrow-minded, provincial attitudes of Salzburg and at every opportunity he escaped, either to seek more meaningful employment, supervise performances of his operas or perform in the more enlightened environment of cities such as Munich, Mannheim and Vienna.

It was on one or these trips to Mannheim in 1777 that he met and fell in love with talented singer Aloysia Weber, but was dissuaded by his father from pursuing the relationship until he had got himself a decent job.

Evidently Mozart had not exactly made a big impression on the young lady: he returned to Mannheim only to find that she neither remembered or recognised him! Ironically they subsequently became great friends some suggested they may have been more than friends - when Mozart cast her in many of his operatic roles, as well as specifically composing works to display her vocal talents.

There was one consolation; shortly afterwards he was appointed Court Organist by the Prince Archbishop, with a reasonable salary. Typically this did not prevent him continuing his travels, and he was soon off to Munich. But in January 1781, he was ordered to Vienna by Colloredo who had temporarily moved his court to the Austrian capital. Mozart finally arrived in March. He was in his element, performing and socialising with the cream of Viennese aristocracy; ´For my profession this is the best place in the world’, he wrote to his father.

Classical Music

The Mozart memorial in Vienna

The Prince Archbishop ordered his court to return to Salzburg in the early summer of 1781. Not surprisingly Mozart wasn´t budging. He was having the time and success of his life, and the thought of returning to the cultural backwater that was Salzburg was inconceivable. Colloredo exploded and labelled Mozart ´ a scoundrel, an oath and a good – for – nothing´ . Mozart was dismissed by a court official. ‘I was literally kicked up the arse off the premises!’he later recalled.

And so Mozart threw himself into consolidating his rapidly growing reputation in Vienna. He was giving numerous concerts and received important commissions from private benefactors as well as the Emperor himself, Joseph II. He was also making good money by giving private music lessons to the sons and daughters of Viennese society and nobility.

Coincidentally at this time the Webers had moved to Vienna and despite his rejection by Aloysius, he had remained friendly with the family. He soon moved in as a lodger and it wasn´t long before he was courting Aloysia´s younger sister Constanze.

He married Constanze on August 4, 1782 at St Stephen´s Cathedral. He was 26, his bride 18. He wrote to his father, who disapproved of the marriage: ‘We are married now. We are man and wife! And we love each other enormously. We feel that we are made for one and other’.

Now a married man with responsibilities - Constanza quickly became pregnant- Mozart was working flat out: and with fruits of his labours, they were gradually becoming accepted into the Viennese social elite, moving to bigger and more lavish apartments and entertaining on a scale to which they were certainly not accustomed. But it was only money and there was plenty more where that came from.

The period from around 1782 onwards was undoubtedly the most lucrative for Mozart and it has been estimated that in one year he may have earned the equivalent in today´s money of more than half a million euro, if not more. It´s therefore reasonable to speculate that had he saved or invested only a modest amount of his earnings during this time, his later slide into financial ruination could have been avoided or comfortably cushioned, not to mention his early death.

His elevation into the highest echelons of Viennese society was now unstoppable. He was mixing not only with the city´s aristocracy, Austrian and European royalty but more important, with its influential and prosperous merchant classes. He met all the leading composers of the day; including Haydn with whom he became great friends. He became a mason in 1784. He had arrived.

It was also a highly productive period in which he composed many of his finest, mature works, including, piano concertos, piano sonatas, string quarters and string quintets. And of course operas, notably. The Marriage of Figaro (1786) Don Giovanni (1787), Cosi fan tutte (1790) and The Magic Flute (1791). His last three great symphonies, Nos 39, 40 and 41 (The Jupiter) – were composed in the space of six weeks in 1788. Many musicologists cite The Jupiter, with its masterly originality, invention and orchestration as his towering achievement. And considering his canon of work, that´s saying something.

And so, ostensibly, life for the Mozarts in Vienna in the mid 1780´s was pretty good. Wolfgang´s earnings were huge but so were his debts.

Apart from the couple´s increasingly extravagant lifestyle there were the on-going medical expenses relating to Constanze´s many pregnancies (in all she has six children). There were, too, her routine, costly convalescence stays in the nearby fashionable spa town of Baden. Mozart was also a gambler, and although there is no firm evidence, it´s conceivable16 17 Senior Times l lNovember May - June- December 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 2017 l www.seniortimes.ie

Constanze Mozart in a rare photograph from 1840

as with all gamblers- he was heavily into chasing his losses.

The begging letters start and became more frequent from 1787.

He was now seriously in debt and to make matters worse he was no longer flavour of the month with the fickle Viennese bourgeoisie. And when it seemed it could not get any worse, it did: a war with the Turkish Ottoman Empire brought a halt to all artistic activity in the city as officialdom concentrated on the war effort.

Even in the depths of despair, Mozart did not stop working, composing, among other works, the aforementioned last three symphonies the following year. Remarkably these works were not commissioned for a fee, and could have only been produced by a mind driven to transcend the musical conventions of the day.

The next two years did not bring any noticeable improvement in his financial health. He had travelled to Berlin in 1789 to try to secure a post from the King of Prussia. But without success. He had no better luck when he returned to Germany a year later for the coronation of the new German Emperor Leopold II in Frankfurt, hoping to receive serious commissions and perform at the numerous celabratory concerts.

The last year of Mozart´s life was also one of his most productive. His compositions included the operas The Magic Flute, La Clemanza di Tito, his piano concerto No. 27 a horn concerto, the sublime clarinet concerto, the Ave Verum Corpus, quintets, minuets and dances. Not to mention most of his Requiem.

His finances, too, were improving: there were offers from various European bodies to buy compositions, he had received a lucrative offer to go to London to perform and produce operas, and royalties were beginning to roll in from The Magic Flute which was a smash hit.

The legend surrounding the commissioning of his last great work, The Requiem, in the summer of 1791 is both melodramatic and fanciful; a mysterious messenger wearing a long cloak, a mask hiding his face, is said to have knocked on Mozart´s door offering part up-front payment for the work and the remainder on completion. The truth is probably more prosaic. The messenger had been sent by his master Count Franz Walsegg commissioning Mozart to write the work in memory of his wife.

Classical Music Walsegg was an enthusiastic amateur composer and was known to pass off plagiarized compositions as his own. It´s likely he would do the same with Mozart’s and had probably instructed his messenger not to unduly expose himself should a connection be made.

Possibly the first signs of Mozart’s terminal illness appeared late in August during a visit to Prague when he was reported to be ‘pale’ and his expression ‘sad’. By October, according to Constanz’s recollections, he seemed to be depressed and introspective. It’s reasonable to speculate that he was physically unwell and was trying to keep it to himself- a common male trait.

By around the third week of November he took to his bed with fever and swollen joints; he was also vomiting. At this stage he had completed almost half of the Requiem and in spite of his condition he continued to compose. Towards the end he summoned his pupil Sussmayor – who completed the work – to notate his verbal instructions. It is generally accepted that he expired close to midnight on December 5th 1791 while attempting to mouth the sound and rhythm of the timpani (drum) passage. He was six weeks short of his 36th birthday.

The cause of death – theories range from poisoning to syphilis – has also given rise to speculation and legend, but the common consensus among Mozart scholars points towards kidney failure brought on by the complications of rheumatic fever.

In discussing Mozart’s burial we once again have to negotiate and sidestep the nineteenth century myth-makers. He was, we are asked to believe, buried in a pauper’s grave, with no mourners at his funeral. He was in fact ‘taken to the church’ – St Stephens Cathedral – on December 6th before his ‘economy’ funeral at St Marx Cemetery in the Viennese suburbs. The image of a neglected genius being hurriedly dumped into a common grave on a rain-lashed day, with no followers, no doubt proved irresistible to contemporary historians. But the truth is different. Mozart died in the age of The Enlightenment which challenged traditional religious values, with their emphasis on the ceremonial, and influenced the thinking of Emperor Joseph 11 who even issued a decree enforcing a ‘new simplicity’. So Mozart was not buried in a pauper’s grave, but it has to be said, only one notch above. It was also common practice at that time for mourners to accompany the corpse to the city gates and for the carriage to proceed to the cemetery where the burial was carried out by the lone gravediggers.

At the time of Mozart’s death he and Constanze had been together for ten years and in spite of their ups and downs they adored each other

A serious and introspective Mozart in the unfinished portrait by Joseph Lange, painted two years before his death. Of all the portraits Constanze said this one had best captured Mozart’s likeness.

and were publicly demonstrative in their affections, often to the irritation of their friends. Certainly during their relationship they both had numer ous opportunities to be unfaithful: Mozart spent long periods away from Vienna and Constanze on his various operatic and concerts projects where he would inevitably come into contact with female instrumental and singer soloists; Constanze, for her part, would have made many male friends and acquaintances during her stays in Baden as well when Mozart was out of town.

Speculation has continued over the years regarding the possibility of infidelity by one or both; but in my researches I could find no convincing evidence but concede that it might exist. A tantalising hypothesis concerns the actor and artist Joseph Lange who painted what Constanze described as the most convincing likeness in his portrait of Mozart. The work was unfinished; one theory being that the artist discovered that his wife was having an affair with Mozart and abandoned it in disgust. His wife? Aloysia Weber.

Four three-CD set of Mozart’s music from Naxos to be won Senior Times, in association with Naxos Music, the world’s largest producer of classical music recordings, are offering four three-CD sets of Mozart’s music in this competition.

Lasting two and a half hours the three CDs comprise some of Mozart’s most popular music, including concertos, symphonies, operas, piano work, chamber music, sacred works etc. This is a magnificent collection of the works of music’s greatest musical genius who started composing at the age of five.

To enter the competition simply answer this question: How old was Mozart when he first started composing?

Send your entries to: Mozart Competition, Senior Times, Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Or email to: john@slp.ie The first four correct winners drawn are the winners.

Deadline for receipt of entries is 30th May 2020

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 18

Dublin Dossier Pat Keenan on happenings in and around the capital

Seamus Heaney celebrated at Christchurch Cathedral

L-R (back) Laurence Kinlan, Fiona Cunningham, Republic’s Market Manager for Tourism NI, Tara Lynne O’Neill, Lisa Hannigan, Stephen Rea. Front, Neil Martin

Stephen Rea reading Seamus Heaney

Lisa Hannigan, haunting rendering of Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Anahorish’

Back in early February we gathered in Christ Church Cathedral to celebrate the work of our Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney. We shook hands, hugged, kissed cheeks, whispered in ears and sipped wine in affable closeness. We had no idea what was coming. On that very day, buried somewhere in the international news pages, there was a seemingly remote and irrelevant account of a virus affecting some far-flung province in central China. Two months later our country was in lockdown, many of us cocooned at home making the most of it, perhaps trying to cheer ourselves by recalling some relevant words Seamus himself: “If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere” But back to the event, beginning in full social togetherness with a drinks reception followed by dinner in the largest church crypt in Dublin or anywhere in Ire-

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Dublin Dossier

The cat and the rat, chasing in perpetuity, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

land or the UK. Afterwards we moved upstairs to the nave to enjoy the ‘Embrace a Giant Spirit’ event organised by Tourism Northern Ireland. We had readings by renowned actors like Stephen Rea (Crying Game, Michael Collins), Tara Lynne O’Neill (Derry Girls), Laurence Kinlan (Love/Hate) and music by Neil Martin (Deutsche Grammophon label).

The highlight for me was the haunting rendering of Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Anahorish’ by singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan, beautifully and gently amplified by the acoustics of Christ Church Cathedral - “much better than St.Patrick’s” an unnamed reverend suggested.

The event was put together as part of an initiative which aims to highlight the literary connections between Seamus Heaney HomePlace, which recently reached its 130,000 visitor milestone, and the hugely successful ‘Listen Now Again’ exhibition, which draws on the National Library’s extensive Heaney archive and has welcomed over 162,000 visitors since it opened in Dublin in July 2018.

Fiona Cunningham, the Republic’s Market Manager for Tourism NI said, “With the impressive Seamus Heaney HomePlace, situated in Bellaghy, only two and a half hours from Dublin, visitors can really immerse themselves in our greatest poet’s writing and discover many areas of his beloved hometown that inspired so much of his work”. Relevant at the time but sadly the HomePlace is closed until further notice.

Christ Church itself is worth a visit once this pandemic is over. When I arrived in the crypt I knew there was something I wanted to see - two of the cathedral’s more intriguing inhabitants - the mummified remains of a cat and rat. According to lore, the cat chased the rat into a pipe of cathedral’s organ and both became stuck. James Joyce used this as a simile in ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ when he described someone as being “... as stuck as that cat to that mouse in that tube of that Christchurch

organ...” Having failed to find it, a pantomime style event happened later as we got to the dessert course of our dinner. From across the table a fellow diner asked, “Pat, did you find the cat and the rat?”

“Sadly no” I replied. “It’s behind you!” chorused just about everyone opposite- and they were right, Behind me, unnoticed when we were seating, the glass case with chasing pair in perpetuity. Another item not often associated with churches, the crypt contains punishment stocks which I first thought might have dated back to pre Reformation Roman Catholic confessional requirements - alas no, they were originally in Christ Church Place, set up in 1670 for offenders before the Court of the Dean’s Liberty. They were moved into the crypt in 1870.

O’Brien brought back some older memories for me. As a young man and an unashamed and happy reader of banned books I recall as a young man my journeys to Belfast and London to buy indecent goods. That feeling of anxiety and nervousness on the Belfast to Dublin train as we stopped at Dundalk for border customs checks. Dark uniformed men loomed ominously through the carriage, searching and checking passenger’s belongings, The dreaded Customs Men were also Ireland’s moral thought police.

2020 One City One Book Festival With cinemas, pubs, music venues and theatres all closed and even though there is television, radio, Netflix, computer games that I know nothing about, Monopoly and Scrabble, showing my age.. Even though libraries and bookshops have also been forced to close, more of us - over 60 per cent more are turning to books. Even the scheduled ‘2020 Dublin One City One Book’ events are postponed until later in the year. In the meantime you can still read books including this years book choice ‘Tatty’ by Christine Dwyer Hickey. It is available to buy online on Kindle or library members can borrow the ebook free from your library. The Government has increased library budgets by E200,000 to meet a rising demand to borrow ebooks. Amazon is somewhat affected resulting in slow deliveries or in cancellations - a book I ordered had a long delivery date, a week later it was simply cancelled.

The ‘2019 Dublin One City One Book’ book choice, ‘The Country Girls Trilogy’ by Edna

The dirty book I was smuggling into the Republic was The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien.

Luckily they passed by, free at last, it was the same year I gave up confession boxes. Edna O’Brien herself once had her own books confiscated by Customs leaving her with just the dust jackets. Now we are free at last and just last year that dirty book became the choice for the ‘Dublin: One City One Book’ Festival. Again unfortunately because of the Covid19 epidemic, ‘The Evil Literature Exhibition’ planned for the Dublin Room at the Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse St, Dublin 2 is closed keep an eye-out for the reopening.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 20

Dublin Dossier

Remembering Jammets Restaurant With weeks and possibly months of compulsory home-dwelling ahead I’ve decided to sift through years and years of photos and hoards of travel memorabilia. I found this old photo of Jammets Restaurant, 4546 Nassau Street. I must have taken it in my early twenties since I now know that restaurant was in Nassau Street from 1926 until it closed in 1967 - when my weekly wage would not have stretched to cover a starter. When a young John Lennon (in 1964) signed the visitor book he drew a caricature sketch of himself and wrote:“The other three are saving up to come here!”

WB Yeats loved the place, had his own table there in the 1930s entertaining fellow writers Brinsley MacNamara, James Stephens, Lennox Robinson, FR Higgins, Seamus O’Sullivan, Peadar O’Donnell, Francis Stuart,Frank O’Connor, Miss Somerville, JM Hone and Walter Starkie.

Actors of stage and screen, James Cagney, Rita Hayworth, Danny Kaye, Peter Ustinov, Josef Locke, Richard Harris and Peter O’Toole.

Micheal MacLiammoir and Hilton Edwards, dined there often, at least once with Orson Wells but dined mostly with Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford, founder of the Gate Theatre, who just about always payed the bill. Which brings me to a well known Dublin expression, still used today and may in all likelihood derive from the restaurant, alluding to someone getting something for nothing, you might exclaim, “you Jammy bastard.” Perhaps, I surmise, another example might have been Charles Haughey and his clique Arthur Gibney and Sam Stephenson architect who reaped both praise and criticism and permanently left their mark on the city from the Central Bank and the Civic Offices to the destruction of rows Georgian houses in Fitzwilliam Street to be replaced by new ESB offices.

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Jammets Restaurant: WB Yeats loved the place, had his own table there

Hard to imagine now, but there were not many restaurants in the city then. Thinking back, these would have been around in the 60’s: Nico’s, Dame Street; Trocadero, St Andrew Street; Unicorn, off Merrion Street; The Lord Edward, Christchurch Place and further out in Ballsbridge, The Lobster Pot. In Stillorgan, Beaufield Mews, said to be the oldest restaurant in Dublin is around. Out my side The King Sitric in Howth was a newcomer opening in 1971 and still surviving.

Today Jammet Restaurant is the Porterhouse and before that it was the Berni Inn and I could afford to bring the mot there. There was a second entrance to Jammets from Grafton Street through Adam Court, today that’s the entrance to Lillie’s Bordello.

For further reading: Jammet’s of Dublin 1901 to 1967, by Alison Maxwell and Shay Harpur. - Available to download to Kindle

Memory

The mechanics of memory Caoilainn Doyle explains why we remember and forget

‘If you want to keep your memories, you first have to live them’

Memory is what situates you in time and place. It gives you a sense of who you are, and where you are going. A particularly vivid memory for me is the day of my first communion. After the ceremony, my mother brought me to the toy shop and allowed me to buy whatever I liked. You can only imagine the bliss of a 7 year old being let loose in a toy shop with what felt like unlimited cash. I bought a skateboarding Barbie doll which brought me endless hours of enjoyment. It is true that living through this experience resulted in a memory of the event being stored. But is living through an experience enough for it to be stored as a memory?

Much of our knowledge about memory comes from a famous case study of a man named H.M, who despite living through his experiences could not store them as new memories. In 1953 at the age of 27, H.M underwent a surgical procedure which removed much of his hippocampi (plural of hippocampus) and surrounding cortices in the medial temporal lobe of his brain in an attempt to cure his intractable epilepsy (see Figure 1). Although the procedure helped with his epilepsy, the consequences for his memory function were devastating. H.M demonstrated severe anterograde amnesia as a result of the surgery which left him incapable of forming new memories of his lived experiences.

Bob Dylan

Figure 1: Hippocampus located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 22

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Memory

Before the development of technology to capture images of the brain such as fMRI, rare cases like H.M’s were the only way to learn about how the structures of the human brain related to memory. As the scientific enquiry of H.M’s peculiar case ensued, it was discovered that although H.M couldn’t create new long term memories, his ability to hold information (short-term memory) and manipulate information (working memory) over brief periods remained intact. An example of short-term memory would be briefly holding a mathematical operation (2+4-5) in your mind, while an example of working memory would be the manipulation of such information in the mind to answer the equation. H.M showed us that memory is not a unitary process. In fact, there are three different types of memory: long-term, short-term and working (see Figure 2). Because H.M’s medial temporal lobe was removed we know that this structure is important for long-term memory, but not for short-term or working memory.

Further research on H.M’s case revealed that although he could not store new memories about events or facts he did show evidence of new motor learning (such as reduced errors on a maze tracing task).

This in turn helped us to understand that there are different types of long-term memory: declarative and non-declarative (see Figure 2).

Declarative memory corresponds to information about events and facts which we can access through conscious awareness, whereas non-declarative is memory is a type of procedural or skill based learning which cannot be accessed through conscious awareness, such as knowing how to ride a bike. This discovery helped us to understand that the hippocampi in the medial temporal lobe of the brain are important for the formation of declarative, but not non-declarative memories. As shown Figure 2, declarative memory can be further broken down into semantic memory which represents facts and concepts, such as the name of the toyshop I bought my Barbie in; and episodic memory which represents your lived experience of events, such as the day I bought my Barbie. Autobiographical memory is a type of declarative memory which corresponds to one’s memory of one’s lived experience or autobiography. Your autobiographical memory is what gives you your identity and sense of self.

24 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

䰀攀琀 夀漀甀爀 䰀攀最愀挀礀 䈀攀 愀 圀漀爀氀搀 圀栀攀爀攀 䤀琀 匀栀漀甀氀搀 一攀瘀攀爀 䠀甀爀琀 吀漀 䈀攀 愀 䌀栀椀氀搀 吀栀攀 䠀漀瀀攀 䘀漀甀渀搀愀愀漀渀 栀愀猀 戀攀攀渀 眀漀爀欀椀渀最 椀渀 䬀漀氀欀愀琀愀 ⠀昀漀爀洀攀爀氀礀 䌀愀氀挀甀甀愀⤀ 猀椀渀挀攀 ㄀㤀㤀㤀 琀漀 挀栀愀渀最攀 琀栀攀 氀椀瘀攀猀 漀昀 猀琀爀攀攀琀 愀渀搀 猀氀甀洀 挀漀渀渀攀挀琀攀搀 挀栀椀氀搀爀攀渀 愀渀搀 最椀瘀攀 琀栀攀洀 琀栀攀 瀀爀漀琀攀挀挀漀渀Ⰰ 攀搀甀挀愀愀漀渀Ⰰ 猀欀椀氀氀猀 愀渀搀 氀漀瘀攀 琀栀攀礀 渀攀攀搀⸀ 䠀伀倀䔀ᤠ猀 瘀椀猀椀漀渀 椀猀 漀昀 愀 眀漀爀氀搀 眀栀攀爀攀 椀琀 猀栀漀甀氀搀 渀攀瘀攀爀 栀甀爀琀 琀漀 戀攀 愀 挀栀椀氀搀⸀

뻴 䰀攀愀瘀攀 愀 䰀攀最愀挀礀 䜀椀椀 䄀昀琀攀爀 昀愀洀椀氀礀 愀渀搀 昀爀椀攀渀搀猀 愀爀攀 氀漀漀欀攀搀 愀昀琀攀爀Ⰰ 氀攀愀瘀椀渀最 愀 最椀昀琀 琀漀 挀栀愀爀椀琀礀 椀渀 礀漀甀爀 眀椀氀氀 椀猀 愀 眀漀渀搀攀爀昀甀氀 眀愀礀 琀漀 猀甀瀀瀀漀爀琀 愀 昀愀瘀漀甀爀椀琀攀 挀愀甀猀攀 椀渀 琀栀攀 昀甀琀甀爀攀⸀ 䄀猀 礀漀甀 挀漀渀猀椀搀攀爀 礀漀甀爀 瀀氀愀渀猀Ⰰ 眀攀 愀猀欀 礀漀甀 琀漀 愀氀猀漀 挀漀渀猀椀搀攀爀 椀渀挀氀甀搀椀渀最 愀 最椀昀琀 琀漀 吀栀攀 䠀漀瀀攀 䘀漀甀渀搀愀琀椀漀渀 椀渀 礀漀甀爀 眀椀氀氀⸀ 夀漀甀爀 最椀昀琀 眀椀氀氀 栀攀氀瀀 琀漀 攀渀猀甀爀攀 琀栀愀琀 眀攀 挀愀渀 挀漀渀琀椀渀甀攀 琀栀攀 眀漀爀欀 琀栀愀琀 眀攀 搀漀 椀渀 琀栀攀 氀漀渀最 琀攀爀洀 愀渀搀 栀攀氀瀀猀 甀猀 琀漀 欀攀攀瀀 漀甀爀 挀漀洀洀椀琀洀攀渀琀 琀漀 琀栀攀 挀漀洀洀甀渀椀琀椀攀猀 眀栀攀爀攀 眀攀 栀愀瘀攀 椀洀瀀氀攀洀攀渀琀攀搀 漀甀爀 瀀爀漀最爀愀洀洀攀猀⸀

吀栀愀渀欀 礀漀甀℀ 䘀椀渀搀 伀甀琀 䴀漀爀攀㨀

ꋷ 眀眀眀⸀栀漀瀀攀昀漀甀渀搀愀愀漀渀⸀椀攀⼀氀攀最愀挀礀 闰 ㈀㄀ 㐀㈀㤀㈀㤀㤀

Memory

Figure 2. Different types of Memory

What is of interest with H.M is that although he had difficulty forming new long term (declarative memories), his recall of events prior to his surgery remained relatively intact. This suggests that the medial temporal lobe (in particular the hippocampi) is important for the formation of new declarative memories, but may not be the ultimate storage site of our lived experiences in the brain. This view is in line with the classical theory that memories are created in the hippocampi but over time gradually transition to other brain regions for storage, with no trace of the memory remaining in the hippocampi. However, another theory suggests that when we recall information from memory both the hippocampi and other brain regions for storage are active. It is important to note that although H.M’s case supports the classical theory, the jury is still out on which is the best explanation of memory in the brain and much remains unknown about how memory functions in the brain.

Although it is incredibly rare that we would experience a case of severe amnesia such as H.M’s, it is likely that we will experience a decline in memory function as we age. Healthy aging is associated with a decline in memory and executive control processes carried out by brains, which may negatively impact wellbeing. Executive control processes are important for the regulation of behaviours and emotions, and play a role in retrieval of true memories. Episodic autobiographical memory appears to decline more than semantic with healthy aging and this degradation can range in severity from healthy aging, to mild cognitive impairment and more severe conditions such as dementia. Autobiographical memory is not only vulnerable to the loss of true memory, but is increasingly susceptible to false memories as we age due to the decline in cognitive processes carried out by frontal brain regions. Although more marked in dementia, even healthy aging is associated with an increased susceptibility to false memories.

Given this knowledge, what can we do to protect the contents and accuracy of our true memories as we age? In a similar way to how our life experiences can be knitted into our brain structure as stored memories, so too can we use our experience to hack the brain’s memory capabilities. A phenomena known as experience dependent plasticity suggests that our brains can change in response to the experiences we engage with. Although plasticity was once thought to be possible only in the developing brains of children, recent research suggests that the aging brain is also capable of experience dependent plasticity. Intervention studies aimed at improving autobiographical memory recall suggest that engaging with activities such as music therapy, gratitude, forgiveness and mindfulness-based cognitive training, are effective for enhancing the richness of autobiographical recall.

enhance autobiographical richness, buffer against age-related cognitive decline, and induce observable change in the brain areas responsible for autobiographical memory. Reminiscence therapy, which involves recalling and sharing one’s personal autobiography of life, often in a group setting, has been shown to improve the richness of autobiographical memory in healthy older adults, and those with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. This suggests that it may be a useful tool for protecting the accuracy and contents of our memory as we age. However, much more research is needed to establish the impact of reminiscence therapy on autobiographical memory, wellbeing, cognition and the brain in order to understand how these improvements occur and what is happening in the brain to facilitate them.

A team of researchers at Maynooth University and Trinity College Dublin are currently conducting a research project which aims to address how reminiscence therapy impacts autobiographical memory, wellbeing, cognition and the brain, to establish whether it is a useful tool to protect our memory as we age.

We are currently holding 6-week groups exploring positive memories from history and people’s pasts. If you are aged 60 years or over and would like to take part, contact Andrew Allen at Andrew.Allen@mu.ie or at 0899526518.

What is of most interest though - and maybe Dylan was on to something – is the notion that reliving our experiences through structured recall can Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 25

Eye Health

Coping with cataracts The Irish College of Ophthalmologists (ICO), the training and professional body for eye doctors in Ireland, explain the condition, the symptoms and treatment options

What is a cataract?

The lens in the eye can become cloudy and hard, a condition called cataract. This interferes with the focusing power of the eye. Cataract can happen through ageing, as a result of eye injury, or if you have taken certain drugs such as steroids. Cataract is a common cause of visual impairment in older people but can also affect a small number of younger individuals.

Cataract causes blurred vision, dull vision, and sensitivity to light, glare and ghosting of images. If the cataract changes vision so much that it interferes with your daily life it may need to be removed. The only available treatment for removal of cataract is surgery to replace the affected lens. The purpose of the surgery is to remove the cloudy natural lens and replace it with a plastic lens (implant) inside your eye. A patient can decide not to have the cataract removed however the quality of their vision will continue to dis-improve. It is important if you suspect you might have a cataract to see an eye doctor who will discuss the condition and treatment options.

What are the different types of cataract?

The most common type of cataract is the one that people get as they become older. It is called a nuclear cataract because it affects the cen 26 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

How this air balloon would be seen by healthy eyes and eyes with cataracts

tral core of the lens. This develops quite slowly sometimes taking many years to affect the vision significantly.

A cortical cataract occurs in the peripheral part of the lens and often looks like the spokes in a bicycle wheel. It takes some time for these ‘spokes’ to grow centrally to affect the vision and doctors often see signs of this cataract before the patient’s vision is affected.

A subcapsular cataract occurs at the back of the lens typically afflicting

Eye Health

people with diabetes and those on steroid therapy. This causes a ‘stippling’ on the surface of the lens like a semi-opaque bathroom window and can occur quite quickly sometimes blocking off the vision within a year.

5. Diabetes mellitus There is evidence to show that diabetics are more prone to cataract formation especially those suffering from Type 2 diabetes.

How is cataract treated / are there alternatives to surgery?

What are the symptoms of cataract?

The blurring of vision is gradual, hardly affecting the sight at first. It would seem like looking through an opaque glass at times. Light from the sun, a lamp or oncoming headlights cause dazzle and in daylight colours seem faded. Patients often remark that colours are more vibrant in one eye than the other.

Symptoms and their onset may vary depending on the cataract type.

With nuclear cataract for example there may be an improvement in reading and close work for many months or even years, due to the development of short sightedness, but eventually this will also deteriorate as the cataract progresses. This phenomenon used to be known as ‘second sight’. Subcapsular cataract can occur rapidly and affect the vision in a shorter period of time than other types of cataracts.

If you suspect you are developing a cataract, you should make an appointment with your GP who will make a referral for you to see an eye doctor.

At an early stage, the impact of the cataract on your vision can be improved by changing the power of your glasses, that is, ensuring that your distance and reading glasses are up to date. Sometimes a change of glasses can give a temporary improvement of sight particularly if your cataract is at an early stage of development. Tinted lenses, magnifying lenses and appropriate lighting may also help.

This can go on for years at a time and an annual review is indicated. Later as the cataract becomes more opaque the only effective treatment is surgery.

When should I have my cataract removed?

What are the causes of cataract?

Despite many studies, it is unknown exactly why cataracts form as the lens ages. While the factors are being gradually identified, it is thought that a diet with high antioxidants (beta-carotene, vitamins A, C and E, and selenium) may help keep cataracts at bay.

The following are risk factors that are said to be associated with cataract formation.

1. Ultraviolet light has been said to damage the proteins in the lens and induce cataract. Eye doctors advise the use of sunglasses and widebrim hats to protect against UV light exposure. A UV protective coating on your sunglasses is probably a good thing to have.

2. Poor nutrition.

3. Steroids and some other drugs are implicated in cataract formation.

4. Other risk factors believed to increase risk of cataract formation include too much salt, alcohol, air pollution and smoking.

This depends on your personal circumstances and lifestyle. If you are a car driver, removal of the cataract will be indicated at a much earlier stage than for people who don’t drive. In Ireland, a binocular vision of 6/12, adequate contrast sensitivity and a normal field of vision is necessary for driving. Driving is very important to most people and to their independence, so if the above parameters are being threatened by cataract formation then early surgery is indicated.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 27

Eye Health However, if you don’t drive or are happy to give it up, and you have adequate vision to carry out your normal daily activities then cataract surgery can be postponed indefinitely. If you are happy with your current vision then there is no need to undergo cataract surgery. There can be many years difference in the timing of cataract surgery depending on your lifestyle or circumstances but it is important to keep regular appointments with your eye doctor so the condition can be monitored.

week after surgery but will be given an emergency number to contact the clinic should any undue soreness or blurring occur the days following discharge.

Many recommence driving after one to two weeks and will have returned to normal activities such as work after a week or two.

How to make an appointment with an eye doctor

What does a cataract operation entail?

For an appointment to see any medical specialist working in the HSE, including eye doctors, you need to get a referral from your General Practitioner (GP). A GP has knowledge of the specialists in his/her area and can ensure that any important information relating to your medical history is passed to the eye doctor.

Can I make an appointment directly with an eye doctor?

While it is advisable to seek a referral from your GP many eye doctors working in the community will give you an appointment directly - you can find contact details for eye doctors on the ICO website at www.eyedoctors.ie How to take care of your eye health The ICO places a priority on raising the public’s awareness of eye health and the significance of eye health as an indicator of general health and wellbeing.

Cataract surgery is usually done as a day case procedure, however, in some cases your surgeon may prefer you to stay overnight in hospital after the surgery.

Before surgery, the eye is measured to help choose the correct strength of lens to replace the natural lens. In the operating theatre the pupil of the eye will be enlarged with drops and the eye anaesthetised with drops, and sometimes with an infusion of anaesthetic into the space between the eyeball and the lids to reduce movement of the eye. Alternatively your surgeon may decide that the procedure should be done under intravenous sedation or general anaesthetic if you are very anxious.

The operation will be done by an experienced eye surgeon using an operating microscope and very fine instruments in a hospital theatre setting with a medical team. The patient does not see what is happening but will be aware of bright light and warm water around the eye. Local anaesthetic lasts around 20/30 minutes, the length of time it takes to complete the operation.

The eye is opened and a small hole is made in the capsule (bag) that contains the cataract. The cataract is broken into small pieces and “hoovered” out of the eye, a process that is called Phacoemulsification.

The lens implant is then injected into the capsule. Antibiotics are administered and the tiny wound is made secure. You will be asked lie still until a protective pad and/or shield is placed over the eye.

Cataract surgery is one of the highest volume surgical procedures carried out in Ireland featuring in the top 20 day case procedures performed annually in public hospitals since 2005.

Post-operative care Most patients recover very quickly following cataract surgery. The protective cover will remain in place for a number of hours and your doctor or nurse will advise the patient when it can be removed. Patients will also receive advice about how to care for the eye following the procedure to protect against infection and inflammation and antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drops will be prescribed. A patient will return for follow up one 28 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

The eye is not an isolated unit and has complicated relationships with numerous other bodily functions including that of the brain and nervous system. Often when an eye problem presents, it can be an indicator of another underlying medical condition.

Many eye diseases are associated with general medical conditions and many general systemic conditions affect eye health (diabetes, sleep apnoea, various tumour’s, hypertension, sickle cell disease, lupus, and many others can affect the eyes and threaten vision).

People need to be aware of how important lifestyle is for good eye health and the importance of reacting to any change they notice to their sight. After ageing, smoking is the biggest risk factor for developing Age related-Macular Degeneration and also increases your risk of developing cataracts.

Simple lifestyle changes can have a big impact and help to slow the progression or onset of eye conditions, like giving up smoking, eating a healthy diet rich in leafy greens, exercise, sensible use of sunglasses and having regular eye exams.

It is important to make an appointment to see an eye doctor or a health care professional if you notice a change, however slight in your vision.

For more information on eye health, visit the ICO website at www.eyedoctors.ie

Looking back in time

?

Guess the year

The latest teaser from Gerry Perkins

The 22nd Dáil was dissolved, at the end of January, after the Fine GaelLabour coalition narrowly lost the vote on its latest Budget. The Charles Haughey-led Fianna Fáil won the ensuing general election the following month, with Mr Haughey taking over as Taoiseach. President Patrick Hillery dissolved the 23rd Dáil in early November, after a vote of noconfidence, with Garret FitzGerald’s Fine Gael emerging as the largest party in the November election.

The drama didn’t end there with Patrick Connolly resigning from his role as Attorney General after on-the-run double murderer Malcolm MacArthur was found hiding out in his residence. The fall-out from the AG’s link to the case led to Conor Cruise-O’Brien coining the acronym GUBU – based on then-Taoiseach Charles Haughey’s summing up of events as ‘grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented’ – to describe notorious scandals, political or otherwise.

Elsewhere, Grafton Street was pedestrianised and a new £50 note was designed and circulated. The DeLorean Motor Company factory in Belfast went into receivership.

SPORT. Italy re-emerged as a footballing power by winning the World Cup – beating (West) Germany, Argentina and hot favourites Brazil along the way. Kerry were denied a fifth consecutive All Ireland Football title, famously being beaten by Offaly in the final. Kilkenny won the hurling. The San Francisco 49ers won their first Superbowl. Aston Villa beat Bayern

Munich to win the European Cup. Tottenham Hotspur win their second consecutive FA Cup. In golf, John O’Leary wins the Irish Open. Jimmy Connors beats John McEnroe in a classic Wimbledon men’s final.

WORLD NEWS. The IRA carried out two of its most famous atrocities in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in London. The Commodore 64 home computer is launched. The first computer virus is found. Freddie Laker’s Laker Airways collapses with debts of nearly $300m. Danish socialite Claus von Bulow is found guilty of the attempted murder of his wife. Pope John Paul II visits Britain, the first such visit by a reigning Pope. Channel 4 is launched in the UK, with quiz show Countdown its first programme to be aired. Yuri Andropov became the new leader of the then Soviet Union. China’s official population tops the one billion mark. Ciabatta bread is ‘invented’ by a baker in Verona. The first Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) protest at the RAF’s Greenham Common base in England takes place. Britain’s Prince William is born. Britain defeats Argentina in the Falklands War. The first compact disc-format albums are released and Sony launches the first CD player. Helmut Kohl is elected German chancellor. Ford replaces its popular Cortina model with the Sierra.

FILM. Chariots of Fire was the big winner at the Oscars, but the year also saw huge earners like ET, Tootsie, Blade Runner, Gandhi, and 48 Hours.

MUSIC. ABBA made their final appearance on UK television show The Late Late Breakfast Show. Michael Jackson followed up his breakthrough solo album, Off the Wall, with the mega-seller Thriller. Rock group Kiss releases Creatures of the Night, its last album before taking off its trademark face paint. Germany wins the Eurovision Song Contest.

The year was 1982

IRELAND. As well as a severe cold snap and heavy snow, it was the year of two general elections and three governments with Charles Haughey’s near 10-month tenure as Taoiseach bookended by two terms for Garret FitzGerald. The year also saw Labour leader Michael O’Leary start out as Tanaiste and finish up having defected to Fine Gael.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 29

Retirement

Should I stay or should I go?

Once upon a time, everyone retired at 65 – those who were lucky enough to have a job anyway. Now, not so much. The proportion of older workers, particularly those who want to work beyond what was the traditional retirement age of 65 is forecast to grow significantly in the future.

Maretta Dillon examines the options.

As a society, we are getting older and living longer. It is estimated that by 2055 there will be 2.3 million people of working age in Ireland but about 4.9 million pensioners. It is a big challenge to meet their pension expectations. In Ireland, many people do not have personal or work pensions and so are dependent on the State Pension to sustain any standard of living in 30 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

retirement. All of this explains why the State Pension age is increasing to 67 in 2021 and 68 in 2028.

Bridging the gap until you reach the point at which you receive the State Pension is now a crucial question for a lot of older workers.

Have no fear, the Government has produced

the thrillingly entitled document, A Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-2023, which provides a concise overview of where we are at. It was the focus of a recent meeting of CIPD (the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) which further explored the subject.

A quick sidebar here and probably of less

Retirement

interest to older workers is the idea of auto enrolment in a pension scheme in which both the employer and the employee make contributions. These schemes are mandatory elsewhere including the UK and Australia. They are considered a good idea but are complicated and we in Ireland are only at the beginning of a long consultation period with the various stakeholders.

Up until relatively recently, a retirement age of 65 was considered usual and included in most contracts of employment. And for the most part, employees were happy to retire.

However, attitudes have changed. Terminating someone’s employment just because they have reached 65 can now be viewed as discrimination under the Employment Equality Act. Employers must now offer what is called ‘objective justification’ as to why someone has to retire at 65.

Gardaí and fire fighters can retire earlier – in fairness, who wants a 65 year fire fighter at the bottom of the ladder?); creation of a balanced age structure in the workplace (not so much of a problem for the tech companies with their predominately under 30’s workforce!); personal and professional dignity (employers find themselves in something of a bind here, fearing that if they speak about age and ageing it can be construed as discriminatory); succession planning (employers are looking for certainty and if everyone is due to retire at 65 it makes it easier to sort out issues around succession).

In 2017, the Workplace Relations Commission published a Code of Practice on Longer Working*. It is, despite the title, very interesting and sets out some best principles and practices to follow during discussions between employers and employees in the run up to retirement. The Code is concerned with: how to use the valuable skills and experience of older workers; on what grounds could an employer object to someone wishing to work longer; what new retirement arrangements will be needed; how to deal with requests from employees who wish to work longer.

Employers naturally need to plan so having a discussion with individuals about their retirement intentions is vital. The Code is very clear that information and suitable guidance can help employees to make more informed choices in planning for their retirement. Employers should consider the provision of certain supports, for example, suitable pre-retirement courses, a flexible or part time working arrangement, counselling etc., essentially with a view to assisting the transition to retirement.

Some of the reasons that might employers might offer are : intergenerational fairness (how do you allow younger workers to climb the promotional ladder if there are too many older workers in situ?); health and safety (the reason

Of course, there is an onus on the employee to ask themselves if they can continue to work to the required standard? Maybe it would be possible to look at other more flexible working patterns, for example, more part time work or a different role? Employees need to think about

how long they want to work – until they receive the State Pension or beyond? Will working longer affect their pensions or their contract of employment?

These are very individual decisions and employees need to be as informed as possible.

The Retirement Planning Council of Ireland (RPCI) offers a variety of courses that explore these options. They recommend people attend their pre-retirement course about two years out from when they propose to leave. It may be that post the course, individuals decide to stay on at work. They may decide to work longer but in a different capacity either at the same firm or elsewhere. Alternatively, starting their own business is an increasingly popular choice for older people. RPCI offers courses to explore all these options: • • •

Planning for Retirement Working On in Retirement Start Your Own Business

If you are nearing retirement age and are not sure what to do, a conversation with your employer about taking one of these courses might be very worthwhile. *A Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018 – 2023 http://www.welfare.ie/en/pressoffice/pdf/ PensionsRoadmap.pdf Industrial Relations Act 1990 (Code of Practice on Longer Working) (Declaration) Order 2017 / S.I. No. 600 of 2017 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2017/ si/600/made/en/pdf

Established in 1974, the RPCI is a Registered Charity, a not for profit organisation, wholly independent of all financial institutions and with a voluntary board of directors. RPCI is based at 14/15 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2 Ph: 01 478 9471 / www.rpc.ie Courses are held in Dublin and around the country on a very regular basis. Check the website for more details.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 31

Short story

Deadly Love

By Karen Ryan

Joe sat nursing his pint, his world shattered.

Looking around him people were talking, laughing yes laughing – how could they, he thought. Yet life does go on.

‘So sorry for your loss Joe,’ another neighbour said. ‘Thanks’ he replied.

His lovely wife Alice gone, their two daughters were laughing and running around, delighted to see some of their cousins. Too young to really understand, that they will never see their mum again.

Ann came over ‘it’s getting late Joe, will I take the girls back?’ ‘Oh that would be great, if you don’t mind. I won’t be much longer.’ ‘Ok there’s no rush,’ she replied.

When he stumbled home later, much later than he had intended he found that the girls were in bed asleep and Ann asleep in the spare room. Next day when he finally managed to get up, he found the house silent. Going downstairs he found Ann in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper. ‘Where are the girls he asked?’

‘Oh I dropped them to school.’

‘School’ Joe said astounded, ‘I had intended to keep them at home for the rest of the week.’

‘Yes well I just thought it would be better for

them to get back into a routine.’ Too tired and weary to argue he just shrugged, and even though he had planned to keep them home, he had to admit the quietness was just what he needed.

Ann really was a great help, he didn’t think he could have got through this, without her. They had grown up together, lived on the same street, and gone to the same primary school.

But then with different secondary schools/ college, had drifted their own separate ways.

It had been through Ann, that he had met Alice.

At a club in town he had bumped into Ann and first he could not believe it was her, all grown up and looking lovelier than he remembered. He had been quiet smitten until her friend turned round and he found himself being introduced to Alice. From then on he only had eyes for her, and it was that old saying love at first sight.

Alice always said it was the same for her from the moment she met him, she knew he was the one. Two years later they had married and then along came their lovely daughters Claire who is seven and Orla who had just turned four. Joe sat deep in his thoughts and realised Alice would never see them grow up, go to college or get married. He would never be able to speak to her again, there were so many things he wanted to say to her, he would

32 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

never be able to see her or hold her again.

Feeling teary he looked at the time, Ann was still engrossed in the paper.

‘Nearly time to leave and get the girls’ he said.

‘Oh no it’s okay I will get them for you’ said Ann, ‘you rest and take it easy, you have had a lot to deal with and anything I can do to help I will. It will take time after the shock and suddenness, you need time Joe to accept what’s happened and come to terms with it.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Joe, ‘Yes no problem officially I am still on holiday, so am free for the rest of the week, you leave the girls to me, I am more than willing to help.’

‘Thanks Ann, you have been a great help and I’m sorry that you had to cut your holiday short.’

‘Joe, don’t be silly, Alice was my dearest friend, of course I had to come back, anyway the weather was not that great in the West.’

The following Sunday Ann was bustling about the kitchen, ‘Really Ann I am not that hungry.’

‘No Joe you have to eat and so do the girls, I don’t mind cooking and to tell the truth, it is ages since I have cooked a roast, living on my own I don’t get the chance much. In fact I have been thinking Joe, your back to work next week, I am still owed some holiday and could take it now, too give you time to get childcare in place if you want?'

Short story

‘Really, you would do that?’ ‘Of course anything I can do to help you and the girls.’ ‘Thanks Ann I really appreciate your help and I know they love you being around, in a way it helps them with their mum gone now.’

‘Ok, anymore news from the Gardai, have they traced the car?’ ‘No they just said it is still being investigated, what I can’t figure out is why Alice was out that way, it is remote, maybe we will never know. At least she did not suffer, they said she died on impact, that is the only saving grace.’

‘Yes I suppose that’s something’ she replied.

‘Ann Can you help me do myshoes up, I want to go and play in the garden.’ ‘Of course I can Orla.’ ‘Ann can I ask you something’ she said sadly, ‘why is mummy not here, when is she coming back. I miss her’ Orla whispered.

‘Oh Orla’ Ann said giving her a hug, ‘mummy is up in the clouds helping the angels, but she is still watching over you and of course I am here to help you. Anything you want, just ask me and will I tell you something - I miss her too.’

Orla looked at her with a tear in her eye, ‘yes but she was my mummy and I really miss her, I want her back.’ ‘I know’ replied Ann, ‘but she can never come back. I tell you what, if it helps you can call me mummy and it can just be our little secret’ said Ann. ‘Oh okay’ said Orla, ‘I love secrets’ she smiled as she skipped outside.

Joe had found a childminder Mary and she had been a godsend, recommended by one of his neighbours, and very understanding with the girls. They had played up at first complaining but why can’t Ann stay and look after us, why do we have to have someone else?

We only want mummy or Ann, it had taken a few months but eventually they had settled down. Now they liked being with Mary and the stories she told the girls had them spellbound.

Gradually life began to return to normality and a routine. Also if he got delayed in work, as Mary had no family of her own she did not mind staying on.

After the initial shock had worn off, Joe had felt very angry with the world and it was only now that he had started to accept that his beloved Alice was gone and life carries on. A few months later arriving home late, Ann’s car was parked outside, and he found her sitting with girls reading.

‘Hi Ann,’ ‘Oh hi Joe, sorry I haven’t been round for a while, but I have been busy with one thing and another.’ ‘Oh that’s ok, Mary is great with the girls, so we are managing quiet well. I understand you have your own life to lead Ann.’ ‘Well I managed to finish work early today, so I told Mary she could go home early, I hope that’s ok.’

‘Yes of course, you know you are welcome anytime. What’s that lovely smell?’ ‘It’s Boeuf Bourguignon I know it’s one of your favourites.’

‘Agh Ann that’s very kind of you, your spoiling me.’ ‘Yes it should be ready in about half hour, so if you want to freshen up go ahead. The girls have already had their tea and I think its bedtime now girls.’

Later after a lovely meal, Joe and Ann sat finishing a glass of wine, ‘Another?’ Joe said as he went to fill up her glass. ‘I really shouldn’t as I have to drive.’ ‘It is Friday’ said Joe, ‘so no work tomorrow, you can always get a taxi home or the spare room is there.’

‘Oh go on then, why not.’ She said smiling.

‘It’s the evenings I find the hardest’ said Joe sadly, ‘when the girls are asleep, I have too much time on my hands. That’s when I miss her the most, her laugh and smile and I feel so lonely.’

‘I know Joe how hard it is, but Alice would not want you to go on being miserable, you are still young and in time although you find it hard to believe now, you will move on. Time is a healer, they say.’

They had opened a second bottle of wine and Joe was feeling slightly drunk and relaxed.

They had been laughing at something on TV,

and as he turned to say something to Ann, she had leaned closer and before he could say anything she kissed him. She pulled away, ‘Oh Joe I’m so sorry - must be the wine.’ ‘Don’t be’ he said as he pulled her towards him and kissed her again. Later lying in bed looking at Joe, Ann smiled. At last she thought, all these years of waiting, having to take second place to dear old Alice.

When Joe first started dating Alice, Ann had been heartbroken but figured it would not last, how wrong she had been. When she had seen Joe that night in the club, her heart had flipped and even though they had known each other, grown up together. She had surprised herself, with how she felt and how attractive she found him. He had become her obsession and it had been hard to stand by and see him and Alice become more united. Even when they married Ann still did not give up hope, after all people split up all the time. But once the children had come along, it had been completely different.

Unable to have children herself, Ann had been devastated when Alice told her she was pregnant, and given up all hope then, that they would ever be together.

No one would ever find out that it was her, after all as far as everyone was concerned she was away on holiday at that time. She had asked Alice to meet her in secret and once she had arrived, it had been easy to run the bitch over. The garda had closed the case, all they knew was it was a white car. Her car was blue, but she had hired a car in a different county, wiped the blood off it and explained the scrape, saying she had hit a tree. She would never be traced to the hit and run, and now Joe was hers and she would do whatever it took to make sure it stayed that way.

Her plan had worked out perfectly. Orla had accidently called her mummy, even though it was suppose to be a secret and it would not be long before Claire called her mum to. They would be her perfect little family, her dream come true.

We would love our Senior Times readers to send us their Short Stories so we can select a story to feature in a future issue .

Email Short stories to desduggan325@gmail.com Congratulations to Karen Ryan for sending us your article - you will receive a 1 year FreeSubscription to Senior Times magazine for sharing your story!

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 33

Advertorial

Healthy Eating, Healthy Heart

Did you know that just as many Irish women die from heart disease as men? Yet many of us still think that heart disease is a man’s disease.

Although there is a lot we can do to keep our hearts healthy, the sad fact is that heart disease is still the leading cause of death in Ireland for men and women.

What can we do to look after our heart?

Love Your Fish Apart from tasting great, fish is a rich source of protein, B vitamins, minerals and heart-healthy omega-3s. Oil-rich fish like mackerel, sardines and salmon are rich in the omega-3s EPA and DHA. These special omega-3s contribute to the normal function of your heart*. The Irish Heart Foundation and Healthy Ireland recommends that we eat oil-rich fish up to twice a week and this includes salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring and trout. EPA and DHA can also help to maintain normal blood triglyceride levels**. Triglyceride is a type of fat in our blood that is linked to heart disease. Like cholesterol, triglycerides need to be kept at a healthy levels. Try some grilled salmon for dinner or a smoked mackerel salad for lunch. John West offers a convenient way to add fish and John West mackerel, salmon and sardines are all great sources of omega-3s.

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Eat Veg Although we are eating more fruits and vegetables these days, most of us are still not hitting the 5-a-day we need. Don’t worry about counting portions of fruit and veg - just follow the 1/3 rule. One third of every meal should be fruit, salad or vegetables. Try making fruit up to 1/3 of your breakfast by adding chopped banana to your porridge. Add a bowl of vegetable soup or side salad to lunch. When dishing up dinner, start with the vegetables and make sure they are covering at least 1/3 of your plate.

34 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Fibre Up Many high fibre foods are linked with lower risk of developing heart disease. Adding foods like linseeds, beans, lentils, porridge and wholegrain bread can all help to add extra fibre to your meals. Try adding linseeds/ flaxseeds to breakfast cereals; beans or lentils to soups, barley to stews and choosing wholegrain bread and cereals.

Keep Treats as Treats A treat now and again is something to really enjoy but if you are eating them every day (or more!) then it stops being a treat and starts being a problem. You don’t need to cut your favourite bar of chocolate or packet of crisps but do try to keep treat foods to a few days a week rather than every day. If you do have to snack, there are some healthier alternatives that will give you some good nutrition and not just extra calories. Try a small handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts); a piece of fruit (banana, apple, grapes); a yoghurt or add some extra protein by trying one of John West’s Infusions on wholegrain crackers.

Sit Less, Move More Being more active helps to lower blood pressure and increase your healthy (HDL) cholesterol. And being more active can make it easier for you to be a healthy weight. All good for your heart.

If you have been away from exercise for a while, then start small and build up. You might try a few different ways of being active before you find what one works Aim to get 30-40 minutes of exercise most days: walking, swimming, cycling, aqua aerobics, it all helps.

One at a Time When it comes to looking after your heart, even a small change can make a big difference. Whether you choose to move more, treat less or eat more fish, make one small change today to help your heart into the future. *The beneficial effect is seen with a daily intake of 250mg of EPA and DHA. **The beneficial effect is obtained with a daily intake of 2g of EPA and DHA.

Profile

From camera to canvas Thelma in her studio. In recent years she has become a very successful painter.

‘Environment is so important..’ Thelma Mansfield’s dogs clearly agree.

Her pug Puffin, seated on her lap, is trying to eat her make-up. Alongside her, Jack Russell Sally, snuggled against Thelma’s husband Johnny, clearly appreciates their urban nest in South Dublin. By any standards, it’s a lovely period home, dating to 1802, and set back from the hum of busy road traffic. Thelma’s choice of soft, muted colours perfectly sets off the receptions rooms’ high ceilings and walls filled with paintings, photographs and tapestries. At the rear is a walled garden, a perfect setting for her studio.

Lorna Hogg talks to former TV star Thelma Mansfield who is now carving out a successful career as a painter.

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She is just as busy now as during that Live at 3 decade, and clearly relishes challenges just as much now as did the youthful sixteen year old who applied for an RTE continuity announcer job back in 1965. From 1986-97, alongside Derek Davis, she became an even more familiar face, for the flagship afternoon show. So, when it was cancelled, just how did she cope?

‘It’s quite hard to remember.’ she chuckles. ‘I had started evening lessons at a refreshment art course in UCD. Remember also, before I left RTE, I had already changed into into another routine, another style, doing promos and voice-overs, but it wasn’t the same as presenting. I just decided that art was for me. It was also a good time at home to do this – the children were the right age. Had they been younger it would have been too difficult, being out of the house, a studio and all that.’

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She took at short course at UCD ‘ a gang of us – we became great friends.’Thelma decided that oils was her preferred choice. ‘We took pages out of international art catalogues, and attempted to paint them – right outside my comfort zone.’

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Her husband Johnny had ‘always encouraged and pressured me to paint landscapes and portraits of the children.’ Yet whilst Thelma had always wanted to become a professional painter, she needed a lot of encouragement to put her work into the public domain. ‘So those six little visits to UCD really helped. I wasn’t afraid to face a blank canvas.’

There was also the challenge faced by all who move from organised work to self-employment. ‘In RTE, I had a set routine. At 9.am. I went into hairstyling. Make-up at 10am, wardrobe at 10.20. Then down to the studio floor, and rehearsals and recordings. All that interaction – and then I chose a solitary career!’

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 35

Profile

Starting out..Thelma as an RTE continuity announcer in 1976

She soon found, however, that she ‘was totally absorbed – you don’t even hear the radio. For the first few years, the only reason I stopped painting was when I was cold, or hungry – I was unaware of the time, I was so absorbed.’

Her first professional commission came about through a picture (encouraged by Johnny) she had done of a view of a beautiful old window in the gate house at their Spiddal home. He sent it as a Christmas card to friends at Ballynahinch Castle Hotel. In the New Year, an invitation came to Thelma from the hotel, requesting six paintings, to be auctioned to raise funds for two local old churches. ‘That was pressure!’ However, all six were sold, and Thelma the professional artist was on her way.

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Profile

Thelma with the late Derek Davis in a sketch on the hugely popular RTE TV Live at 3

She has become well known for her appearances with the artistic community, at the Merrion Square railings. Her artist sister and brother helped her with the routine, and Thelma also enjoyed meeting the public ‘and the lovely atmosphere .’ She has displayed there with her son Michael, and is delighted with the careers of both her sons - Roderic is her elder one.

Michael went to art college, was in a band, made records. He worked as a bar man in the Alps, to fund skiing, and stayed in Madrid and Barcelona. A natural painter, he has however, discovered that it can be hard to make a living from it.

‘Rod is a sound designer. They compose, are involved in sound engineering, performance, and produce music for film documentaries, ads, cartoons and he now has his own business with Mark Murphy’. Thelma now has two grandsons, Ricky, aged six, and three year old Louis, and the family has clearly struck ‘a good blend between being close, really very close’ without living in each other’s pockets.

It would be wrong, however, to assume that Thelma’s life has been without some serious challenges. ‘When I retired, I thought that we would have a magical time, travelling, visiting friends...’ However, Johnny, whom she married in 1972, after ‘love at first sight, really’ has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He suffers from movement problems and getting medication just right was a challenge ‘Honestly, we were so busy with our lives, and we put so much into this house – Johnny did a great deal of work on it, and now we have to realise that down the road, that it may not

Thelma with her sons Michael, left, and Rod

be suitable to stay in that home..’

She has also discovered that ‘it is much easier to look after someone, to exist easily, from home. Travel abroad became imposssible. A night away is fine, but there is a lot involved. I think that I am a good organiser, maybe a little bit of a controller, but many aspects are concerning. Johnny has to take a lot of tablets and, no matter how good people are, it’s better if one person is hands on and keeps an eye over things.’ Thelma does all this and has some home help as well. However, she does much of the care work herself, with the help of a carer who comes for one hour in the mornings, several times each week.

She also does ads for Home Instead. ‘I think that it is a good cause – keeping loved ones at home for as long as possible. Most of us would try to do that – the nursing home is really the last resort..’

So how does she manage it all – and paint as well? ‘Lists. But I think that I’m getting forgetful sometimes! I do have an exceedingly busy life.’ She is not joking. Earlier, the painter had arrived to work on her orangery style studio in the garden. Johnny’s breakfast - plus his 10 a.m pill had to be organised. She is also working on a ‘Jack and Jill’ charity card, and some materials have not arrived. So, three paintings have to be done this afternoon, dried and sent off, with a dash to deliver them. Yet she remains cheery, warm, friendly and welcoming – in short, still the Thelma known over the years to millions of television viewers.

Thelma on being ‘older and bolder’ ‘I keep busy. I have so much to do, and I don’t have time to think about all the problems and worries associated with old age..’

‘I firmly believe that when you neeed strength, you can find inner strength inside you– it is there, in everyone, to draw on’.

‘Take on every challenge. You never know what you can do, what you can deal with.

I’m an optimist. I always look on the bright side. You never know – with an illness, for example, what can be done, what results you can get’.

‘I love my home to look beautiful. I put in every effort. It’s not necessarily about putting flowers everywhere, but using what you’ve got,

even if it’s old. I like `Olde Worlde’ styles. Our kitchen has a stone floor, Aga, Shaker furniture but is filled with colour, warmth, beauty, and is welcoming – that’s what matters’.

‘Nature. Our garden is so important to me.

We’re so lucky to have a walled garden – we have an old spiral yew tree, a fig tree, greenery, magnolia, olive trees.. I love watching the seasons, and the birds. Johnny is exactly the same.’

‘I’ve always been creative. I’m so lucky that I’ve been exposed to beauty in the places, houses and gardens we’ve visited - they’re so inspiring. I don’t know what I would do without that creative element in my life..’ www.thelmamansfield.ie Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 37

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Lourdes and beyond

Lighting the Way

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On the Downton Trail

In the spectacular Pyrenees

Locations from the TV series

One pot wonders

Recipes from Darina Allen’s new book

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Life and times of John Henry Newman

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Profile

Time traveller Nigel Baxter talks to Michael Palin about Python days and his endless travels, ahead of his three Irish shows later this month

You might recall how, at some stage over the past 50 odd years, you took a journey with Michael Palin. Arguably, the journey has never really stopped.

From Pole To Pole, around the New Europe, across the great oceans and up to the Himalayas, he’s been there, and before all that

there was the small matter of Monty Python and the holy grail and The Life of Brian and God knows what else. He’s been a fixture in our lives, and a welcome one. As he says himself: ‘I’ve been incredibly lucky.’

Michael’s seemingly endless travels bring him back to Ireland at the end of this month for The

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Thirty Years Tour, a stage show to mark the publication in paperback of his third and most recent volume of diaries, Travelling To Work, which covers the years 1988 to 1998. The show will have Michael, aided by archive footage, photographs and recordings, casting a long look back at what has been a truly remarkable life.

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a few years he had married wife Helen, met Terry Jones, a future Monthy Python partner, and was working for the Frost Report.

After all that, the graph just kept going up and up. By 1969 the first Python series was aired as the group became the Beatles of alternative comedy. Michael wrote and starred in the Python films which have become cornerstones of modern popular culture, then later we had his brilliant turn in A Fish Called Wanda, and then he turned himself into the David Attenborough of travel programmes.

I joke to Michael (he laughed; he didn’t have to but he did) that when I looked up the ‘long’ version of his CV, printed on his website, it took me most of the night. ‘Sorry about that,’ he chuckles, but my comment wasn’t entirely tongue in cheek. Now aged 72, he seems to have lived three lives. Born in Sheffield in 1943, his first stage appearance while at school resulted in him falling off stage. Chances are it got a laugh, and by the time he’d wended his way to university at Brasenose College Oxford, he was a regular thespian. At college he began writing comedy while reading history. Within

It’s mind boggling, so it’s not surprising to hear that he’s happy with the way it all turned out.

‘There are moments where I could say my career could have gone more towards acting, I could have gone on to being a more ‘regular’ performer, but then I think, well, what has enriched my life is going off in all sorts of directions,’ he says. ‘Some of them have been cul -de-sacs, but not many.’

Recent diaries The most recent diaries begin at a time when Michael was about to embark on one of his most famous journeys, Around the World in 80

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Days. It became a TV classic, but it’s remarkable now to consider that at least four people had turned it down before the opportunity landed on Michael’s desk. When he says ‘I’ve never regretted it’, it’s a stylish understatement.

The show perfected the template: Michael as an engaged, humane and always interested travel companion for the viewers at home.

Looking back, he says people responded to seeing other people from different parts of the world but broadly living similar lives. ‘When we did the series we talked to people doing their everyday things, rather than trying to put a perspective on it, of experts talking about global warming’ he says. ‘It was really just about the people you find out there, whose lives can be just a daily grind like our own.’

Before that series he had made a programme about the Derry to Kerry train journey, something that allowed him to seek out i nformation about his Irish-born great-grandmother. He says now that it is his family that imbued him with a work ethic which has stood him in good stead over the decades - even if it meant he ultimately parted from the script his parents had written for him.

‘My mother and father always had the virtue of work and doing things and being involved in things,’ he says, ‘but I think it was partly due to the fact that I didn’t fall into what my father perhaps hoped I would, which was some professional job, I don’t know, whatever.

I bluffed my way through university doing comedy and writing comedy material and then we got our first job in the Frost Report, and it was always a series of just bluffing my way through, saying ‘I’m sure we can write this up, I’m sure we can do this. There were no clear parameters.’.

He talks about the enduring ‘fear of the freelance’ and of getting to the stage where, in most areas of his working life, he doesn’t feel the need to be so competitive any more. Novel writing - he has already penned two - is the one area in which he still feels a drive to match and beat what else is out there.

He prefers to keep looking forward, whether it’s from the Python reunion mega-shows or his own trip down memory lane.

‘I’ve had a fairly long life now in the business, getting on for 50 years, so there is an awful lot of material from the past that people want to know about,’ he says. ‘So if you’re not very

Michael Palin with wife Helen

careful you’ll spend most of your time talking about things you’ve done rather than concentrating on something new. So that’s why I’m quite enjoying doing this series of shows for the book and that will give me a chance to talk about that in my own way, talk with the audience, hopefully get their reactions, and then I can leave that and get on with something new.’

It promises to be a few evenings of glowing reflection, spent in the company of someone whose hugely likable screen persona seems to match the man in real life. ‘I don’t feel I have got to retirement age,’ he says in words that should inspire anyone of similar vintage. ‘When I was 65 I didn’t feel ‘well, that’s it, I’ll put my feet up’. Absolutely not. There is more and more to do.’.

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Michael Palin’s The Thirty Years Tour will play at the Cork Opera House on October 28, Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on October 29 and Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on October 30.

Travelling To Work is published by Wiedenfeld & Nicolson.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 41

A true friend, leaves paw prints on your heart.

The Irish Blue Cross is an animal welfare charity well known for providing charitable veterinary services in the greater Dublin area. The charity operates from its small animal clinic in Inchicore, Dublin 8 and this is complemented by mobile veterinary clinics operating in Cabra, Tallaght, Blanchardstown, Crumlin, Ballyfermot, Ballybrack, Smithfield, Walkinstown, Finglas and Whitehall. Out on the road each week-day evening, these mobile clinics provide essential frontline services and treatments for thousands of pets every year. Where pets require more comprehensive clinical examinations and treatments, they are referred to the Inchicore clinic veterinary team.

Veterinary care from The Irish Blue Cross is available to pets whose owners are in receipt of certain mean-tested benefits and who live within a defined catchment area of the clinic in Inchicore. Veterinary care is not free but the charity charge more affordable fees which cover the basic cost of treatment. The support provided makes an immeasurable difference to so many communities in Dublin and without the support of The Irish Blue Cross, many families would struggle with accessing necessary veterinary care for their pets.

A practical and caring approach is at the heart of The Irish Blue Cross clinical work and the veterinary team also support pet families by educating them on how to be responsible pet owners, ensuring their precious pet has a happy and healthy life. Since the charity’s foundation in 1945, well over half a million family pets have been treated and demand for affordable veterinary care continues to grow every year. In 2019, the clinical teams had over 19,000 pet visits covering all aspects of veterinary care, including health-checks, x-rays, blood tests, microchipping, neutering and other surgical procedures. The charity strongly advocates preventative healthcare, in particular parasite treatments and vaccinations. Vaccines can protect our furry friends from contracting a variety of illnesses, some of which can be fatal.

Neutering is another preventative healthcare measure the charity strongly recommends. The Irish Blue Cross has a neutering policy which is not only important for reducing the number of healthy dogs and cats destroyed in Ireland each year - it also provides many health benefits for pets. The charity offers low cost neutering, with generously reduced costs ranging from€35 to €115, depending on the size of the animal.

In addition to their small animal work, the charity operates a horse ambulance service that attends all Irish racecourses, working closely with racecourse veterinary surgeons to assist and save injured racehorses.

The Irish Blue Cross rely heavily on donations from the public and the goodwill of supporters to continue its work. With the loyal support of many committed and enthusiastic volunteers, the charity hosts an action-packed calendar of fundraising events each year including the very popular Bark in the Park™ sponsored dog walks, flag days, collections and appeals.

Pets need our help. So we need yours too.

All donations towards The Irish Blue Cross’ on-going work are always welcome. To find out how you can support, call 01-4163032 or email paul.halpin@bluecross.ie

‘To the small animals in need, I leave..’

Remembering a charity in your will is a kind and generous gesture that costs you nothing in your lifetime. But your kindness will make a difference forever. Once loved ones are looked after in your will, consider how else you can help.

Create your legacy and make your love for pets live on.

For more information on how you can make a lasting difference, contact us today.

15A Goldenbridge Industrial Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8 Tel: +353 1 4163032 www.bluecross.ie

Literary Musings

Bloomsday, Ulysses and all that Jazz As the sun in its yearly cycle wheels through the pages of the Gregorian calendar - we have again transited that most high; and for many most unholy: of secular feast days. Namely, June 16th – Bloomsday! A day that is more often celebrated for its departure than for its arrival. Following last month’s celebrations; we may find ourselves looking down from the heights of Howth Head’s ‘rhododendron-garlanded’ brow to view the awakening city of Dublin as she spreads herself out before us - and wonder what all the fuss was about?

“Oh no! Not that wanton strumpet! Don’t tell me it’s Bloomsday again! And that bloody book! - Tried it once, couldn’t make head nor tail of it! Wake me up when it’s all over” “Well, my dear, as an old codger once said, ‘a foreign city is like a woman. It’s your initial approach that is likely to determine whether or not she decides yield up her secrets to you”.

And this, of course, is the secret to unlocking the joys and horrors of the book - and to survive them, intact. Treat Joyce’s Ulysses as if it were a foreign city to which you are planning a journey. And what do you do if you are going to sojourn in a foreign city? Why! – You get yourself a reliable map and an understandable easy-to-read guidebook; written in the vernacular. - Preferably a guidebook that does not need another guidebook to understand the first one. So do your research, carefully.

Choose wisely. Obtain one that will become a faithful, reliable, and most of all - a forgiving companion - to accompany you on your initial forays into the unfamiliar precincts of Ulysses’s Dublin. A guide that will not lead you down the garden path only to abandon you as soon the going gets tough. One that is not afraid to suggest going back to the hotel and taking a break when the literary midday-sun gets too hot to handle. And above all one that is, in itself, a joy to read. A good dictionary is also to be recommended.

But remember! This is travelling not tourism.

Eventually; as you become familiar with your modest guidebook-recommended hotel and its immediate environs; you may become bolder and braver. Desirous of journeying further afield and staying out longer of an evening; perhaps to venture into the strangely perfumed night and tempted to view its long

imagined exotic and, dare I say, erotic delights.

It may even become a little dangerous!

Likewise, as you progress through the daylight and night-time hours of Bloom’s and Stephen’s Odyssesian wanderings round the city, you will meet diverse strangers in many disguises.

Strangers with foreign-sounding names: Calypso and Circe, Hades and Symplegades, Psychopomp and Metempsychosis. Soon you will find that these personages, places and circumstances reside not only in the pages of the book - but in the deepest recesses of your own unknown and, as yet, unexplored psyche.

For the reading of Ulysses is also a journey into the darkness of your own unconscious. Little by little, as you read on and penetrate deeper into its labyrinthine streets, you may begin to encounter (and hopefully confront) your own deepest, darkest, and most secret of prejudices and hang-ups: – Personal, Sexual, Social, Racial, Cultural, Historical, Religious, Nationalist and Collective.

As you begin to uncover the stereotypes and occult archetypal forms contained beneath the shifting language of the book, you will also find that you uncover hidden aspects of yourself lurking in the shadow of your own culturally determined character. These ongoing revelations may, at first, be experienced as being deeply shameful and unaccountably personal. These are one’s previously unexamined unconscious attitudes. Laying fallow and unintegrated; they therefore secretly project themselves onto those half-familiar strangers whom you meet in daily life. (Those whom you secretly love to hate - or hate to love). When integrated and accepted as ones’ own, these may prove to contain nuggets of gold that become ultimately enriching and life renewing! For the book precipitates an involuntary act of cultural and personal Catharsis. Psychologically speaking: - a ritual defecation and examination of one’s own cultural faeces. (Oh Dear, What have I been eating?) As temporarily painful, embarrassing and humiliating as this may be, it is ultimately good for body and mind, spirit and soul! - For this relief, much thanks!

But never mind, for you will you will also encounter Music and Song, Dirty jokes and Subtle Humour, Rabble-Rousers and Rabblesians, Punters and Punsters; and perhaps hear the Tram’s of Edwardian Dublin(reincarnated as the modern day Luas) serenading you with ‘Rose of Castile’ ( rows of cast steel. Get it!) You will also bump into familiar friends in strange places, - friendly strangers in unfamiliar

43 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

places. You will meet male, female and hermaphrodite. And finally you may meet the one that you are most afraid of meeting but the one ultimately most worth knowing, namely – the ‘Other’ in yourself. Fess up and shake hands with your own personal devil! - And if this doesn’t put hair on your chest, nothing will.

For we are all in this Joycean, linguistic ‘alphabet soup’! In these pages we meet fragments of ourselves in a thousand different guises:sleeping and wakening, coming and going, living and breathing, loving and hating, laughing and leaving, cursing and praying, fornicating and flatulating. All are to be found amidst the jostling crowds and ribald citizenry of the eternal city of Dublin. - ‘Urbis et Orbem’: the City and the World.

Linguistically, the babbling stream of the ‘Joycean’ consciousness; welling-up from the underground caverns of the Freudian unconscious: becomes a riverine tributary flowing down to the deep ocean of the Jungian archetypal images and leitmotifs. -Finally becoming the deep, swirling currents of that phantasmagorical night-time dream world that is ‘Finnegan’s Wake’. Phantasms that in their turn become the dynamics of the City’s daytime dreaming and scheming.

“Whew, what a mouthful, can’t I explain it more simply? How about - ‘All Ireland is washed by this Gulf Stream’ ”. But that’s a different story altogether, so better not to wake the Missus quite yet! Time to get up, make the breakfast and face the new day dawning. ‘Boing.’ Ooohh!

My aching, waking back! This blasted mattress again! The springs must be shot! Must go online and get a replacement!”

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Modern history

How Diana helped open our doors to the British Royals

Princess Diana has been dead 20 years in August. In advance of the commemoration, Lorna Hogg traces the Princess’s lasting legacy and how she helped to change attitudes towards British Royalty in this country Twenty years ago, on August 31st 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died in car crash in Paris. It’s said that those whom the gods love die young. Diana was just 36 when she died; ‘The People’s Princess,’ loved by millions worldwide. They admired her style, beauty and her charitable work, which ranged from supporting those facing serious challenges such as AIDS and terminal illness, to working against land mines. All exemplify the style, interests and concerns of the Princess, and reflect the fact that Diana changed not just the role of Princess, but what we expect from royalty.

The Princess also was close to Leitrim-born Oonagh Shanley Toffolo, her acupuncturist, and some claim, spiritual guide, in the period after her divorce, when she used alternative therapies to develop a new life for herself. Toffolo also introduced Diana to Hasnat Khan, with whom she became close after her marriage.

One of the princess’s closest advisers, Patrick Jephson, was born and attended school in Ireland, before studying at Cambridge and a career with the Royal Navy. He was her Private Secretary from 1988 – 1996, travelling the world with her and arranging her engagements and charity

She had a powerful and lasting effect the British monarchy, in her lifetime, her legacy and through her sons. Future historians may debate her influence in changing the attitudes and perceptions of Irish people towards the British monarchy. Those changes may well have in turn helped towards the success of the Queen’s landmark visit to Ireland in 2012, and also the recent successful royal visits by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall across the island.

The Princess had personal Irish contacts. She was born with maternal connections through her wealthy and powerful Burke Roche family. She also forged more personal Irish links, from fashion to therapy and her personal staff. One of her favourite ‘go-to’ designers was Paul Costelloe,who designed for her throughout her royal life, including her ‘new look’ as an independent woman. From a sunny beach dress for Bondi beach on an Australian tour in 1988, to a 1991 rain soaked Pavarotti concert in Hyde Park, Costelloe’s designs matched the mood and provided some iconic pictures.

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Diana is recognised as playing a significant role in reducing the public stigma surrounding AIDS in the 1980s and 90s. Here she shakes the hand of a AIDS sufferer in a Toronto hospice.

Modern history

Modern history

life with patients. She changed attitudes overnight by shaking hands with an AIDS sufferer in the 1980s, and supported AIDS charities. One young Irish sufferer at a London hospice told me after a visit by Diana that he didn’t know which had surprised him most – the fact that he had met a senior member of the British royal family, or the fact that she had made him laugh.

Diana opens the Barnados facility in Belfast in 1986 The pink-peach rose Diana, Princess of Wales, one of hundreds of species named after Diana

work and was with the Princess during some of the most influential times of her life. Jephson she was on her staff when she recorded the infamous Panorama interview, and attempted to create a new life.

Diana also visited Northern Ireland on several occasions. Tight security during the 1980s and 1990s meant that there was no pre-visit publicity. However, the crowds still turned out, when on October 1985, the Princess arrived for a visit to the University of Ulster, and a Barnardo’s Nursery at Carrigafoyle, Belfast. To the initial concern of her security people, Diana broke with protocol and went over to greet the delighted crowds. With Prince Charles, she also went to Enniskillen in November 1987, after the Remembrance Day bombing. The royal couple visited hospitals, heard of the terrible injuries and attended funerals. Diana returned to Enniskillen in November 1993, to lay a weath on the war memorial and place the final stone on a Peace Cairn, which had been created by local children.

It was all very different from the formal and grand Royal visits to Ireland in the past. The royals were then a world away from life experiences of most Irish people – very few of whom ever met the royal guests on their visits. Queen Victoria drew large crowds, which (mostly) cheered from a distance. The same applied when King Edward VII and his beautiful Queen Alexandra, came over, as well as the last sovereigns to visit Ireland - King George V and Queen Mary, in 1911. Official royal visits then ceased.When Princess Margaret and her husband Lord Snowdon privately visited his relatives at Abbeyleix in 1962 a few press pictures were the result.

By the 1980s, the changed and extensive newspaper, magazine and television coverage allowed the world a glimpse of a new, young Royal superstar. The pretty and youthful new Princess of Wales had natural style, beauty and glamour, accompanied by informality, empathy and love of children This appealed to the Irish, as did her disregard for protocol and formality. Her determination to raise her children herself, rather than hand them over to nannies, and to teach them about life outside as well as inside palace walls also won hearts. Diana’s refusal to ‘put up and shut up’ during her well publicised marital problems also appealed to the Irish spirit.

She changed the template for princesses. An international fashion icon from an early stage, she also had a natural affinity to the vulnerable in society. Diana perched on hospital beds, laughed and discussed everyday 47 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

She visited the homeless, the terminally ill and those with disabilities. She campaigned for removal of landmines. She took her children to shelters for the homeless and to hospices. She was determined to ensure that her sons grew up with compassion, an understanding of and ease with the disabled and knowledge that not everyone was rich, had four holidays a year and Rolls Royces.

In 1995, Prince Charles made his first visit to Ireland. The Prince had long wanted to visit Ireland, and was probably prepared for almost any possibility during his three day trip. Except perhaps, the down to earth and direct curiosity of the Irish public about the females in his family.

‘And when is your mother coming over?’ was one of the first questions he faced . He was then asked how his estranged wife was. ‘Very well thank you,’ was the reply. ‘You let a good woman go, there.’ he was told.

‘Indeed I did,’ replied the Prince.

The visit was pronounced a success, and heralded others from other members of The Firm. Princess Anne, in her capacity in Riding for the Disabled, came over. So did the Duke of Edinburgh, in connection with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and its work with Gaisce, The Irish President’s Award. The Duchess of York, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew all made trips as well.

Diana’s death in 1997 was mourned worldwide. In London during the days before the funeral, Irish people were to be found in abundance.

Many said that they felt that an affinity with Diana, and had to come over to mourn, some flying over especially. They swelled the crowd adding to the bank of flowers in front of her Kensington Palace home. They found vantage points in the crowds along the funeral route, and went to Hyde Park to watch the service on big screens. Inevitably, controversy arose when the Irish football team chose to sport black armbands in respect to the Princess, during an International game in Iceland in the days after the funeral. Criticism swiftly followed.

The Royal family also came under criticism at home, especially for sticking to established protocol over not flying the Royal Standard at half mast. As the sovereign’s flag, it can never fly at half mast – there is always a sovereign. The Queen finally proposed the idea that the Union Jack should fly at half mast over Buckingham Palace on the day of the funeral.

Over the next months, polls displayed perceptions and accusations that the royals were out of touch. They had to learn the lesson that Diana had changed the style and manner of being royal. Accessibility, walkabouts, ‘meet and greets’ empathy and the inclusivity of a wide range of society are now needed for modern Royal life. Duty, tradition and protocol remain important. However, today it is equally important to show warmth, compassion, the personal touch and responsiveness to modern life and ways.

Just how well the Royals, and the Queen in particular, have adapted was recently shown during the aftermath of the Manchester terror attack and the Grenfell Tower disaster. The Queen was praised, and applauded by crowds, for swiftly visiting the injured, taking time to hear their sto

Modern history

ries and leading the country’s mourning. She also announced a minute’s silence in respect for the dead during her recent Official Birthday Parade, The Trooping of the Colour.

In 2012 the Queen and Prince Philip undertook one of the most significant visits of her reign – to Ireland. Initial tight security and polite wariness from the public during the politically sensitive engagements of the first two days gave way to increasing enthusiasm. The Queen (finally photographed smiling) encountered Irish enthusiasms, from hurling to Guinness and bloodstock. She learned about Irish food in the English Market in Cork, and revealed that she watched The X Factor on television. She met the crowds in Cork, and left the country with a hamper of Irish food - plus an invitation to William and Kate to visit Ireland and meet its young people.

William and Harry will, with Kate, continue Diana’s legacy. The Princes have an her ease of manner with all sections of society, and have continued their mother’s work, William with child bereavement, and the Tusk Trust for wildlife, Harry with her campaign against landmines in Angola. Harry has also formed Sentebale in his mother’s name, a charity which helps child victims of poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa, and works with the Terence Higgins Trust. Both want to work with and encourage young people. This was reflected in the request by William and Kate to meet young people when they attended a Garden Party at Hillsborough Castle last summer.

Diana would be especially proud of her sons’ Heads Together Charity, formed with the Duchess of Cambridge, to encourage mental health, and start talking about emotional problems. Both Princes have revealed and related very personal experiences to publicise and inspire their causes. They also match words with actions - William was recently dubbed ‘Prince of Compassion’ for his comfort of Grenfell Tower victims on a recent visit with the Queen.

The Prince and Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have made several very successful visits to both Northern Ireland and the Republic, meeting crowds now representing both political traditions. As Prince Philip cuts back on his workload, the younger royals will inevitably play a fuller part in The Royal Firm. Diana’s legacy is set to endure.

Diana remembered..

The Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition at Kensington Palace tells the story of the evolution of Diana’s style. It includes a wide range of her gowns,a couple previously unseen, plus some iconic outfits, and sketches from fashion designers. The exhibition runs until February 2018.

Visit www.hrp.org.uk for details of ticket availability, prices and phone booking.

The White Princess The Princess always admired the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace, her London home, and over the past spring and this summer, a White Garden has been planted there to mark the twentieth anniversary of her death. White roses, set against foliage and grasses, cosmos daisies and gaura form the displays. www.hrp.org.uk A lasting legacy Diana’s youthful home was Althorp, the stately home of the Spencer family in Northamptonshire, and the Princess is buried on a peaceful island on the lake at Althorp. This year, until October, visitors can view an exhibition of fifteen pictures of the Princess, taken by the top photographer, Mario Testino, a few months before her death. Amongst the last photographic sessions done by the Princess, the photographs are said by many to be amongst the finest ever taken of Diana. There is also an exhibition Walking in her Shoes , showcasing 20 exceptional holders of the Diana Award’s Legacy Award. www.spencerofalthorp.com Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 48

Music

Why we have not won the Eurovision Song Contest for 20 years Shay Healy believes the answer is simple: ‘Until RTE gets a ‘‘real’’ song – not a plastic confection -- and the right singer, and returns to the original national voting system, nothing will change.

The Eurovision Song Contest was not designed to find a song for Europe rather it was an experiment by Sergio Pilese and Marcel Benezon who were looking at the possibilities for live broadcasting. Sergio borrowed the concept from the San Remo Festival and Marcel approved it. But scarily enough they had no songs in mind, which shows you how close we came to not having a Eurovision. They were very pleased from an engineering point of view at what they saw in the first contest.

The payoff was a technical coup.

The first Eurovision in Lugano in Switzerland in 1956 was an instant success. There were seven contestants and the host country were very deserving winners on their own pitch.

The history of Irish participation in Eurovision didn’t begin until 1965 when Butch Moore went Walking the streets in the rain and his habit of slapping his thigh while walking immediately highlighted him and lifted him out of the pack.

Butch went on to achieve a sixth place finish.

He had great success with the Capitol Show band but he eventually emigrated to America where he sang and had his own popular Irish bar.

In 1966 Dickie Rock came fourth with Come Back to Stay. There was some sadness attached to both of these songs. Theresa O’Donnell, who wrote Walking The Streets in The Rain told me she never got royalties and it haunted her until her dying day. If it was today she would probably be set for life though we hadn’t yet reached the era of digital technology.

Our greatest Eurovision star, Johnny Logan pulled off the astonishing fete of winning the Eurovision as a singer, as a writer and as a writer performer.

We had to wait a long time after that until 1970 when Dana, a young girl on a stool, used her innocent Derry charm to impress upon the judges that Ireland were worthy winners. Dana became a very famous international performing star, but there was tragedy behind this song also. It was co-written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith and sadly, Jackie got lost in a bottle and passed away early. Derry Lindsay went back into his print business, 3 Candle Press. I recall talking to him some years later and the only disappointment he had from it was that he was never included in whatever celebrations or nostalgia shows were going at the time, another forgotten writer.

Come Back to Stay turned Dickie Rock into a national hero. He couldn’t walk abroad in public without exciting an instant pop-up crowd. My vivid memory is of a massive throng, totally blocking Moore Street, outside the studio that Dickie was recording in. Come Back to Stay

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was written by Roland Soper who would have liked to have sung it himself but instead the honours went to Dickie.

We had to wait another ten years after our first success to win again in 1980. This time again youth was to the fore and a very young Johnny Logan sang What’s Another Year to victory and he memorably finished singing his reprise with the words Ireland I love you.

Doesn’t that memory bring you back and did you notice, more specifically, that all three of those songs had orchestral arrangements and were played with a ‘live’ orchestra, showing off the songs in their best clothing.

In the old performance days everybody was accompanied by an orchestra as backing for their song and our conductor for years was a very fine jazz piano player, Noel Kelehan who confidently set the tempo and the mood of the

Music

Ireland’s list of losers since 1996 1997: Marc Roberts 1998: Dawn Martin 1999: The Mullans 2000: Eamonn Toal 2001: Gary O’Shaughnessy 2002: ‘Relegated’ from the contest because of Gary O’Shaugnessy’s low finish – 21st – in the previous year.

2003: Mickie Harte 2004: Chris Doran 2005: Donna and Joe 2006: Brian Kennedy 2007: Dervish 2008: Dustin The Turkey 2009: Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy 2010: Niamh Kavanagh 2011: Jedward 2012: Jedward 2013: Ryan Dolan 2014: Cann Linn/Daisy Smith 2015: Molly Sterling 2016: Nicky Byrne 2017: Brendan Farrell Dervish came last in 2007 with five points. Dustin the Turkey and Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy failed to qualify for the semi-final.

Kavanagh singing Jimmy Walsh’s In Your Eyes in the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet. We still regret losing the voting system which worked so well for us in Europe.

Today’s system of voting from hand held devises has changed the pattern so badly that they try and soften it every year by making the electronic vote part of the overall total for a song. This year they had so many clauses and sub-clauses that it was almost impossible to follow the path of the winner, which was Amar Pelos Dois.

In 1970 Dana, a young girl on a stool, used her innocent Derry charm to impress upon the judges that Ireland were worthy winners with All Kinds Of Everything.

song and his sure touch helped to inspire the singers.

a plastic confection concocted in some studio, probably in Norway!

As time moved on, the European Broadcasting Commission admitted more and more countries. The increased number of competitors brought pressure from record labels who turned up the heat for the allowance of backing tracks. It was the beginning of the end for us old timers.

The modern Eurovision of 2017 was a technical triumph of extraordinary proportions. When a country has to host the show it brings out the best in everybody from the runner in the studio to the makeup artist, to the costume makers, to set designers, a whole panoply of talented people contributes to the best of their ability.

The use of backing tracks was a controversial decision and the implications for the contest were serious. No more than six people are allowed on stage but the backing track could chunter away eliminating the need for live drums and robbing the songs of the sensitivity that an orchestra could bring.

But strangely enough the modern show attracts an audience of perhaps 200 million as against 500 million viewers for the old style show with the orchestra.

Some people get very angry, accusing RTE of not wanting to bear the cost of staging the show. This is one of the arguments that’s often raised but it’s so wide of the mark and so wrong. All we need is a ‘real’ song as opposed

The original voting system had a ten-man jury in this country who chose the singer and the song. When we won the Eurovision three times in a row we knew we were doing something right and the production on each occasion was done with great aplomb from everyone in RTE. They rose to the occasion and who can forget the wonderful Niamh

I think us oldies got the best of the Eurovision days. I recall one Sunday morning sitting in Kitty O’Sheas pub in Dublin and being entertained by nineteen dockers who sang every Irish Eurovision song up as far as Cross Your Heart by Tina. At parties and gatherings All Kinds of Everything was a great fallback. From this redoubt all imposters could be rebuffed.

You don’t get much of that anymore and when was the last time you got the whole family together with score sheets or ran a lottery in the office for the Contest? My kids told me that they ran out into the street shouting ‘Daddy’s won Daddy’s won’ when my song won the nomination in 1980. My Da and my Uncle Tom adjourned to O’Reilly’s in Sandymount and as they entered the pub they were greeted with a standing ovation.

Our greatest Eurovision star, Johnny Logan pulled off the astonishing fete of winning the Eurovision as a singer, as a writer and as a writer performer. This was a memorable

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Music

Irish writer Brendan Graham was a multiple winner at Eurovision. The first win was Rock ‘n Roll Kids with Paul Harrington piano and Charlie McGettigan guitar. He followed it the next year with The Voice sung by Emer Quinn.

We tried a flutter of feathers when Dustin sang Ireland into oblivion. He became reviled by the people who saw the show. We haven’t recovered from that since

achievement and turned Logan into a European super star. His charm and his innocence won him great admiration and he was at his most powerful singing his own song Hold Me Now. He’s one of the greatest performers in the Eurovision history.

Since then RTE have been unsuccessfully looking for another Johnny Logan but that doesn’t stop them trying and irritatingly for the past five years we’ve ended up in the dumper, not even getting through to the final. The hunt to find a Logan doppelganger is horribly misplaced.

RTE keep looking for a ‘Eurovision Song’ which is a critical mistake. And they are going the wrong way about it. This year’s winner, Salvador Sobral, who’s song was written by his sister Luisa, triumphed because his song was melodic and it wasn’t some sampled nasty modern confection that are an anathema to what we like to call real music. What they need is a good song and that shines through like Amar Pelos Dois.

The singer said ‘I want to say we live in a world of disposable music, fast food music, music without any conscience, music is feeling, so let’s try to change this and bring music back which is really what matters’.

He’s right of course and interestingly his sister Luisa managed to insinuate herself into a duet on stage with her brother for the reprise of the song. This was a small victory for songwriters everywhere because in all the comings and goings at Eurovision the writer is often left behind. It’s probably not deliberate but everyone is so anxious to be a star these days they’re quite happy to take the limelight and push the writer into the background.

When the Berlin Wall came down and the cold 51 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

war was over, Eastern European countries began to enter the Eurovision. A lot of them are quite screechy but they also produce fine big ballads in countries like Moldova and Estonia who gained the respect of the Western European audience and performers. With their arrival came the heavy accusations of partisan voting but I don’t think there’s any mystery to it. Your next door neighbor’s music is going to sound like your music and it’s only natural to recognise the shape of the neighbour’s entry. For the past years they have dominated the voting and their addition, despite having musical value, has caused the competition to become bloated with the number of countries taking part.

In 2015 Australia entered for the first time. They were close runners on their first and second attempts. But can you imagine the long faces in RTE had they won because they would have to find a budget big enough to fly twenty-three people to Oz. No way Jose!

Another Irish writer who goes about his business quietly was also a multiple winner at Eurovision, Brendan Graham. The first win was Rock ‘n Roll Kids with Paul Harrington piano and Charlie McGettigan on guitar without the aid of any gimmicks. And he followed it the next year with The Voice sung by Emer Quinn. Brendan hit the jackpot when he wrote You Raise Me Up which is the most recorded song in the history of music. Brendan, like Salvador, thinks its time to bring back real music and I couldn’t agree with him more.The other possible unorthodox method of winning

the Eurovision is to have a gimmick. Lordy from Norway hid behind masks and assaulted the audience like four Genghis Khans. It spurred the young kids to vote. Every year some crazy European will perform with a set of angels wings on his back. We tried a flutter of feathers when Dustin sang Ireland into oblivion.

He became reviled by the people who saw the show.

We haven’t recovered from that since.

The gay community has embraced the Eurovision with open arms. They plan Eurovision parties months in advance and enjoy the spectacle and bring their artistic gifts adding great colour to the show which in itself is very camp.

The stage outfits worn by the artists from various countries ride the range of fashion from outright bizarre to simply unbelievable. They also like the colour and flash of the enormous set with stunning lighting sequences accompanying every song.

Oddly enough there is no monetary prize for the Eurovision Song Contest, you get to pull on your country’s jersey and you’re doing it for the nation. A friend of mine told me he was in Churchtown when What’s Another Year crossed the line as winners and he could hear the cheering in the houses the whole length of the road. The exasperating aspect for the writer is that you’re away from home and you can’t enjoy the victory with your family and friends.

But the Irish people love Eurovision and they love a good song and if perchance RTE get the combination right, the right singer, the right song, who knows we might all be running into the street shouting ‘We won, we won’!

Golf A stroke of luck For Tiger Woods, the final round of a tournament has to be played in a red shirt, described by his mother Kultida as his power colour.

Dermot Gilleece relates the notorious superstitions of many of our top golfers For Tiger Woods, the final round of a tournament had to be played in a red shirt, described by his mother Kultida as his power colour.

For Seve Ballesteros, it was a navy-blue sweater and slacks, along with a number four golf-ball as a protection against three-putting.

Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus liked to play with three pennies [cents] in their pocket, while Weiskopf always used a broken tee on a par three.

The fact is that tournament golfers as a group are notoriously superstitious, even though Len Zaichkowsky, an American professor of sports psychology, believes it can have a damaging effect on performance.

As he puts it: ‘You are relinquishing belief in your own abilities to some ‘unknown power’ or luck.’

According to Chambers dictionary, superstition is ‘any belief or attitude based on ignorance, that is inconsistent with the known laws of science or with what is generally considered in particular society as true and rational.’ In that context, how does one categorise the beliefs of Gary Player who claimed that God had ordained he would win the modern Grand Slam of the US Open, British Open, US Masters and PGA Championship?

The great deed was actually achieved at the US Open at Bellerive, St Louis, in 1965, after a play-off with Kel Nagle. Before the championship

got under way, however, Player claimed that his name appeared, clear as daylight, in gold letters at the top of the leaderboard. And to what should we attribute this - superstition or to devout religious belief ?

Professor Zaichkowsky claims that such beliefs serve no useful purpose, even though they might have been adopted with the intention of reducing anxiety. ‘Superstitions have always been prominent among sports people,’ he says, ‘but the idea that a particular object or behaviour brings luck and causes you to play well, is a non-scientific attribution to success or failure.’

All of which is very plausible. But perhaps the good professor will riddle me this: for 71 holes of the 1970 British Open Championship, Doug Sanders stuck with his long-established practice of not using a white tee. On the fateful 72nd hole, however, he made the curious decision to place a white tee in the ground. And the rest, as they say, is history: Sanders missed a two-and-a-foot putt for the title and went on to lose an 18-hole play-off to Nicklaus.

Interestingly, Britain’s Laura Davies has a distinct preference for white tees. Indeed, she has been known, en route to a tournament venue, to drive back to her hotel so as to replenish her supply. Then there was Notah Begay, the full-blooded Native American who, before progressing Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 52

Golf

Britain’s Laura Davies has a distinct preference for white tees. Indeed, she has been known, en route to a tournament venue, to drive back to her hotel so as to replenish her supply.

to his status as a golf pundit, put war-paint on his face before going into golf events during his college days at Stanford University. Later on tour, Begay thought it prudent to discard the paint though he continued to say the prayer associated with the ancient practice.

I remember our own Padraig Harrington regretting a score of 67 in a pre-tournament pro-am, on the grounds that it was difficult enough to shoot four good tournament rounds without ‘wasting’ one beforehand.

When I suggested, however, that play in the pro-am was of a totally relaxed nature involving relatively easy pin-placements, he began to have second thoughts on the matter.

Still, players continue to pursue that elusive edge, often against natural logic. Like Rory McIlroy sacking his long-time caddie, JP Fitzgerald, after the British Open last July, simply because he felt it might bring about a change in his competitive fortunes. Strategically, there was no reason why it should, but he decided to try it just the same.

Sports psychologists are often confronted with such illogical convictions when attempting to help champion players. And one who handled these challenges better than most, was a diminutive Belgian named Jos Vanstiphout who, sadly, is no longer with us.

I remember a fascinating meeting with him in Chicago in June 2003 on a train to the US Open at Olympia Fields. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Jos was happy to talk about his colourful career which included a spell in a pop band. Now, he proudly described himself as a mental coach who included among his clients, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, the leading South Africans of that time.

‘I’ve no diploma,’ admitted the amiable Belgian with a ready smile. Which made me all the more curious as to how he could have guided Goosen to victory in a play-off for the US Open at Southern Hills in 2001 and assisted Els to a remarkable British Open triumph, again in a play-off, at Muirfield a year later.

‘I am the garbage can into which the stressed player can deposit all his negative feelings,’ he added. As it happened, he and Goosen parted 53 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

For Seve Ballesteros, it was a navy-blue sweater and slacks, along with a number four golf-ball as a protection against three-putting.

company in November 2002, shortly after the South African had retained the European Order of Merit title. Els remained a client, however, along with Thomas Bjorn and Justin Rose. Indeed, there never seemed to be a shortage of high-profile players ready to hang on his every word.

Els, who had his own superstitions, was probably afraid to do otherwise after the experience of Muirfield. In a tradition reminiscent of San Francisco Giants baseball legend, Orlando Cepeda, he had a habit of discarding golf balls that had delivered birdies, in the belief the “good score” had been used up. Apparently, Cepeda used to throw away a bat once he got a hit with it.

However, Muirfield 2002 was especially interesting. The South African’s ultimate success there was based on an extraordinarily simple device

by Vantisphout.

Recalling the event with a wry smile, the self-styled mental coach talked of his client’s down at heel demeanor after squandering the chance of victory in the scheduled 72 holes.

Seeing the well-intentioned Vantisphout hovering around him some minutes before the play-off, Els turned angrily and barked: ‘What the f*ck do you want?’

Golf

Tom Weiskopf always used a broken tee on a par three.

Vantisphout said nothing. He simply went off and got the South African a sandwich which he handed to him. While thoughtlessly munching the food, Els’s mood suddenly changed. Then, re-focused on his grand objective, he proceeded to beat Thomas Levet, Stuart Appleby and Steve Elkington for the title.

Of course, Woods, the defending champion, was the main focus of attention at Olympia Fields, though the title would go eventually to the little fancied Jim Furyk. In the event, Vantisphout was all ears when El Tigre came in for interview and claimed: ‘Every player I’ve played with [in the US Open] has made a mistake because it is such a pressure-packed environment.’

And the thought occurred as to the extent the great champion was reliant on superstition. From the time he burst onto America’s PGA Tour in August 1996, Woods became a familiar sight on Sundays for the wearing of red. It soon became known as his ‘victory red’ as titles piled up remorselessly on his CV, most notably the Majors, where he was

attempting to surpass the record of 18 set by Nicklaus.

‘I’ve worn red on the last day of big events, basically since my college days, or junior golf days,’ he said in a 2013 press conference. ‘I just stuck with it out of superstition, and it worked. I just happened to choose a school that actually was red, and we wore red on our final day of events.

So it worked out.’

Ten years earlier, Vantisphout told me: ‘I’ve talked with Tiger; I’ve seen him angry and I’ve seen him frustrated. But the only other sportsman I’ve seen with comparable strength to handle these emotions is the great racing driver, Michael Schumacher. In this regard, Tiger has been greatly influenced by the eastern mysticism of his [Thai] mother.’

I never discovered how seriously he chased Woods in the hope of landing him as a client. The little Belgian clearly had no fear of superstition, but eastern mysticism might have been too formidable a challenge, even for him.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 54

Literature

Writes of way...

Lorna Hogg continues her literary-themed walks, tracing the rich heritage to be found in Dublin

St. George’s Church, better known as The Peppercanister, was the childhood parish church of Elizabeth Bowen who lived in nearby Herbert Place

We have one of the world’s greatest literary capitals- but how much of it have you explored? Whether your taste is for comedy, history, philosophy, social commentary or ground breaking literature, it’s easy to walk in your favourite writer’s footsteps, inspirations and memories. The city has so many famous and well loved authors, that your only problem is choice, best solved by dividing the city into north and south side.

Added to the variety of choice is the fact that those authors’ haunts are largely unchanged. From red brick Ballsbridge, the formal Georgian houses of Merrion, Parnell and Fitzwilliam Squares, to Bohemian Dublin around the tree lined Grand Canal, much landscape and literary inspiration remains.

Also, you’ll quickly find that while Paris may have its bistros, Dublin has its pubs, ideal for breaks whilst tracing literary his-tories. So, whether you want to simply stroll, or to absorb the atmosphere of these areas which inspired so many writers and dramatists, there is plenty to inspire, and enjoy.

Southside saunters Take the DART to Pearse Street station, on Westland Row –where Oscar Wilde was born, at No. 21 in 1854. Kennedy’s pub is here, well known to Behan, Joyce and Beckett. Follow the road round the corner to Lincoln Place, where Ulysses fans can spot Sweeney’s Chemists.

Clare Street was the site of Greene’s, one of the city’s iconic bookshops, complete with winding stair, dating from 1843. The building now holds Henry Jermyn tailoring, but the famous glass portico and wrought iron struts remain.

Take the Lincoln Place entrance into Trinity College, much of which is 55 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Maeve Binchy taught at Miss Meredith’s School at No. 1 Pembroke Road in the 1960s

unchanged throughout the times of its impressive literary roll call. Goldsmith and Edmund Burke, Oliver St. John Gogarty, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Synge, Brendan Kennelly and Beckett studied here – and Trinity graduate and Irish American writer J.P. Donleavy set his famous novel The Ginger Man here.

Leave Trinity by Front Gate, and walk across to Fleet St., for The Palace Bar, one of the city’s most famous writers’ pubs. Then walk up Dame Street to the Cork Hill entrance to Dublin Castle. Cross over to the Castle’s outside walls and walk up to the site of Hoey’s Court, birthplace of Swift, and marked by a plaque in Little Ship Street. Nearby lies St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which holds his death mask and grave. Next, walk down the atmospheric St. Patrick’s Close, to Marsh’s Library, Dublin’s first public library. Swift, as well as James Joyce, Charles Mangan, and George Moore were regulars. Swift’s home as Dean of St. Patrick’s, The Deanery, is also here. Don’t miss the nearby St. Patrick’s Park, containing plaques to a variety of writers ranging from Brendan Behan to Oscar Wilde.

Just a short walk takes you back to St. Stephen’s Green, which has several literary statues, including Yeats and Joyce. Grafton Street is worth a detour for Bewley’s Café, where Kavanagh and Maeve Binchy and generations of students were regulars, Explore pub territory - The Bailey and Davy Byrne’s, famed for their Joycean connections, face each other in Duke St. In Chatham St., Neary’s, frequented by Brendan Behan and actor Jimmy O’Dea, and the Dawson Lounge were also popular, whilst Mc Daid’s attracted Behan, Kavanagh, Donleavy and also younger writers. The Shelbourne Hotel was another literary haunt, from Elizabeth Bowen and George Moore to Brian Friel. It also featured in George Moore’s novel, `A Drama in Muslin.’

Literature

Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, lived in the Crescent, Fairview

James Joyce was regular to Marsh’s Library, Dublin’s first public library

Continue on up Merrion Row, past Doheny and Nesbitt’s pub, popular with politicians, artists and writers including Neil Jordan, and turn on to Ely Place. Popular with the city’s Edwardian writers, St John Gogarty lived in No 15 and George Moore in No 7. The Dublin United Arts Club, is nearby, at No. 3, Fitzwilliam St. Upper, familiar for writers ranging from Yeats and St. John Gogarty to Percy French.

Merrion Square was home to many Dublin’s writers. Daniel O’-Connell lived at No.58, Sheridan le Fanu at No. 70, Yeats at No. 82. and Oscar Wilde at the beautiful No. 2 corner house which is now the American University. As a child, he and his brother played in the Square with the children of Sheridan le Fanu, and Wilde’s statue now gazes out towards his old home. Nearby lies The National Gallery, a popular retreat of George Bernard Shaw, and also Beckett, who lived at No. 6 Clare St. The Peppercanister Continue on around the Square to Lower Mount Street. With a view framing St. George’s Church, nicknamed The Peppercan-ister, it was the childhood parish church of Elizabeth Bowen. Jack Yeats’s funeral was also held here. In 1954, the Pike The-atre in nearby Herbert Lane, staged Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fella and in 1957, the controversial The Rose Tattoo.

Behind the church lies Dublin’s literary Bohemian heart, the still atmospheric ‘Canal’ area. During previous centuries, barges plied their trade on this leafy artery of the Grand Canal, criss crossed by some picturesque bridges. The drawing room light at Elizabeth Bowen’s childhood home at No.15 Herbert Place, was dappled by canal reflection. No. 25, over looking one of the prettiest crossings, Huband Bridge, was the

Oscar Wilde lived at No. 2 Merrion Square corner house which is now the American University

home of Flann O’Brien/ Brian O’Nolan. Patrick Kinsella was nearby at No. 47 Percy Place. This canal stretch inspired many writers - Joyce’s character Daedalus mused here, walking along its tow paths, and The Ginger Man wove his way home under the flickering gas lights.

Baggot Street Bridge was famous for Parsons, Dublin’s avant garde bookshop ‘where one met as many interesting writers on the floor of the shop as on the shelves!’ according to Mary Lavin. Run by Mary King, Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 56

Literature

Patrick Kavanagh’s seated statue on the Grand Canal near Baggot Street Bridge

from the late 1940s until 1989, its customers formed a Who’s Who of Irish literary talent, plus politicians, newspaper editors and intellectuals. Brendan Behan, a resident at 15 Herbert Street, and also 18 Waterloo Road, set his watch by the clock at the junction with Mespil Road. Along with Patrick Kavanagh, who lived at 62 Pembroke Rd, he drank at Mooneys’ pub, whilst Searsons and the Waterloo were also popular spots.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral holds Jonathon Swift’s death mask and grave.

Continue on to the Mespil lock, past the statue of Kavanagh, to the Court Apartments, Wilton Place, home to Frank O’Connor. Liam O’Flaherty was a neighbour. Around the corner, Fitzwilliam Place leads to Lad Lane, where master short story teller Mary Lavin was an ‘early adapter’ in her converted mews house.

At Leeson Street, you can continue along the canal, to Camden Street, for 33 Synge Street, birthplace of George Bernard Shaw.

Alternately, return to Baggot Street Bridge, and walk through Ballsbridge, past No. 1 Pembroke Road, where Maeve Binchy taught at Miss Meredith’s School in the 1960s, and then down to Lansdowne Road DART station. Strumpet City fans can take the new Dodder Park Walkway down to the old Pump House, and go along Philomena Terrace to 20 Bath Street, Irishtown, where James Plunkett lived.

MORE INFORMATION Dublin: One City, One Book Festival - April Dublin Book Festival - November.

Marsh’s Library – www.marshlibrary.ie www.writersmuseum.com www.dublinpubcrawl.com www.walkingtours.ie

Mc Daid’s in Chatham Street, off Grafton Street, was a haunt for Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, JP Donleavy among other younger writers

57 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Grafton Street is worth a detour for Bewley’s Café, where Maeve Binchy and generations of students were regulars

Take me home, country roads.

Mikel Murfi in The Man in the Woman’s Shoes

Eithne Hand is a writer and producer. She was Head of RTÉ Radio1 from 2003-2006. Since leaving RTÉ fulltime she has written/directed four radio dramas. She currently produces Poetry File on RTÉ Lyric FM. As a theatre producer with Loco and Reckless Productions, she tours two oneman shows written and performed by Mikel Murfi. Her first poetry collection, Fox Trousers will be published in May 2020 by Salmon Press.

In the early 1990’s, I was a researcher and later a producer on the Gay Byrne morning radio programme. The show had an average audience of 747,000 listeners – that’s about the only listenership number I ever properly remembered – so if there was a gag, or a laugh on the show, the chances were that one in three adults on the island heard it. If you were stuck in the car in traffic and something comical was on the show, you could literally look left and right and see other people smiling.

We’d arrive the evening before, and often get to see a show in the local hall or do auditions for the following morning’s live broadcast. From Malin Head (winners of Ireland’s Tidiest Town); to a hostel in Aughavanagh (special birthday celebration of An Oige); to the quay in Wexford town where a microphone was hidden in a dustbin and Gay’s voice would call out – Hello, Hello ! Joe Duffy and I would be hiding around a corner somewhere and when someone stopped and started talking back Joe Duffy would leap out and all three would be on air.

We travelled all over the country – sometimes three different outside broadcasts in a week.

In each location, the OB guys would set up aerials on mountains or run transmission or power lines out of small businesses. Meanwhile Joe Duffy or Ann Walsh and myself and a broadcast assistant would drive hither and yon to either report on something or to set up some of the many long running elements like the Karaoke Competition aiming to find the best singer, or the annual hunt for the Gold Bar, or just the Town Talent competition or auditions for Oklahoma, to be performed by the pick of the island, live on air from the radio centre in Donnybrook starring Gaybo, Mike Murphy, Kevin Hough and the very best of the national Am Dram talent.

I remember when Ballyroan in Laois, won the National Town Talent competition after putting on an amazing show - you could literally feel the lift in the place – a local pride that meant something. We staked out phone boxes on main streets, set up the phone to ring and then some local would answer out of curiosity and Gay would announce that he or she had won a weekend somewhere. Some of it was ridiculous but we also did serious panel debates on fish farming and ring roads and post office closures - it somehow made a community of the whole island and I loved it.

Cut to 2012 - I’d left RTE and found myself producing a one man show called The Man In The Woman’s Shoes, written and performed by my partner, Mikel Murfi. The show was commissioned by Sligo Arts Office and the Hawk’s Well theatre as part of the Bealtaine festival for 5 performances only. The world premiere took place in fact in a foyer of St Johns Hospital in Sligo where very bemused residents were wheeled out to watch ‘the show’. The automatic doors swished open and shut throughout. I was on hand with the script in case of emergency - some dozed, a loud voice said, “Turn him down, he’s too loud” Afterwards, I asked the only woman who seemed to be taking it all in, what she thought. “It was good,” she said, “but I’ve seen it before.”

Travelling the length and breadth also gave an insight into the physical shapes of Ireland, mountains and plains – parts I would never

From that start, and thanks to two sell out shows at the Hawk’s Well theatre itself – we were asked by the national Bealtaine com-

have travelled to. We got to really appreciate how spectacular our own autumn leaf turning is, the white of winter in Wicklow, the dramatic rise in hanging baskets in the midlands, May bluebells, roses on roundabouts, blooming rhododendrons on the road to Achill or Killarney, and the fuschia/ montbretia roadsides of Mayo.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 58

Eithne Hand

Take me home, country roads.

artillerybrand.com

This article was originally written early in 2020 for an online insider series called Chops:The Triumph of Experience – part of the Artillery Brand website. https://artillerybrand.com/ chops/.

No part of this PDF may be reproduced without the written permission of both the author and Chops, the publisher.

Eithne Hand 2020 Chops was conceived by Eoghan Nolan.

Designed and typeset by Gerry McCloskey.

If you know someone who would like a copy, please encourage them to download their own, free of charge, from artillerybrand.com NB: There is no connection between Chops and Triumph motorcycles and use of a form of the Triumph logo is a homage only, our salute to a great brand.

Respect.

mittee if we would allow them to set up a short national tour in 2013. That tour went so well that we decided to continue offering it to theatres.

So, for the past seven years I am again ending up in cities, towns and villages all over the country - touring this and the subsequent ‘companion piece’ I Hear You and Rejoice. From a tent in Whiddy Island with a donkey braying as accompaniment to two nights at The Mac theatre in Belfast when the raw emotion of the audience was almost unbearable – we have met with the same people as I met before – regular folks who want to escape, to forget the bills, allow magic to possibly happen. This time, apart from producing, I’m the lighting technician, hair wrangler, costume mistress, props master, and supplier of sweets and water. I get to meet people all the time, they stop to chat at the lighting desk on the night or come up afterwards.

We both know the technicians in every venue, the venue managers, the marketing people – teams pulling together or falling asunder.

And as for the ushers– what can I say – they are nearly always local men and women, vital for the fifteen minutes before the show when they shine torches and jostle people together and then they wait to watch the show. I’ve met ushers who get rostered on months in

advance so that they can see the shows again - all united by this love for the live moment.

There’s a festival in West Cork - called the Fit Up Festival and their mission is to bring theatre to tiny populations like Knockcrohan, or Hare Island or last summer to the Church of Ireland, Glandore with the deacon sitting in the front row (she loved it), Jeremy Irons literally on a window sill, legs dangling. The festival operates on a shoestring but succeeds so well in bringing drama to those intimate small halls. They are very special nights.

Even though we’ve brought the shows to London and New York more than once, there is no comparison to arriving in an Irish village or town for the first time, sometimes there is even new gravel or the smell of paint and the local committee person always there to ‘open the hall’.

We’ve come a cropper a few times – in Timoleague the lights failed completely – we found a single working bulb on a different circuit while Mikel kept talking. Later it turned out the fuses blew because the chip van outside was also using electricity from the hall and when he turned on his festoons as the evening light faded – hey presto, black out! Afterwards

some of the audience said they hardly noticed and thought it was part of the plan. Same as the sheepdog who wandered up the main aisle of the ballroom of Borris House right in the middle of the show, thinking the man on stage was calling him. We weren’t asked back to one village because the Parish Priest thought one of the lines in the play was ‘mocking’ the priesthood. He is the chair of the parish hall committee. And we think things like that don’t happen anymore.

So, in a world that keeps turning, I’ve ended up turning back the clock and finding myself on every highway and byway of the island again – it makes a huge difference to how I see Ireland.

I think we don’t really learn in school how small we are, how much of an island community we are.

We are only 4.8 million humans – half the number of people who live in Greater London. We have vast amounts of land to share, so much beauty on our coasts and mountains and from my experience, I think most people who live here, love this place. Sometimes you have to go abroad to learn where you are from, but I cut my chops on a rare radio programme and lucky me – I got to have seconds.

With the closure of theatres and all ‘live’ experiences on Friday March 27th all upcoming theatre shows have been cancelled with a knock on effect on hundreds of livelihoods. We all have to believe that these essential experiences which we love so much, will soon return. No matter how many Zoom meetings and ‘live’ streaming experiences we partake in – nothing beats the real thing. We are looking forward to being back on the road again. All the information about our two shows are on our website http://themaninthewomansshoes.com/ ) 59 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

Creative Writing Eileen Casey

The nuts and bolts of writing flash fiction

Eileen Casey explains ‘Flash Fiction’, a fun yet challenging way to begin writing again after a drought. Writing flash gives such an advantage to writers, especially when the thought occurs: ‘There’s a story in there if only I could figure out a way to tell it’.

Hemmingway’s six very telling words have spawned a number of competitions, a recent one being in The Irish Independent. ‘Unwanted child grew into Wanted Man,’ sticks in the mind.

Baby Shoes for Sale, Never Worn.

Hemmingway’s six word short story says it all and in such a short space. Focus on the pathos of the shoes having never been worn carries huge emotional weight, together with an implicit back story.

Every word, written in the format of an advertisement, carries pathos, the wordage may be small, but the freight is large. William Trevor, master storyteller, has said that he really learnt his trade as a young schoolboy.

His English teacher used set exercises which were focused on economy. Stories were written to six line length, possibly Trevor’s own first encounter with flash fiction. Trevor, who also worked as a sculptor for several years, believed in ‘chipping away.’ Less is definitely more.

However, to return to Hemmingway. His six very telling words have spawned a number of competitions, a recent one being in The Irish Independent. ‘Unwanted child grew into Wanted Man,’ sticks in the mind, for sure. It travels an enormous distance in such a short space. Wordage for flash fiction varies from 100 words to 1,000 settling for somewhere in between. Flash fiction is very close to how a flash of lightning hits, electrifies and is gone. Flash fiction is an encounter for the reader, a brief encounter but one that stays in the mind, depending on the skill of the writer.

Other names for the form include five-minute fiction, postcard size, micro-fiction. In France, such works are called nouvelles. In China flash fiction is called, the smoke-long story (as long as it takes to smoke a cigarette).

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Creative Writing

Short story writer Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923) is always worth a read.

Her stories focus on moments of disruption.

Greatly interested in people and the dynamics between them, her stories are often simply snapshots of relationships.

Jean Rhys made Rochester’s wife her narrator in Wide Sargasso Sea. A character or an event from myth or legend (place yourself in the legend)

Because it’s such a short length, editing is crucial, every word really does count. Flash Fiction, like longer length work, also operates on the three Unities, Time/Action/Place. If these three elements are there, then chances are, the story is viable. Stories need to be simply told and with emphasis on the unfolding of the story. Short story writer Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923) is always worth a read. Her stories focus on moments of disruption. Greatly interested in people and the dynamics between them, her stories are often simply snapshots of relationships.

For example, characters meet after a distance of some years and while one may have stayed the same, it’s clear that the other has moved on.

Mansfield is quoted as saying: ‘Would you not like to try all sorts of lives – one is so very small – but that is the satisfaction of writing – one can impersonate so many people.’

This impersonation, this getting under the skin means abandoning the ego, the author’s voice. Recording character profiles on a regular basis creates a strong empathy with characters outside your own life experience. Even the smallest spark of interest/intrigue in the life of someone else, can yield the material for flash fiction.

The best way to begin writing a flash fiction type work is to write the story to around 2,000 words and then make the entry point much later than allowed for in the first writing. Most of draft work is throat clearing to a certain extent. It’s always good to start the action in a moment of crisis or, as stated above, of disruption. It’s NOT a good idea to enter a story by reeling out an amount of exposition. If a character is driving home through the night, focus is immediately on the white hands clenched around the wheel, the rain on the windscreen, the sound of the wipers, the urgency of the journey. No reader wants to be brought back to the point where the character is leaving the hospital building, paying for parking, wondering if it will rain etc. etc. All that matters to this particular story is the inside of that car and all the details provided by this setting.

‘The rhythmic form of the short-short story,’ Joyce Carol Oates said, ‘is often more temperamentally akin to poetry than to conventional prose, which generally opens out to dramatize experience and evoke emotion; in the smallest, tightest spaces, experience can only be suggested.’

61 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

I’m in total agreement with Oates. Readers of poetry will know that economy of language is key, together with other ‘poetic’ devices. Being able to use figurative language, metaphor and symbol means that language is yielding itself up over a number of layers. The flash fiction writer does not have the space afforded the novelist. If the novel inhabits a whole house, then the flash fiction writer has to operate in one small room, with one small window. Below is an example of flash fiction where all the elements are working together.

My Snow Globe World ( By kind permission of Doreen Duffy) My hands shook while my mind raced with thoughts. I tried so hard to slow down to give myself time to take just one thought and follow it through, it seemed almost impossible. My mother had offered to stay over but I said no. I didn’t want anyone else telling me that I had to let go, release this grief. How unhealthy it would be for me, for Jamie, if I kept holding onto it so tightly. Nobody understood that this ball of grief is all I had left of them, if I let it go I would have nothing. The little clock chimed five am. I had to go to the hospital to collect Jamie today, to bring him back to this house. This hollow shell of a house, too quiet with just my voice trying to fill the rooms. It was the last thing I felt like doing but I though if I put up the Christmas decorations somehow the house might feel like home again, at least to him. My eyes burned and my throat twisted and tightened painfully yesterday when he said, “I’m going to write to Santa again Mum, there’s still time, I’m going to tell him I don’t need the removed controlled jeep or the surprise. Instead, just bring Daddy and Laura back home to us.”

My hands shook a little more, black shadows flickering on pale walls while I fiddled with the tape on the box. Was it really a year ago that I

Creative Writing

smoothed that tape to close over the lid and protect all our precious Christmas baubles for one more year. I took another decoration out but this time the tremor in my hands was too much. I watched as my snow globe world rolled from my grasp onto the floor, across the boards, the snow fluttering wildly now. The hands on the miniature clock tower inside spun backwards, back through time, unwound the memories of other Christmas’s in this house. The tiny group of singers, their gently sculpted faces all red lips and bobble hats, twirled uncontrollably across the floor, buried in the deluge of snow until it crashed hard against the marble fireplace and shattered into tiny pieces. Did they hear the sound of glass breaking? Had he turned his head to look back and see her body hanging limply in the baby seat? Did he hear Jamie scream, did he see his eyes opened wide with fear? Had he taken that drink when I asked him not to, when I phoned him? Had he driven too fast because I annoyed him by ringing and asking him not to have a drink especially with the kids in the car? I fell to my knees and picked through the shards of glass. I lifted the tiny figures, held them to my lips, held them in my hands. The tiny figures lay perfectly still across my white bleeding palms. (first published in The Irish Times) Here we have a story that is incrementally conveyed to the reader.

Anne Enright once said that the telling of a story should be like how the headlights of a car operate only revealing what’s immediately up ahead.

My Snow Globe World is a story that is slowly building from the general to the particular, working around the image of a snow globe, which is at once protective but also deadly when it crashes, breaking into shards.

The duplication of the husband/sons by the tiny figures in the snow globe is a master stroke of showing and telling. The resulting scene of glass breaking, the uncontrollably twirling and being buried in ‘the deluge of snow’ is no less horrifying than if the real scene were unfolding. This is where using symbol and figurative language has paid off with interest.

As well as keeping snippets of intrigue from newspapers/magazines, it’s also useful to visit existing fiction and see if you can amplify or even redefine a familiar character. Parody works also. Jean Rhys made Rochester’s wife her narrator in Wide Sargasso Sea. A character or an event from myth or legend (place yourself in the legend). A place-name (unusual for some reason) can be a good starting out point. Children’s stories are particularly good vehicles. You can parody an unmistakable style, Katherine Mansfield say or a favourite writer of your own.

Questions to ask on completion of a flash fiction work: Is there a plot? (does something actually happen), is there a point to the plot? (does the plot drive home a point?), is every word absolutely necessary? If the flash fiction focuses on a character profile, ask yourself at the outset what your intention is, what do you wish to highlight about this character for the reader. Choose one option from the following choices.

Maximum wordage is 1,000.

Idea One: Take your character on a ‘lightning’ journey through the night. Write a piece of flash fiction which begins with a car journey, a character and a source of conflict. Use every detail/element at your disposal to hold the reader right to the very end.

Or Idea Two: Find your own newspaper/magazine item and use it as the source material for flash fiction.

Finally, a reminder that creative writing is alive and well supported in Ireland. During May last, I attended Words Ireland, a festival held at IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) organised by the main literary bodies in Ire

William Trevor, master storyteller, has said that he really learnt his trade as a young schoolboy. His English teacher used set exercises which were focused on economy. Stories were written to six line length, possibly Trevor’s own first encounter with flash fiction. land. Their function is to support writers at various stages in their careers, offering financial support as well as guidance with regard to publishers etc. I was lucky enough to have read about this event and so, I went along and had a truly wonderful day out. For me, going to Words Ireland was like a gardener going along to Bloom in the Phoenix Park.

I met loads of writers I knew, enjoyed many of the various presentations (ably delivered by some of the most prolific writers working in Ireland today) and came away with loads of literature (what else!) from the various stands and stalls. The Arts Council, Poetry Ireland, Publishing Ireland Ltd., The Irish Writers Centre, The Stinging Fly, among others ensured that writers were well aware of all that’s available. Definitely one to watch out for next year.

You can help create a brighter future for Ireland’s sickest children.

By leaving a gift in your will to CMRF Crumlin.

By leaving a legacy in your will to CMRF Crumlin you can help ensure sick children receive the best care, and access to the latest treatments and potential cures.

You will be supporting Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and the National Children’s Research Centre. But more importantly you will be helping to save and improve the lives of children for generations to come.

Every sick child deserves every chance. www.cmrf.org CMRF_A4_Legacy_ad.indd 1

When writing your will, your family and loved ones come first. But perhaps you would also consider leaving a lasting legacy to CMRF Crumlin that will provide life-saving treatment to children in the future.

For further information call Siobhan on 01 709 1700 or email hello@cmrf.org

Charity Number: CHY4483A

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 62

20/11/2017 16:32

Motoring

Breda Corrigan tests the new renault Clio

All-New Renault Clio – The Best, Bettered.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the TV advert for the original Renault Clio in the early 1990’s will fondly remember the iconic French girl ‘Nicole’ and her father, who was affectionately known as ‘Papa’. The advert was one of the most popular TV ads at the time, and it introduced the car-buying public to the striking replacement for the ageing – but ultra-popular – Renault 5.

car that you can customise to your own individual taste. Secondly, the car boasts a smart cockpit which is more intuitative than ever before, while last but not least, the new Clio is a connected car that is easy to drive. The Clio distinguishes itself from rivals by being one of the most technologically advanced models in its class.

Evolutionary Design;

The Clio has enjoyed huge sales success ever since then, being consistently one of Europe’s top-selling cars since its launch, and it is largely credited with restoring Renault’s reputation, and stature, after a difficult second half of the 1980s.

Seductive, Smart & Connected; With the all-new Clio, Renault have brought to the market a car of three parts, so to speak. Firsly, the new 5th generation Clio is a seductive small 63 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

The exterior styling of the new Renault Clio is evolutionary, keeping elements such as rear door handles hidden in the door frames, with the overall look in line with the current Reanult Mégane. The interior, though, is where the bigger changes take place. Renault design boss Laurens van den Acker stated that the firm “dramatically needed to improve perceived quality”, and reckons 70% of the time he spent with the new Clio was on its interior. Cabin materials in the new Clio are softer and more tactile, while build quality is exceptional. The new Clio is based on

Motoring

an all-new platform, which has enabled the designers to manipulate the packaging so that the car’s dimensions are actually smaller than the fourth-generation car’s, yet there is more space inside.

Impressive Standard Equipment; Trim levels in the all-new Clio consist of Expression, Dynamique, Iconic, and RS Line, with even the entry-level Expression model coming with such standard features as Renault Pure Vision LED headlights, LED indicators, LED daytime running lights, body-coloured door handles and mirrors, driver seat height adjustment, COMFORT front seats with reinforced side supports, 6 airbags, Hill Start Assist, traffic sign recognition, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, cruise control with speed limiter, air-conditioning, Bluetooth, 4.2” TFT driver information display, and Renault Automatic Emergency Assist (112).

Engine & Transmission Options; Currently, there are petrol and diesel engines available in the new Clio, with a Clio E-Tech Hybrid model set to join the range soon. Petrol engines are available with 75, 100 or 130bhp – depending on the model and gearbox chosen, while the only diesel engine available is an 85bhp (Blue dCi) unit, which comes with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard.

The 75bhp petrol engine (badged SCe) comes with a five-speed manual gearbox, while the 100bhp version (badged TCe) is available with either 5-speed manual, or Auto CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) options. The only transmission available with the 130bhp engine is an Auto EDC (Efficient Dual Clutch).

Test Car; My test car was a new Clio RS Line TCe (100), and was finished in striking Iron Blue metallic paint. Being the range-topping model in the Clio range, a comprehensive array of equipment comes as standard. Key features include a special RS Line front bumper with an Formula 1-style

blade painted in Gun Metal Grey, with a bee-hive lower grille, 17” RS Line diamond-cut alloy wheels, oval chrome exhaust finisher, Gun Metal Grey rear spoiler and lower door protectors, fornt LED foglights, auto lights and low beam, rear view camera, front parking sensors, Multi-Sense with ambient lighting, and an Easylink 9.3” infotainment screen with navigation and Smartphone replication, while exclusive RS Line chrome badges on the front wings and boot lid add visual impact.

On The Road; On the road, the new Clio feels like a larger, more mature car thanks to its soft ride and impressive refinement. Producing 99bhp and 160Nm of torque, the 1.0-litre TCe engine is quiet and entertaining in equal measure, with the car capable of sprinting from 0-100km/h in 11.2-seconds. The Clio’s steering is well weighted, while the car’s involving 5-speed gearbox is precise, and intuitive to use. On a combined driving cycle, I managed to achieve fuel consumption of 6.2l/100km (46MPG), while annual road tax is just E180. The new Clio boasts excellent practicality too, with an impressive 391-litres of boot space available when the 60:40 split-folding rear seat backs are in place. This is a figure that would shame many cars from the class above, but this spaciousness does not come at the expense of interior comfort, as the access to the rear seats is even easier than before, while overall head, leg and elbow room throughout the cabin is good.

Verdict & Pricing; Competitors to the new Renault Clio inlcude the Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, SEAT Ibiza, and the newly-launched Opel Corsa and Peugeot 208.

However, with the new Clio offering so much in terms of standard equipment, practicality, refinement, affordable running costs, and more, it can certainly hold its head high amongst such talented rivals. With prices starting at just E17,195 (ex-works), the new Clio offers terrific value too.

All Renault passenger cars come with a 5-Year/200,000km warranty for total peace-of-mind motoring.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 64

Coping with the effects of crime Being a victim of any type of crime is upsetting. Most of us do not often directly experience crime and when we do, it can be a shocking experience. Many people feel a sense of disbelief that such an incident could happen to them. There is often a feeling of unreality, as if you might wake up and find it has all been a bad dream. When other feelings arise they can be experienced as overwhelming – feelings of sadness, grief, anger, fear, anxiety, confusion, and many others. Whether you were directly involved in the event or not, your reaction will be personal and individual to you.

You may immediately feel strongly affected by what has happened.

Or you may feel initially that you are coping fine, and it may be some time before you notice any of these effects. Everyone is different and there are no rules about what you ‘should’ feel and how you ‘should’ cope.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Remember you have experienced a stressful, or traumatic, event. It is important to recognise that painful feelings and emotions are a normal consequence of being a victim of crime. Be patient with yourself, and allow yourself to feel upset. Usually these feelings do not last. People are very resilient, and can cope with and recover from the effects of even the most serious crimes.

• Give yourself time to recover and be good to yourself.

• Spend time with friends/family, and to do things that you enjoy.

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• Take time out to relax, to slow down, to bring a sense of calm to your life.

• Talk about your feelings with someone you can trust.

• Sometimes it may be helpful to talk to someone who is completely outside the situation.

• Find out what supports and services are there for you.

• Avoid doing anything that places more stress on you at this time.

• Avoid making any major life decisions immediately after the crime.

• If you are feeling very upset and unable to concentrate or sleep, it may be helpful to talk to a GP. • Take some exercise. It can help to bring down stress levels.

• Consider safety measures that you can take to minimise the risk of something like this happening again.

If you, or a friend or family member, have been a victim of crime, you can ring the Crime Victims Helpline for support and information. The Crime Victims Helpline 116 006 is a free and confidential service that provides emotional support and information to victims of crime.

Our hours are:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 10.00 am to 17.00 Tuesday and Thursday: 9.30 to 18.30 Saturday and Bank Holidays: 14.00 to 16.00 Sunday: Closed

Further information can also be found on our website at www.crimevictimshelpline.ie

Genealogy

Using and understanding 1901 and 1911 online census records

Tom Quinlan explains Of all the archival sources of information available to those with an interest in genealogy, census records – a survey and enumeration of all people and households at a designated point in time - are perhaps the most valuable and frequently used.

A nation’s official census of population constitutes the most complete periodic survey of information about a country’s people that government makes. Because the aim is to include everybody, the returns of information made to government provide a detailed and comprehensive snapshot of an entire population, where the same type of information has been collected on everyone at the same point in time.

Although a census is undertaken for the primary purpose of providing government with essential information on the people who make up the nation, one of the secondary uses of census return forms is by those engaged in research of their ancestors. And few richer seams of quality information on people are to be found.

A census was taken in Ireland every ten years from 1821 until 1911. No census was taken in 1921 because of the disturbed state of the county during the War of Independence. Decennial census resumed in 1926 in those twenty- six counties that comprised the Irish Free State and a census subsequently taken in 1936 and 1946. The pattern of collection then changed and a census was taken in 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1979 (the census due in 1976 was cancelled as an economy measure), 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2006, 2011 and 2016.

The State body charged with the collection and analysis of census in Ireland is the Central Statistics Office. However, before haring off in that

direction to hunt for elusive ancestors in its raw data, remember that census records are closed to public access for 100 years from the date on which the census was taken. This means that the latest census to which there is public access is the 1911 census.

Unfortunately, most of the census returns for 1821 to 1851 were destroyed by fire and explosion in the former Public Record Office of Ireland during bombardment of the Four Courts, where the PROI was situated, at the commencement of the Civil War. Only a small quantity of returns now survives for certain portions of counties and for certain Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 66

Genealogy

instances, the family historian had to be armed with information as to an ancestor’s address to have any possibility of finding census returns of potential research relevance.

The need to know an ancestor’s address for success in census research was due to the physical arrangement of the original records, which is alphabetically by county, then grouped by district electoral division. Within the records for each district electoral division, files of census returns are arranged by name of townland or town and street.

Putting the census returns online in the form of digital images of the original returns, with indexing of census data to facilitate online searching and retrieval of specific returns, revolutionised accessibility. It enabled anybody to perform the most simple of searches with a piece of information as basic as a family surname and to have presented a list of all families bearing that name, with links to other more detailed information on those families and to the digital image of the original census household return, as well as related enumerator census returns.

So, what are the census forms that can be accessed online and what kind of information do they contain?

The most useful relevant form for anybody doing family history is Form A, which is the census return for each household recording each member of the family and any visitors, boarders or servants. It was completed and signed by the head of the household. Information recorded on each individual resident in a household on census night 1901 or 1911 is name, age, sex, relationship to head of the household, religion, occupation, marital status, county or country of birth. Also recorded is information on an individual’s literacy and ability to speak the Irish language, and whether deaf, dumb, blind, idiot, imbecile or lunatic. Form A for 1911 also records the number of years for which women had been married, where relevant, and the number of children born alive and the number still living.

For the family historian, the information in Form A can be usefully supplemented with that recorded by the census enumerator on Form B1, which is a return of houses and buildings inhabited by each family in a townland or street. Form B1 provides information on the nature and class or standard of the building in which the family lived.

The enumerator was required to identify the material from which the house was built (stone/brick/concrete or mud/wood or other perishable material) and to allocate the respective numerical value of either 1 or 0 based on this. Similarly, the type of material used in the roof construction was scored as either 1 - if slate, tiles or metal was used - or as 0 - if thatch, wood or other perishable material was used. Numerical values were assigned by the enumerator to indicate the number of rooms occupied by the household and the precise number of windows in the front of the house was recorded. Based on the total of these values, the house was scored by the enumerator as either a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th class dwelling.

The enumerator even recorded the name of the landholder on whose property the dwelling house was situated and, where different from the name of the householder, this indicates whether the property was owner-occupied or rented.

Use of Form B1 in conjunction with Form B2, which is a return of out-buildings attached to a dwelling house that identifies stables, coach houses, cow houses, dairies, piggeries, barns etc. can be used to provide not only an important insight into the living conditions of all members of a particular household listed on the Form A household return, including the quality of accommodation, the appearance of the house in which the household lived, but also the relative prosperity of a household where such distinct buildings as coach houses, stables and dairies can be identified.

Finally, the census enumerator’s abstract, Form N, gives details of the number of houses in a street or townland, and the number of occupants of each house, broken down by sex. The form also tells you the religious denominations present in each household. It provides information on the wider context in which a particular household was situated.

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It is important to bear in mind that not all people recorded in the 1901 or 1911 census are to be found on the standard household Form A return.

Occupants of various institutions, for example, barracks, ships, workhouses, hospitals, colleges, orphanages, etc. were recorded on separate forms as follows: • • • • • • •

Form B3: Shipping return.

Form E: Workhouse return.

Form F: Hospital return.

Form G: College and Boarding-School return.

Form H: Barrack return.

Form I: Return of Idiots and Lunatics in institutions.

Form K: Prison return.

People in institutions on census night were recorded only by their initials.

Thus, Mary Smith will be listed only as M.S. or John Murphy as J.M. Is the online census easy to search? As mentioned, putting the census online revolutionised access. It allowed the family historian to search census data to find returns for named individuals who had hitherto remained hidden.

The National Archives census website at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ can be searched in two ways: by name or by geographic location. However, the less precise the information entered in the search boxes, the more numerous the results that have to be sifted through.

It is important to remember that the census data has been indexed as the names were written into the original census form. Spellings have not been corrected.

The basic topographical divisions for the census are: county; district electoral division; townland or street. This is a simple hierarchical structure which makes it easy to access returns for any area in the country.

The returns are arranged in clusters by townland/street within district electoral division within county.

For anybody unsure of the townland or street the person sought lived in, browsing can be done within a district electoral division of a county, which contains numbers of townlands or streets. The browse function allows searching for someone through location, and to view households surrounding that of an ancestor. It also allows for studies of particular districts.

For those who search online and get too many results, it is possible to •

• •

add any extra information in the relevant search boxes, such as age, sex, townland, street; try alternative spellings of the name; type the street/townland name into the relevant box where this is known, and it will locate all the occupants of that street/ townland.

For those who search online and get no results, this could be due to a number of factors: •

•

•

•

The name could be spelled differently, so variations of spelling or a wildcard search should be tried.

The person may not have lived where you think, so searching the name without any geographic information should be tried.

The person sought may not have been in Ireland on census night.

The person you are seeking may have been in an institution, and only listed under their initials.

Happy hunting!

Tom Quinlan is Keeper, Collection Care and Customer Service, National Archives. www.nationalarchives.ie www.census.nationalarchives.ie

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Getting Started with Podcasts

To coincide with the launch of the Mike Murphy SeniorTimes series of podcasts (details will be announced via www.seniortimes.ie shortly) we give you a simple guide to getting started...

Podcasting has taken the world by storm in recent years with hundreds of new shows released every day all over the world. Yet there’s still plenty of confusion about what a podcast is: how and where do I listen?

Given the huge choice out there, what shows should I listen to?

Well, what to listen will always be a bit subjective, so we can come back to that one. First of all, what do you need to listen to a podcast? The simple answer is very little: a phone, computer, or tablet with an internet connection. A podcast is simply a piece of audio you can listen to any time – you can listen directly online, or download the show and listen later. Best of all, the vast majority of podcasts are completely free to listen to.

A podcast might be a show that originally aired on radio but which you can then listen to online. Or, more commonly, it’s a piece of audio available only as a podcast. Just like books or films or websites, there are thousands of new ones every week: chat shows, interviews, investigative journalism, true crime stories, documentaries, audio dramas, and lots more. Once you get hooked, you’ll never be short of something to listen to.

How Do I Listen?

So how do you get started? Most people listen on Apple Podcasts (also called iTunes) or on Spotify, but there are lots of other podcast players you can use too (Stitcher, PocketCasts and RadioPublic are three good ones). If you already have Spotify on your phone or computer, there’s a whole section just for podcasts. Browse the categories or type the name of the show you want and start listening.

If you have an iPhone, the “Apple Podcasts” app is already there on your phone – just open it, find a show and hit play. If you have an Android phone (like a Samsung or Huawei) you could listen on Spotify, or you can download a podcast player app: PocketCasts, RadioPublic, or Podcast Addict are all good.

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You can also listen on your computer on any of the players above, or just google the name of a show and you’ll find lots of links to play it. Generally, though, it’s handier to listen on a phone.

You can keep track of all the shows you like by hitting “subscribe”, and you can easily see when new episodes of your favourite shows are out.

Any recommendations for some great shows?

Once you’ve got the technical side out of the way, you can sit back and start listening. There really is a podcast for everyone, with great shows coming out of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and, of course, Ireland. A quick google search will find you a podcast on any interest, from knitting to rugby, stamp collecting to German history, yoga to language learning.

Some of the most popular American shows include This American Life, compelling stories of everyday life tied together by a theme; 99% Invisible, about the things in our designed world we rarely consider but often couldn’t live without; Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History looks at things overlooked or misunderstood in history.

In the UK, the BBC has a huge range of podcasts; their recent 13 Minutes to the Moon, on the Apollo 11 mission, was a big success. The Guardian makes Today in Focus, a daily news show, or there’s The Totally Football Show, which does what it says on the tin.

On the Irish scene, there’s plenty of choice. For myths and storytelling, try Fireside, for sport there’s Second Captains or for film try I Know that Face.

If you love a good book you could check out Words To That Effect or Behind the Bestseller. RTE’s long-running Documentary on One is also available as a podcast.

So dive in, and start listening today!

Mike interviews Michael D. Higgins

Presenter John Low

Mike interviews Denis O’Brien

Mike interviews John McColgan

Irish Broadcasting legend Mike Murphy returns to the airways with a series of podcasts where he interviews high-profile names including President Michael D. Higgins, Businessman Denis O’Brien, Deirdre Purcell, Ryan Tubridy, John McColgan, Marty Morrissey, Senator Mary Louise O’Donnell and more.

This Podcast series opens with an in depth interview with Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D. Higgins The series has been produced by Senior Times Magazine and episodes will feature everything from Retirement planning , financial advice, lifestyle interests such as travel, wine appreciation, health and well-being.

Why not take time out to listen to episodes from the new Senior Times Podcast Series presented by Irish Broadcasting Legend Mike Murphy.

This Podcast series has hit the No 1 spot on Apple iTunes Irish Podcast Leisure charts .

To Listen to Episode 1. Mike Murphy Interviews President Michael D Higgins https://soundcloud.com/user-682413562-561358898/senior-times-podcast-episode-1 Episode 2. Mike Murphy Interviews Billionaire Denis O Brien https://soundcloud.com/user-682413562-561358898/senior-times-mike-murphy-talks-to-denis-obrien Episode 3. Classical Music Collection presented by our very own John Low https://soundcloud.com/user-682413562-561358898/senior-times-classical-collection-ep1-b The podcast is available on all leading platforms including Apple iTunes iCloud and Spotify or by visiting www.seniortimes.ie

Available from March 8th

The Senior Times

Podcast

Presented by Mike Murphy

Join the Revolution!

The Podcast revolution is transforming media consumption worldwide – and nowhere more so than amongst Irish Over 50s.

Presented by Mike Murphy - one of Ireland’s best-loved broadcasters, The Senior Times Podcast will feature the same blend of features, news, profiles, comment, lifestyle and information that has made Senior Times Ireland’s No.1 magazine for older readers.

Published bi-monthly since 2002, the magazine is celebrating its 100th issue!

In this first season, Mike’s Special Guests will include Denis O’Brien, Terry Prone, Pat Henry, Mary Louise O’Donnell - and more! And to launch this exciting complement to Ireland’s No.1 magazine for older readers, we have privileged access to Áras an Uachtaráin for an extensive interview with President Michael D. Higgins.

in association with

more details at www.seniortimes.ie

POD CAST

the Senior Times

Classical Collection with John Low No.1 Irish classical music podcast

featuring music by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Weber, Mendelssohn, Field, Schumann, Chabrier, Strauss, Handel

www.seniortimes.ie in association with

If you have a request for a favourite piece of classical music email john@slp.ie

Episode Two out May 23rd

Collecting

Collecting is not just about value!

Any football programmes featuring the legendary ‘Busby Babes’ bring huge amounts

By Mike Kelly

Many of the collectors I meet in my journeys around the country nearly always ask “well, what is its value?” My standard answer is usually “it’s only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it” but that’s not the true answer.

When you become a collector, whether it is coins, stamps, banknotes, model toys, military or sports medals, comics, vinyl records whatever, you enter the wonderful world of pursuit and chase! Collectors begin with a subject that is really of interest to themselves. If you are an athlete you have probably won a few medals and have become interested in who-has-won-what at local, national and even Olympic events. You may work in an office or job where post arrives stamped with colourful stamps in amazing designs from countries all over the world. It’s the same story with banknotes and even the Euro coins in our pockets.

There are many varieties and denominations from all the Eurozone countries. You begin an accumulation, then sort out the duplicates and ‘swop’ them on to other interested individuals. Your collection has begun. Now the search begins for those missing values or items to com 73 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

plete the set. You constantly have an ‘eye out’ for these items; you visit car boot sales; coin or stamp fairs and, as you get more serious, even attend an auction or two. All the time you are researching and learning more and more about your chosen collecting subject.

‘Knowledge is power’ and to a large extent that is very true in the collecting world. If you collect football programmes you will know when the unusual matches were played and why so few programmes were issued. A postcard or stamp postmark collector will be seeking the unusual views or the mark from the long closed post office. Early issued banknotes were large and nearly always got folded and creased with use, so finding a near perfect one is a bonus. Most collectors are very willing to pass on their knowledge to younger collectors and encourage the next generation to learn about the things around them old and mod

Collecting

The famous Liberty Head nickel recently brought over 5m million US dollars

Rather than the massive price increases you would expect over three decades, some of the rarest and most popular stamps have actually gone down in value over the past 30 years.

The United States 1930 release of the Graf Zeppelin is a notorious example. This popular and scarce set of stamps was more valuable in 1980 than it is today.

ern. Somewhere along the line you start to buy the items you no longer find common to hand.

So value and cost enter the equation. The world’s rarest coins and stamps have changed hands for millions of Euros. The collectors who purchase them have the resources to finally complete their collections.

What advice is there for the modern collector? Well you have to be interested in your subject and find out all you can about it. Collecting doesn’t have to be expensive. You can collect banana labels or beer mats for little or no cost! Always get the best possible copy of your item, damaged or torn items do not look great and if you are really interested in the re-sale value of a collection, only complete or undamaged specimens can increase in value.

Don’t start spending money on items until you find out about the scarce or rare items in your chosen field of collecting. Get the best advice from more knowledgeable collectors or, if you don’t know any, join a club or society related to your interests. Don’t be afraid to get a second opinion and when you ask an expert in your collecting theme, listen to what they have to say.

If your intention is to sell your collection and profit from it, there are a few principals worth knowing. At least three factors affect the saleability of your collection: The subject popularity: how many others are interested in your chosen subject. If you are the

only person in the country collecting the subject, the chances of resale are very much diminished. Try to choose a popular theme and get to know it inside out.

Scarcity: getting scarce items for your collection is directly related to your budget.

Always buy the best possible copy within your budget, but if your budget is only a few Euro, you may have to make do with common items. Consider availability and cost when determining which area to collect.

Condition: when accepting a collection for auction, an auctioneer one told me “it’s easy to sell top quality, lower grade items are much more difficult.” Over the years the price ‘spread’ between poor quality and finest quality has increased almost beyond recognition. Only buy the best quality that you can afford.

Collecting is a very pleasurable experience. It can keep the mind astute and the senses alert. There is a certain amount of companionship in belonging to a club or organization and meeting, talking and listening to other collectors. Yes, if you collect the right items at the right time, they become valuable or rise in price in certain market circumstances.

Remember though, collecting is not just about value.

Mike Kelly is a collector and gives valuation on coins, banknotes, tokens, medals, stamps and most collectables. He attends the 50 Plus Expo and gives advice and information on consigning items to auction. He is associated with Dublin Coin Auctions, a specialist auction house in Dublin.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 74

Know Your Rights

What is a rent pressure zone?

A rent pressure zone (RPZ) is an area where rents cannot be increased by more than 4% each year. They are areas where rents are above the national average and rising quickly. Rent pressure zones are intended to control the rise in rents in these areas. An area must meet specific criteria to become a rent pressure zone.

Advice from the Citizens Information Service

My granddaughter is starting secondary school in September and her family we live 5 kilometres from her school. Is she eligible eligible for the School Transport Scheme?

Most rent increases in rent pressure zones are capped at 4% and there are limits on how often the rent can be reviewed. There are different rules about the limits and frequency of rent reviews, depending on whether the tenancy in the rent pressure zone is an existing or new tenancy.

However, not all properties in rent pressure zones are subject to the 4% restriction. Some properties are exempt. A landlord can seek an exemption for: · A property that has not been let at any time in the previous two years · A property where no previous tenancy existed that is a protected structure, or in a protected structure or proposed protected structure and has not been let in the previous 12 months · Properties that have been substantially changed (the RTB website has full details of the types of substantial change required) Designated rent pressure zones will be in place until 31 December 2021.

You can find out if you live in a rent pressure zone by visiting citizensinformation.ie. Further information on rent pressure zones and a calculator to calculate the maximum allowable rent in a rent pressure zone is also available from onestopshop.rtb.ie/rent-pressure-zones.

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She may qualify for the School Transport Scheme. The scheme provides subsidised school transport for both post-primary and primary pupils. Bus Éireann runs the school bus service and the Department of Education and Skills decides the annual fares.

The service is only provided where there are at least 10 eligible pupils in a distinct locality that can be economically serviced by a bus route. Even when a pupil meets the age and distance criteria for school transport, there is no legal entitlement to it.

Your granddaughter is eligible for the Post-Primary School Transport Scheme if she is attending her nearest school and lives 4.8 kilometres or more from the school. The Department and Bus Éireann determine the appropriate nearest school with regard to ethos and language.

Know Your Rights Parents must arrange to bring their child to the nearest pick-up point on the bus route. Generally, bus routes are organised so that no pupil has more than 3.2 kilometres to travel to a pick-up point.

There is a single annual charge of €350 per pupil. However a family does not pay more than €650 per year. The charge is due to be paid in full by the end of July or else in 2 instalments: by the end of July and the start of December. Pupils who are eligible for school transport and who hold a valid medical card are entitled to free school transport to the nearest school.

So, with the increase in the national minimum wage, you will pay €12.20 more USC per year. This deduction will be made from your gross salary.

Your increased salary will continue to be subject to the standard rate of income tax. This means you also pay slightly more income tax after 1 February 2020.

I’m a PAYE worker. What income tax will I pay in 2020?

Since your grandchild is enrolling in post-primary school for the first time, her parents should either apply for school transport online or download the form from Bus Éireann's website, buseireann.ie. Applications are now being accepted for the 2020-2021 school year. You should apply by Friday, 24 April 2020.

I’m a full-time minimum wage PAYE worker. Does the increase in the national minimum wage mean that I pay more Universal Social Charge?

The amount of tax that you have to pay depends on your personal circumstances. Tax is charged as a percentage of your income. The amount that you actually pay depends on your income and on the tax credits and reliefs that you are eligible for.

The first part of your income, up to a certain amount, is taxed at 20%.

This is known as the standard rate of tax and the amount that it applies to is the standard rate tax band.

The minimum wage increased from €9.80 to €10.10 on 1 February 2020.

A person working full-time (39 hours per week) and earning the minimum wage was previously earning €19,873 per year. They now earn €20,484 per year.

If you have income above the standard rate tax band, it is taxed at the higher rate of tax, which is 40% (also called the marginal rate). The amount that you can earn before you start to pay the higher rate of tax is your standard rate cut-off point.

From 1 February, USC rates also changed slightly to make sure that this increase in pay for minimum wage workers is not subject to the 4.5% USC charge. This was done by increasing the income threshold of the 2% band. The new thresholds now look like this:

There were no changes to tax rates and bands in 2020. The standard rate of tax is 20% and the higher rate is 40%.

Rate

Standard rate of USC Standard rate of USC (up to 31 January 2020) (from 1 February 2020) Income band Income band

0.5%

Up to €12,012

Up to €12,012

2%

€12,012.01 to €19,874

€12,012.01 to €20,484

4.5%

€19,874.01 to €70,044

€20,484.01 to €70,044

8%

€70,044.01 and over

€70,044.01 and over

So, in 2019, if you earned €19,874, your total USC for the year was (0.5% of €12,012) €60.06 + (2% of €7,862) €157.24 = €217.30. This meant your USC was €18.11 per month, or €4.18 per week.

From 1 February 2020, if you earn €20,484 per year, your annual USC will be (0.5% of €12,012) €60.06 + (2% of €8,742) €169.44) = €229.50.

This means your USC is €19.13 per month, or €4.41 per week.

Personal circumstances

Single person

Tax rates and bands in 2020 €35,300 @ 20% Balance @40%

Married couple/civil partners, one income

€44,300@ 20% Balance @ 40%

Married couple/civil partners, two incomes

Up to €70,600@ 20% Balance @ 40%

One-parent family

€39,300 @ 20% Balance @ 40%

You may also be eligible for other income tax reliefs, credits or exemptions, which can reduce the amount of tax that you have to pay. Visit revenue.ie to find out more.

Further information is available from your local Citizens Information Centre.

Information is also available online at citizensinformation.ie and from the Citizens Information Phone Service, 0761 07 4000.

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YOUR

TWO PORTIONS OF OILY FISH

MADE DELICIOUS

HIGH IN NATUR AL OMEGA 3

The Irish Heart Foundation and Healthy Ireland recommend you eat up to 2 portions of oil-rich fish a week*.

Try our Baked Potato with Mackerel and Beetroot Horseradish.

For inspiring oil rich fish recipe ideas visit www.johnwest.ie/our-recipes or the John West Ireland YouTube page. *Mackerel is rich in the omega-3s EPA and DHA that contribute to the normal function of the heart.

The beneficial effect is obtained with a daily intake of 0.25g of EPA and DHA. There is typically 1.9g of Omega-3 EPA and DHA in one pack of John West Irish Mackerel Fillets.

#YourNaturalOmega3

Cosmetics and Grooming

Eyes right!

They may be the windows to the soul, but as Mairead Robinson confirms, our eyes can also show the first sign of ageing.

There is no doubt that as we age, our eyes get smaller. The skin around our eyes being so much thinner than elsewhere on our face, is also the first area to wrinkle and crease. We might euphemistically call them laughter lines, but to most women wrinkles are no laughing matter and we do our best to minimise their appearance.

and use daily to gently hydrate the skin and diminish the appearance of crow’s feet and give a brighter and more youthful glow. Immortelle Divine Eye Balm from L’Occitane is a luxury nourishing treat for the delicate eye area firming the appearance and softening the signs of fatigue by reducing puffiness as well as the appearance of dark circles.

very sensitive skin, Uriage Water Eye Contour Cream will sooth the appearance of dark circles and help to rebuild the skin barrier to maintain an optimum moisture level. This cream’s fresh texture instantly moisturizes and illuminates the skin area, helping the skin to regain an optimal level of hydration for 24 hours.

It is suitable for contact lens wearers too.

So while remembering how tissue-thin the skin is, you need different cream and much less pressure when moisturizing the eye area. First ensure that all trace of make-up is removed, then apply a thin layer of eye cream just along the eye socket, and pat gently with your ring finger from the inside near the nose, out to the temples. Choose your eye cream carefully

Another luxe eye cream come from Eminence – Lavender Age Corrective Night Eye Cream.

With its organic anti-aging stem cell complex, this award winning cream is especially suited for mature skin and used nightly boosts the appearance of skin density and leaves the skin looking radiant. It can also be used daily on ‘no make-up days’ to boost hydration. For

La Roche-Posay are the go-to brand for many with sensitive skin, and they have two excellent products for treating dark circles and accentuated winkles. Pigmentclar Eyes reduces the appearance of dark circles, both blue, due to poor circulation and brown, which is related to excess melanin production. Apply gently morning and evening for immediate results.

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Cosmetics and Grooming

Redermic R Eyes, also from La Roche-Posay is an anti-ageing concentrate containing retinol and caffeine which work on wrinkles as well as dark circles. Suitable for sensitive skin also, but avoid exposure to the sun when using products containing retinol. If dark circles are a real problem for you, choose a tinted correction cream, such as Diopticerne Teinte from Lieric which specifically targets dark circles under your eyes. All the above products are available in pharmacies nationwide.

Having cared for the skin around your eyes, the next issue is how to make them look their best. Leave the dramatic bright colours for the young ones, and instead choose subtle copper tones which will blend with your skin.

And to avoid your eye make up caking around the wrinkles, it is essential to use a primer. I am a great fan of the IsaDora brand, since it was launched in the Irish market last year. Available in all Shaws stores and leading pharmacies nationwide stores, this is a brand that will have mature skin covered, from skin to eyes, with natural flattering shades. Start with the IsaDora Eye Primer(€11.95) – this is a multi benefit primer that gives a long lasting hold and so increases the wear of any eye shadow. You

simply apply directly on the eyelid, let it dry, and then apply your eye shadow. Doing this one simple step gives you a crease free base for your eyes shadow and prevents the colour from setting into fine lines. It also gives a soft focus effect so that the eyelids appear instantly smoother and fine lines visually disappear.

This IsaDora Eye Primer also has active skin care ingredients – similar to an eye cream, and has a thin, velvety texture that adheres perfectly and evenly. It hides blue veins and neutralizes red eyelids. Once you have tried this eye primer, you will never apply eye makeup without it again!

The eyebrows are the next thing you should frame. As we get older, the pigment in brows is lost. The easiest way to bring back a youthful glow and a frame for your face is simply by perfecting your brows. This will make a huge difference, and for those of us who have lost a lot of the hair due to age or medical treatments, it is important to create, or even recreate, a perfect brow to lift the eyes.

You want a super slim brow pen for a precise and controlled brow and begin by filling your brows with fine hair-like strokes to mimic

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natural hair and fill in between sparse brow hairs or spot filling of over-tweezed areas. The Precision Brow Pen – €10.50 from IsaDora – is waterproof and available in taupe, brown and dark brows.

Taupe should be used on an older face to mimic a more natural shade as colour fades.

Lastly, use the IsaDora Brow Shaping Gel to finish off your brow shape and then you can swipe it on your lashes to use as mascara.

Finally, it is really important to take your eye make-up off gently with the right product.

Vichy Purete Thermale is a good choice as it exceptionally soothing for sensitive skin and removes all traces of your make-up without damaging the delicate eye area.

So remember, that old adage ‘less is more’ is certainly true when it comes to eye makeup on a mature face. The object is to highlight your best features, and not to try to look twenty-five again! Avoid heavy eye-liner, gently smudge the natural shade eye shadow, choose a mascara that adds length, rather than volume to your lashes. And remember that secret weapon for hiding those crows-feet – use an eye primer first!

Health and fitness

Eight exercises for functional fitness

Pat Keenan discovers the intelligent kitchen and learns how to sauté the perfect scallop from a Michelin Star chef.

Dead bug exercise

One of the skills we acquire later in life is the ability to filter out information that either doesn’t apply to us, isn’t of interest, or just wasn’t meant for us in the first place.

For the most part, this selective deafness serves us well – who cares what Beyoncé and Jay Z have decided to name their twins, anyway? Or whether boot-cut jeans are so horribly passé that they’re about to become acceptable again? Simply knowing these things might displace something useful from my brain, like the lyrics to 24 Hours From Tulsa, for instance.

But the filtering process can cut out things we should know, but have wrongly decided, perhaps subliminally don’t concern us any more.

Like strength exercises.

On the subject of fitness, a lady in her 70s recently said to me: “I don’t need to build

Conor O’Hagan reports that physiotherapists and occupational therapists agree that the most important aspect of keeping physically active as we age is maintaining what’s called ‘functional fitness’. muscles or join a parkrun – I just need to stop falling over.”

But physiotherapists and occupational therapists agree that the most important aspect of keeping physically active as we age is maintaining what’s called functional fitness.

Functional fitness refers to exercises that improve daily activity, challenging balance and coordination while improving strength and range of motion. Rather than targetting weight and appearance, it’s focussed on performance and function, making daily activities easier and safer.

A functional exercise should be a multi-joint exercise and, ideally, should work the upper and lower body. In daily activities, we use our body as a whole, though an activity may be more upper- or lower-body in emphasis, we still rely on the other half for stability and support.

Pushing a shopping trolley, loading things into a car, and putting shopping away into cupboards are all examples of total body activities.

Functional exercises are movements that strengthen your body in a functional way, not only moving you in every direction, but also by having you lift the types of awkward weights that we tend to have to carry in daily life.

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Here’s a set of eight typical functional exercises; you can try them at home, taking care not to over-stress yourself. Pain of any kind is a signal to stop immediately. Better still, ask a fitness professional at your gym or sports centre to guide you through these or other functional fitness moves.

and put your hands against it at shoulder height and shoulder-width apart. Keeping your body in a straight line, bend your elbows diagonally to your sides to lower your chest to the wall.

Let your heels come off the floor. Pause, then slowly press through your hands to straighten your elbows and return to start.

Lying Hip Bridges To strengthen the gluteals, your body’s largest muscle group

Side Lying Circles To strengthen hips and improve hip mobility

Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Flatten your lower back against the floor, squeeze your bum and push your hips up into the air. Make sure to push through your entire foot, almost as if you’re trying to push your toes through the end of your shoes. Pause, then slowly lower to start.

Squats to Chair To strengthen the lower body and core Stand with your feet hip-width apart directly in front of a chair. Keeping your chest upright, push your hips back and bend your knees to lower your body toward the chair. Either touch your bum to the chair or sit down on it. At the bottom of the squat, your upper body should be leaning forward only slightly. Pause, then push through your feet and squeeze your bum to return to start.

Wall Push-Ups To improve upper-body strength, especially arms and chest Stand about 2 feet away from the wall (move closer to the wall to make the exercise easier),

Lie on one side on the floor with your body in a straight line, your bottom arm extended straight past your head. Rest your head on your bottom arm and squeeze your abdominals to pull in your belly. Keeping your hips directly over each other, lift your top leg to about hip height and move your leg in small clockwise circles in the air. Pause, then perform the circles in counter-clockwise motion. Lower your leg to return to start, and repeat on the opposite side.

Opposite Arm and Leg Balance For improving balance, coordination and strength in the back and abdominals.

On all fours with hands directly under your shoulders and knees under your hips, keeping back flat and abdominals tight, lift one hand to reach straight in front of your shoulder while lifting your opposite foot straight behind your hip. Hold for three breaths (or for as long as you can maintain balance), then lower hand and foot toward the floor to return to start. Repeat on the opposite side.

Deadbugs Improve your core stability for greater balance and all-over strength.

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Lie flat on your back with your arms and legs up in the air, your knees bent. Maintaining contact between your lower back and the floor, lower one leg until your heel just about touches the floor while also lowering the opposite arm toward the floor above your head. Lift them back up to return to start, and repeat on the opposite side. You can make this exercise harder by keeping your legs straight rather than bent.

Side Planks Improve side-to-side core stability and strengthens shoulders Start by lying on your side, propped up with your elbow directly below your shoulder. With either the sides of your feet or the sides of your knees stacked on the floor (do what’s comfortable for you), squeeze your core and lift your hips off the floor so that your body forms a straight line from your ears to either your feet or knees. Hold for as long as you can while maintaining good form. Lower your hips to return to start, and repeat on the opposite side.

Wall Angels Stand with your back flat against a wall and your feet about 3 to 6 inches from the wall.

With the back of your head touching the wall and your arms straight down by your sides, tuck your chin to your chest. Then turn your palms out and slowly raise your arms, maintaining contact with the floor or wall. Raise your arms as high as you can without your elbows bending or feeling any discomfort. Pause, then lower your arms to return to start.

Wine World

Brit bubbly

About 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of southern England and Wales' best-exposed land (sheltered, south-facing slopes) are planted with vines and enjoy the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream.

The Gusbourne winery in Kent. Such has been their success in producing bottle fermented sparkling wines, that their classic production method has attracted international praise.

Mairead Robinson enjoys sparkling wine from The Garden of England When it comes to sparkling wine, no other European country can rival Champagne’s depth, intensity and finesse, although Prosecco has certainly made a big impression in this country. Personally I generally prefer a good Cava to Prosecco, although if the Prosecco is dry enough, I will be tempted. The Aussies have done quite well too, with Jacob’s Creek in particular being a respectable enough bottle of bubbles. But who would have thought that the south-east of England would have been growing the classic Champagne varieties Meunier, Chardonnay, and the notoriously contrary Pinot Noir grapes for some years now, and the resulting wines have begun to attract the attention of their French neighbours from across the water?

English wine is growing in popularity and is increasingly recognised as a premium wine-producing region, with more than 450 wineries and around 3.15 million bottles produced per year. Indeed, 2018 saw a bumper harvest with yields doubled in some places. Whilst vineyards are found across the whole of England, the climate of the South and South East makes it a particularly popular region for growing vines, Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 82

Wine World

Three Gusbourne wines which are now imported into Ireland by Classic Drinks are Blanc De Blancs; Rose and Brut Reserve.

especially in Hampshire, Sussex and Kent. Wine production in the UK has not been taken seriously historically due to the cold climate, but yet vineyards planted across Southern England and Wales and also close to the English Channel have enjoyed a level climate that has proven to be very successful.

About 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of southern England and Wales' best-exposed land (sheltered, south-facing slopes) are planted with vines and enjoy the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream. Wine has been produced in the British Isles for centuries but the modern English wine industry dates only from the 1950s, when some landowners began to plant vines and try their hand at winemaking.

The industry today is much more professional and most wine is made by young, qualified winemakers who usually have experience of cellars in other countries. Because of England's cool climate, only early-ripening vine varieties stand a chance of reliably producing a crop. After the Champagne grapes Chardonnay, Pinots Noir and Meunier, the most planted varieties are therefore the hybrid Seyval Blanc, the German crossing Reichensteiner, Müller-Thurgau and the increasingly successful aromatic Bacchus. But there is an enormous range of white and some red wine varieties, including Dornfelder and Rondo, still occasionally ripened in special plastic tunnels. However, it is the Champagne varieties that are of real interest, and I recently had the great pleasure of trying some of the best, from Gusbourne winery in Kent. Such has been their success in producing bottle fermented sparkling wines, that their classic production method has attracted international praise. Their mission is simple yet very direct – to create the finest wines in the world! They achieve this by embracing tradition while also challenging convention – a very modern success story. Their estate dates back to 1410, however it was in 2004 when Andrew Weeber took over with a vision to create English sparkling wines that would stand up alongside the very finest offerings from across the globe and so the first vines were planted. It was not until 2016 that their debut vintages from 2010 were released earning them immediately a reputation for outstanding wines.

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Their three wines which are now imported into Ireland by Classic Drinks are Blanc De Blancs; Rose and Brut Reserve. The Blanc De Blancs 2013 is a direct, elegant and fresh wine and is made exclusively from their estate grown Chardonnay grapes. It is very much to my taste, with a distinct note of minerality. Winemaker Charlie Holland describes it as the ‘truest expression of our terroir with both finesse and elegance but also the requisite qualities for extended ageing.’ This wine has a bright golden colour with a delicate mousse, and aromas of green apple and citrus and a buttery richness from the lees ageing. It has received no less than thirty awards to date.

Gusbourne Brut Reserve 2014 is considered a more robust expression of this winery with a bright gold colour and aromas of cherry and strawberry. It is clean and fresh on the palate and is made with a classic Champagne blend of 60per cent Pinot Noir, 22 per cent Chardonnay and 18per cent Pinot Meunier. This is their best selling wine and spends a minimum of thirty six months on lees and three months on cork before release. This is a real winner, which equals some of the best champagne on the market.

And finally Gusbourne Rose 2015 is a delicate pink in appearance, with soft summer berries and floral notes. The palate shows bright red fruits and it has a crisp freshness and creamy, rounded texture. A wine from the heart of the English countryside, this is one for summer days ‘typical of the garden of England’. Enjoyed best with fresh salads, cheeses and of course summer fruits. It has received 13 awards to date.

Without doubt, these English sparkling wines are serious rivals to Champagne and summon up the very best of serious wine making from across the water. All are perfect to be enjoyed in summertime with outdoor food and sunshine and equally at Christmas and to welcome in the New Year. In fact any occasion at all when you want to celebrate with a special bottle. I was indeed very impressed and am mapping out all upcoming special occasions in our family calendar where we will celebrate with these wonderful wines. www.gusbourne.com

Meeting Place NOTICE SEAN FROM RAHENY, got a wonderful letter from you but lost your contact details. Please get in touch! CATHERIENE, MEATH NORTH WEST LADY WLTM gent 68-75 for companionship. Interests include C/W music and dancing.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A1 DUBLIN-BASED country man, 70s, single, WLTM romantic, single lady for outings, travel etc. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A2 FOREVER YOUNG LADY, 60s, North Co Dublin, with outgoing personality, NS, SD, WLTM kind, respectful gent with no ties for initial friendship/companionship. Age group 6070. Interests include cinema, theatre, concerts, all types of music, eating out, conversation, travel and healthy lifestyle.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A3 SOUTH WEST IRELAND GENT late 60s, ex teacher, enjoys dancing, walking, eating out, cinema, all types of sport. GSOH, kind and sincere. Separated for many years. WLTM lady with similar or other interests. Positive outlook on life very important.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A4 TIPP LADY, 60s, NS, SD, GSOH, WLTM kind gentleman who likes walking, dancing and travel. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A5 OFFALY MAN 60, slim and single, usual interests WLTM a reasonably slim lady 50-70 with a relaxed outlook who is not afraid to show her feelings. Let’s chat and see whether there is some common ground.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A6 DUBLIN SOUTHSIDE WIDOW late 60s, sincere, young at heart, good appearance, fit and active, GSOH. Interests include theatre, concerts, golf and country breaks. WLTM sincere, well-presented, refined, educated, outgoing gent. Age range preferably early to mid-70s to share interests and enjoy life with.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A7 NORTH DUBLIN GENT, late 60s, retired, never married. Walker, artistic. Seeks relationship full of romance, respect, high regard and support.

Where every day is an adventure\ in friendship to share the joy of living. High fives!

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A8 TIPP GENT 63, self-employed, unattached, athletic build NS, SD, loves nature, short breaks, walking, dining out, cinema, concerts, reading.

WLTM attractive, pleasant lady Irish or foreign for friendship and relationship, preferably North Munster and Galway.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A9

MEATH LADY 70s NS, SD, retired professional. Lives spiritually and mindfully. Family grown up. WLTM personable, educated gent preferably a widower, for friendship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A10 MID 70s KERRY MALE, enjoys walking, dining out, current affairs, sport and many other interests. WLTM lady of similar age to share friendship, conversation and a good laugh, preferably from Munster area.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A11 REFINED RETIRED LADY seeking women friends in Dublin with strong values and standards. Age range 50-75 REPLY TO BOX NUMBER A12 ATTRACTIVE EDUCATED MIDLANDS LADY, many interests including travel, theatre, bridge and music. WLTM that special man to share life with, chats, laughs holidays etc.

Preferable in age range 55-70.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z1.

ATTRACTIVE NORTH WEST LADY 70s, WIDOW slim build, outgoing personality, NS/ SD WLTM gent similar age, genuine, GSOH to dancing, etc. Ideally Connacht/Ulster for convenience of meeting but not exclusively so. Interests include social dancing, music, travelling, walking etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z2.

DUBLIN PROFESSIONAL LADY, EARLY 60S, RC, no children, never married. Interests include ballroom dancing, theatre, GAA and other sports, classical music, charity work and cultural travels. WLTM tall, Irish professional RC, NS gentleman 65-75 with similar interests, especially dancing and travelling, for friendship and possible relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z8 FRANK FROM DONNYCARNEY would like Ken from Artane, who gave him a lift to Santry, to contact him. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z9 DELIGHTFUL LADY, MEATH AREA, late 60s cheerful disposition, caring, dignified, widow, family grown up, no ties, NS ND, WLTM refined gentleman of mature years 75/85, preferably a widower, for chats and friendship from Dublin and surrounding areas.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J1 GENT MID-70s, living alone in Dublin, with wife in care, but still very involved in his creative career, WLTM a younger, educated and lively woman for coffee and conversations at a location to suit in south Dublin, but close to city centre. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J2 SOUTH DUBLIN LADY 60s enjoys history, art, travelling, cinema, reading, history, WLTM respectable gentleman with similar interests for friendship/relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J3

SOUTH MUNSTER MALE, looking for companionship with sincere lady to share interests, particularly walking, weekends away, travel, dining out etc. am 70s, love a good laugh and conversation. Looking forward to hearing from you.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z3 OFFALY WIDOW LATE 60s, GSOH, classy and loves rock and roll.WLTM male companion for chats, dinners or listening to music.

Would also be interested in meeting a female for friendship with same interests.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z4

CORK LADY, MID 60s, honest and considerate, SD, NS, GSOH, loves chats, travel, music, cinema, reading, WLTM kind gentleman 60s to 70s for friendship. REPLY TO BOX NUMER J5 MIDLANDS LADY MID SIXTIES, retired, professional, young in outlook, genuine, kind and caring gent (Preferably midlands, Galway, Dublin). Good Health essential. Interests include walking, cycling, golf, gardening, travel, music and eating out etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J6.

SINGLE MIDLANDS GENT, 61, 6ft 4in, slim, athletic build, NS, ND, loves nature, driving, walking, eating out, outings, current affairs.

WLTM a pleasant, attractive Irish or foreign lady for friendship/relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J7

RETIRED, RETURNED IRISH EXILE WOMAN, attractive, cheerful, unpretentious, NS. WLTM independent male with positive attitude to share travel, socials, walks etc. Ideally from Limerick/Killarney, Kerry, Kilkenny areas.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z5.

ATTRACTIVE NORTH MIDLANDS LADY, early 60s but looks much younger, slim, fit, GSOH. Enjoys walking, nature, travel, concerts and theatre. WLTM gentleman with similar interests. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J8

TIPP LADY 60's NS, SD, GSOH, WLTM kind gentleman. Likes walking, dancing and travel.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z6 SOUTHSIDE DUBLIN WIDOWER, EARLY 70s WLTM a nice romantic lady 50s-60s for visits to cinema, theatre, and meets for cof-fee.

Only romantics need reply.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER Z7

NORTH COUNTY DUBLIN LADY WLTM, genuine, romantic, caring gent aged 60s-70s.

Interests include nature, music, animals, romantic meetings etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J9

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MID WEST LADY, new to area, down to earth, genuine, NS, WLTM single ladies late 50s-60s living in north Munster or Galway for coffee, cinema, concerts, walks, friendship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J10

MIDLANDS LADY 70s WIDOW. WLTM caring, warm gentleman for friendship. Enjoy walking, reading, dancing, holidays in the sun and winter breaks at home. NS SD. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B6

QUIET GALWAY GENT NS ND. Interests include sport and keep fit, all types of music.

WLTM lady 50-75 for friendship and perhaps more.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B16

REFINED, FIT, SOUTH DUBLIN LADY 70, WLTM educated, sincere, caring gent. Interests include tennis, golf, travel.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J11

DUBLIN MALE 70, long time separated, happy caring with positive outlook. Interests include music, theatre, WLTM lady for friendship/ relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B7

KIND, SINCERE CLARE LADY, NS. Varied interests. WLTM gent 60-70 with good values, NS medium build into social dancing, music, particularly C&W, walking, animals, gardening.

Interested in gents from Co Clare and Galway.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B17

IRISH LADY, NS, kind, attractive, WLTM practical, respectful, honest, interesting, kind, single NS gent early to mid-60s. Are you living in the north Munster area seeking soulmate for friendship/ companionship? Love gardening, trad music, reading, concerts etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J12 FRANK FROM DUBLIN would like Greg and Barbara from Bray to contact him. ‘We met outside the Royal Hotel in Bray a few years ago and you brought me to your home. So, I would love to visit you again’.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J13 VERY YOUNG-LOOKING WIDOW WLTM a sincere gentleman, honest and kind of nice appearance, friendly and gentle. NS, SD, thoughtful and swell mannered, affectionate.

Would prefer a widower. Background in farming. Would love to meet that special gent.

Interested in friendship possible relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J14 DUBLIN BASED GALWAY GIRL, attractive retired schoolteacher, mid-60s WLTM genuine NS male with GSOH for friendship, socialising and outdoor activities. Interests include golf, hill-walking, travel and a lot of joie de vivre REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B1 DUBLIN WIDOWER, 70, looks younger. Tall, active, NS, SD, GSOH. Likes walking, driving, cinema, theatre, listening to music, dining out, holidays at home and way. WLYM lady with similar interests for long term friendship/ relationship would be ideal with lots of good conversation.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B2 FEMALE NORTH DUBLIN WOMAN WLTM other ladies to socialise in Dublin and surrounding areas. Interests include nature, music. Let’s meet up for coffee.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B3 STILLORGAN, DUBLIN LADY, retired nurse, mid-60s, sincere, caring, romantic. Love the outdoor, cycling, walking, travel Ireland and abroad. WLTM a refined gent of similar age.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B4 SOUTHW EST GENT MID 60s slim and of youthful appearance. Interests include current affairs, reading, walking, travel, concerts, dining out. WLTM lady from Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford areas.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B5

SINGLE LEINSTER GENT 60s, honest, cheerful, positive with a relaxed outlook on life.

WLTM a warm-hearted lady 60s 70s who likes to enjoy laugher which is the best medicine.

Wide range of interest and always open to new ideas.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B8 RESPECTFUL DUBLIN MALE 60 (looks younger) single, WLTM a nice lady 45-70 to join a naturist club and to travel abroad on naturists holidays.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B9 SINCERE, CARING TRUSTWORTHY LADY from Leinster, widow, retired from a profession.

Young at heart WLTM educated, personable gent, preferably a widower for friendship and chats. Ideal age range 80-85.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B10 EAST COAST FEMALE WLTM aspiring Fred Astaire for ballroom, Latin and social dancing.

Let’s give it a whirl!

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B11 FED UP WITH AIRPORTS? Dublin semi-retired businessman, NS, divorced, good appearance, medium build. Solvent, kind, considerate, respectful, private, good fun. Interest include cinema, the arts. Would like to invite into my life a warm, kind, interesting, affectionate, tactile, warm woman 60-70 for companionship, chats, laughs and short breaks in in Ireland.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B12 ROMANTIC GENTLEMAN, 39, DUBLIN, never married, country origin. House, car, walker, DIY, artistic. Seeks female soulmate, share joy of living, kindness of giving. Daily celebrate with romance, caring, support, laughter, fun, woodland walks, inspirational talks, lake water lapping, herons flapping, sunny lands holding hands, happy days, Atlantic bays, scenic drives, for your high fives.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B13 CARING DUBLIN GENT, 67, SINCERE, KIND, WLTM lady for relationship. Interests include travel, music, writing.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B14 DUBLIN GENT, LATE 60s, NEVER MARRIED. Seeks female soulmate to share joyful living, romantic surprises and the wonderful adventure of a loving relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B15

85 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie

RETIRED FRIENDS GROUP. Are you retired but not tired? Still got a zest for living? Group forming in Midlands but open to all regions.

Replies invited from those with broad range of interests, including travel, films, theatre, sports etc. All suggestions welcome. Replies to include email/mobile. Whatsapp where possible.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER B18

TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT If you are interested in meeting someone of the opposite or same sex, send your advertisement, with four stamps (which is the average reply rate) enclosed in the envelope, to: Meeting Place, Senior Times, Unit 1, 15 Oxford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.

Or email: john@slp.ie

IMPORTANT Ensure you give your approximate age and the area you live, noting your interests. The advertisement should not be more than 60 words.

If you are replying to the advertisement via Senior Time’s email, ensure you include your postal address for those not on the Net. (Only Senior Times will have these details). Deadline for receipt of advertisements for the next issue is June 30th 2020.

TO REPLY TO AN ADVERTISEMENT Each reply to an advertisement should be enclosed in a plain, stamped envelope, with the box number marked in pencil so that it can be erased before being forwarded to the advertiser. Send these envelopes in a covering envelope to the address , above, so that we can forward them to the advertiser. There is no limit to the amount of advertisements to which you can reply, provided each one is contained in a plain, stamped envelope. Ensure you give your approximate age and the area you live.

For those submitting their advertisements by email ensure that you also supply Senior Times with your postal address so that we can post replies from those who have replied by post. (Only Senior Times will have your postal address).

Senior Times l July - August 2018 l www.seniortimes.ie 83

Crafts

Connie McEvoy recalls teaching a visiting group Mountmellick work

When Croatian ladies came to An Grianan

It was the 2nd last Monday of February 1996 when I got an urgent phone call from the secretary Claire Haughney at 2pm requesting me to come to An Grianan at 7pm that evening equipped with four ready to go kits for a Mountmellick work project.

I immediately asked if I would be catering for a class of beginners, intermediate or skilled students and she replied ‘I don’t know but one lady would like to make a ring cushion for her grand-daughter’s wedding in the autumn’. She continued this call by apologising for contacting me at such short notice and went on to explain that a large number of ICA members were there to start classes that evening as well as four Croatian ladies (one with a child).

Classes usually started there then on Monday evenings and ended on Friday at 4pm, but the Croatian ladies were there as guests for two weeks and were to be allowed to attend classes of preference each day or drift in and out until they were satisfied which classes they would feel comfortable working in.

Claire informed me that an interpreter would be with them at all times so as there would be no language barrier and she had taken them to the classrooms and teachers of the courses for the coming week which included cookery, art and patchwork. Seemingly they were not too impressed but would agree to attend the art course if the expected course in Mountmellick work embroidery was not on offer. Apparently their hearts were set on learning this skill as an Irish nun in Zagreb had

told them how exquisite this work was and had shown them a book titled Mountmellick Work: Irish White Embroidery written by Jane Houston Almquist in 1985 before they left for Ireland. I had been introduced to Jane who was an American lady then resident in Dublin by a Anne Wigham from Waterford so I agreed to comply as I lived just about two miles away and was ever ready when a craft class beckoned.

Jane Houston Almquist passed away on April 7th last. May she rest in peace.

Normally a teacher was expected to cater for 14 or 15 students per class then but Claire explained that due to the language barrier four students would be allowed in my class so Zana Stanzi and her two year old son Luka from Zagreb, Jelena Krizmauic, Vukovar, Croatia, Mara-Marida Bievie, Bihac and the interpreter (unable to remember or spell her name but she worked at Mountmellick project too) started to work under my tuition that night. The training for the ladies in the war torn region all of whom had menfolk registered as disappeared was funded by the ICA from their very successful auction held during November 1995.

By the end of the first week Mountmellick work ring cushions, table mats and book covers were finished, some with buttonhole edging others with buttonhole fringe edging all to an extremely high standard as these ladies proved to be gifted needlewomen. In the absence of colour they were really impressed by the way in which a beautifully textured effect could be achieved in any given project by a careful selection and combination of simple,

padded and ornate stitches. So impressed in fact that instead of moving to other class rooms the second week they requested to stay with me to work some three dimensional pictures in coloured freestyle embroidery that included some needle woven leaves, one lady went to the art classroom to work her project using paints and brushes on paper while the other three worked with threads and needles on cream even weave fabric.

Great credit was due to the interpreter who managed to figure out my flat Carlow/Wexford accent during those two weeks spent with the four ladies who came from war torn Croatia to learn Mountmellick work embroidery- we were always happy as the day was long singing and doing needlework to our heart’s content.

By the time we had to bid farewell they could greet me each day in Gaelic and English and I could greet them each morning with dobra utro, meaning good morning. The projects that were worked during that two week course were designed by me, stitches used in the ring cushion are as follows: cable plait, lazy daisy and back stitch, snail trail, bullion knots and French knots, cable, feather and chain stitch, fly, padded satin and stem stitch, buttonhole filling and couching. The cushion was finished with indented buttonhole stitch that was fringed on a pencil.

This project was commissioned and published in a craft magazine titled Popular Crafts soon afterwards and the coloured project was published in another craft magazine titled Beautiful Stitches, one of the table mats was published in an American craft magazine Stitcher’s World.

Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie 86

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