SeniorTimes Magazine September/October

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Contributors: Lorna Hogg, Dermot Gilleece, Maretta Dillon, Peter Power, Matthew Hughes, Mairead Robinson, Eileen Casey, Debbie Orme, Connie McEvoy, George Keegan, Pat Keenan Michael O’Loughlin and Eamonn Lynskey.

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Growing demand for patient advocacy services

In 2022, the National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities (NAS) saw its waiting list grow 55 per cent from 161 in January 2022 to 250 by December 2022. This figure has continued to grow in 2023 with numbers increasing to 262 by June 2023.

NAS provided advocacy support in 3,576 pieces of work, which is an almost 50 per cent increase in the services casework since 2015. Despite this NAS has not received an increase in funding for any new permanent posts since 2011. 2022 saw a continued growing demand for the Patient Advocacy Service with 1,859 contacts, which represents a 54% increase compared to 2021.

Also in 2022, the Patient Advocacy Service extended its remit to people living in private nursing homes, providing patient advocacy to patients and residents in all public acute hospitals and nursing homes.

Cancer specialists urge ‘fast-track’ genetic testing

Cancer specialists are hoping a lifesaving trial at an Irish hospital which is reducing patients’ wait for genetic testing from two years to just four weeks, is made permanent. Doctors say the ‘mainstreaming’ pilot project at Cork University Hospital is a game changer in the battle against the disease. It has already fast-tracked testing for over 80 patients and with confirmation of extra funding, will continue for the rest of this year, testing a further 30 cancer patients a month.

Mainstreaming profiles a patient’s cancer, giving specialists ‘an extra piece of the jigsaw’ to decode the most effective surgery, treatment or medication. But it also has the potential to prevent cancer and deaths by identifying hereditary gene mutations

Highlighted are some of the key findings from the Annual Reports for NAS and the Patient Advocacy Service recently published . The report presents the key activities, statistics, and achievements of the Services in 2022.

NAS continues to operate under ‘significant pressure’ and there was a large demand across the country for advocacy services. In 2022 the NAS waiting list has grown from 161 to 250, and in 2023 it currently stands at 262. Despite this growth in demand which is likely to accelerate further, NAS has not received funding for any new permanent posts since 2011.

Three of the largest reported issues facing people seeking advocacy support from NAS in 2022 included access to housing, issues they faced in residential or healthcare settings and problems associated with their ability to make decisions for themselves.

that can be passed from patients to their children and grandchildren. ‘We are very excited about this. Reducing the time it takes to identify what form of cancer we are dealing with through swamped national services, taking two years, to just four weeks in Cork, is massive,’ said CUH surgical oncologist, Professor Mark Corrigan. ‘If we can determine what specific genes are contributing to a patient’s cancer, we can use that information to modify their treatment’.

Cork mother-of-two Fiona O’Keeffe, 49, who is recovering from breast cancer, is also urging authorities to put the programme on a permanent footing. She was diagnosed at 46, her sister faced the same battle aged 40 and they lost their mother Mary to the disease last year. Fiona did not benefit from the new testing programme at CUH – instead, she was sent to Dublin for genetic testing to find the gene causing the cancer in her family – a major upheaval as it removed her from experts in Cork.

In November 2022, the Patient Advocacy Service extended its remit to people living in Private Nursing Homes, reinforcing its commitment to providing complaints advocacy to patients and residents in all Public Acute Hospitals & Nursing Homes. Furthermore, the Patient Advocacy Service continued to receive As part of its expansion, the Patient Advocacy Service now operates from offices located in Dublin, Cork, and Galway. This geographical distribution allows for improved accessibility and

CUH, the National Cancer Control Programme and the South/South West Hospital Group collaborated to get the six-month pilot project off the ground. But specialists are urging that national and public support through CUH Charity continues so it can remain permanently. The project sees blood tests sent from newly diagnosed cancer patients at CUH – or those on treatment waiting lists - to a lab in mainland Europe.

Cork University Hospital surgical oncologist, Professor Mark Corrigan, with patient Fiona O’Keeffe, both of whom hope authorities will put a cancer genetic testing programme at the hospital on a permanent footing.

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Majority want E cigarettes banned

Around two thirds of the public want the Government to ban the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes, new research shows.

A survey carried out by the independent polling organisation Ipsos found that 64 per cent of respondents support the banning of disposable e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, while only 28 per cent opposed the measure and 8 per cent were unsure.

Welcoming the Ipsos research, Mark Murphy, Advocacy Manager, Environmental Health and Tobacco, with the Irish Heart Foundation said it showed the public know disposable

vapes are not only a health risk but also pose a threat to the environment. He said only a comprehensive ban of all forms of disposable e-cigarettes could prevent ‘another generation of young people’ from becoming nicotine addicts.

Just over one thousand adults aged 15 and over took part in the Ipsos survey between July 3-15. Of the 1,016 people questioned, 57 per cent in the 15-24 age group supported a disposable vape ban, while half of the 24-35 cohort were in favour.

The majority of all other age groups who took part in the survey also agreed the

sale of disposable vapes in Ireland should end.

In its submission to Government, the Irish Heart Foundation said a Health Research Board study showed that teenagers who use vapes are between three and five times more likely to start smoking than those who don’t.

82 per cent are concerned about food waste

More than four in five Irish people are concerned about the level of food waste in their household, and 94 per cent of homes are throwing food out, according to new research from SuperValu.

The research was commissioned as part of SuperValu’s Take Local Action, Make Global Impact campaign which aims to showcase the small actions we can all take in our homes, stores and towns to make a collective global impact. SuperValu believe how we live and work together in local communities is crucial to create a more sustainable future for everyone.

Ireland generated a massive 753,000 tonnes of food waste in 2021 according

to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of which 29 per cent is from households amounting to 44kg of food waste per person on an annual basis. Food waste costs the average Irish household about €700 per year. New research commissioned by SuperValu reveals 82 per cent of people in Ireland are concerned about food waste in their household and 80 per cent of those would like to reduce their food waste.[2]

Along with food waste, people living in Ireland produce more than 14 million tonnes of general waste every year in their homes, places of work and through leisure activities. SuperValu’s research shows that when people are unsure of how to recycle an item 74 per

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cent dispose of it in the general waste disposal bin (i.e. black bin ) and only one in five people always read the recycling labels on the packaging before binning their rubbish. The research also shows that a lack of awareness is causing an issue for recycling as the main barriers to recycling packaging correctly is confusion about how to treat mixed packaging materials, contamination of recyclables with other waste such as food and inconsistent recycling guidelines.

Agatha Christie’s best selling crime novel comes to the Gaiety

Agatha Christie, ‘Queen of crime’

And Then There Were None will open at The Gaiety Theatre. Dublin on 19 September and will run until 23 September 2023. Tickets priced from €21.50 are on sale now from Ticketmaster and The Gaiety Box Office.

And Then There Were None is not only Agatha Christie’s most read work, but also the best-selling crime novel of all time. Selling over a 100 million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1939.

In recent years there have been several high profile fresh and modern takes on Agatha Christie’s best loved titles in film, television, and on stage across the UK; all proving the enduring popularity and modern relevance of her work with global audiences.

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her

books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and, in many languages, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 66 crime novels, over 150 short stories, over 30 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott. Her work includes Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and the genre-defining And Then There Were None.

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Absolutely Fabulous!

Lorna Hogg meets ‘treasure’ and chum of King Charles Joanna Lumley

There is certainly nothing like this Dame - which she became in 2022, when Joanna Lumley OBE, received the Dame Commander of the British Empire Award, for her services to drama, entertainment and charitable causes. It seems like she has been on our screens forever – reflecting our changing lifestyles and aspirations. In the 1970s, her Purdey hair cut in The New Avengers inspired worldwide hair styles. In the 1980s, ` Ab Fab’s notorious Patsy raised – or possibly lowered! -- the bar for female boozing. Yet TV fame is just one aspect of her well lived life. She has been a highly successful model and presenter, well as an actress. She is a member of the Royal Geographical Society, and a well established campaigner. In addition, she has recently been voted one of the UK’s most influential women by the BBC radio programme Woman’s Hour - and remains a close friend of King Charles and Queen Camilla. That’s the timeless Joanna Lumley for you.

In common with many girls of her generation, Joanna longed to be 30 – but later decided that she would remain ‘just 50!’ Having recently assured her fans that her 70s were going to be her best decade yet – she shows no signs of slowing down. One journalist described her as ‘from another era and place.’ Quite understandable, as Joanna is faultlessly polite, considerate, enthusiastic and much more interested in hearing about the person with whom she is with, than in promoting her own career.

In the Irish country hotel where we first met, we were swiftly taken to a small basement room - the only place where she would be undisturbed, a fact Joanna found hilarious. She enjoys coming to Ireland, and thinks there is a ‘high standard of

Hope is something Joanna shares and well understands. She puts her success partly down to cultivating an ability to `keep on moving - like spinning plates!’. She certainly seizes her opportunities – as author, actress, travel presenter, advocate for Human Rights – and successful campaigner. However, her early dream of becoming an actress had to wait, after rejection by the prestigious RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) . So, she started as a model, at which she was very successful, becoming a House Model for top designer Jean Muir. On one of her later TV shows, she re-visited Moscow, where she first went behind the Iron Curtain, as a young model.

Joanna was born on May 1st 1946 in Srinigar, in then British India. Joanna grew up in an Army family, with sister Aelene, in the last days of Empire in India, and also spent time in Hong Kong and Malaysia. She clearly loved her Indian experiences, and in one of the travel shows she now occasionally presents, managed to get back to see the old residence, where she lived as a child.

As Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous in the 1980s, she raised – or possibly lowered! - the bar for female boozing with co-star and writer of the series Jennifer Saunders

In those times, children were sent back to school in England at the age of eight, and Joanna was no exception. Unlike many, however, she loved school, and was taught by Anglican nuns. ‘They didn’t try to force religion.’ She also loved games – and joked to me that ‘I was institutionalized – I’d do well in prison!’

She is also a woman well ahead of her times. A single mother at 21 to son James, she raised him herself, and is now a doting Granny to Emily and Alice. Her first brief marriage was to actor Jeremy Lloyd – and Joanna now lives with her second husband, conductor Stephen Barlow. They married in 1986 in Scotland –with press helicopters hovering above their romantic Inverlochy Castle reception! The newlyweds settled into the then `edgy’ Stockwell, in London, south of the river Thames. The area had once been elegant, with splendid period houses, but at that stage was somewhat run down. Ironically, it is now undergoing gentrification. Eagle eyed fans have noted, during recent Covid online broadcasts, that Joanna now lives in an exceeding stylish residence.

There are also regular trips to their Dumfriesshire cottage. An environmentalist ahead of her time, Joanna firmly believes that we need ‘ less and less of more and more.’ Some aspect of our modern society have the ability to shock her. On an early work visit to Kenya and Eritrea, she was welcomed with fruit, and given the only chair, amongst children with no toys. Her return home, to the ad slogans of `Because I’m worth it..’ made her wonder ‘ are you living in the same world?’

However, Joanna doesn’t just wonder, and has established `form’ in the world of campaigning. Her father was a Major in the Ghurka Rifles Regiment. Hence unsurprisingly, she became involved in the complex campaign for the right of all Nepalese Ghurka Veterans, retired after serving in the British Army, to have the right to settle in the UK. Armed with some quarter of a million signatures, Joanna took her case to No. 10 Downing Street. There was a meeting with then Prime Minister Gordon Brown – and the well organised, and presented campaign won the day. As well as being a vegetarian, she is also a member of Compassion in World Farming and `International Voice for Animals – plus Patron of Farm Animals Sanctuary.

When an actress creates a memorable role, some small part of us tends to think that deep down, there must be an element of playing him or herself, albeit perhaps larger than life. Joanna is

more pragmatic. `Most of acting is practice - your body is your work-horse.’ Back in the 60s, however, those bodies were also viewed as commodities. Women were often seen as ‘meat’, and were constantly assessed. In interviews, Joanna has described how much she loathed that outlook – plus the harassment suffered by actresses. It was necessary to toughen up to survive, as well as accepting lower pay than men. As she says -`you just dealt with it.’

Joanna with her second husband, conductor Stephen Barlow.

Joanna Lumley has carved out a new career as a presenter of travel documentaries

After becoming a Dame of the British Empire last year

Joanna Lumley.. a woman well ahead of her times.

Keeping your Heart Happy, Naturally!

There are usually no symptoms for high cholesterol, so it’s very important to get your cholesterol checked annually. The Irish Heart Foundation recommends that healthy adults should have a total cholesterol level below 5 mmol/L. A simple blood test will measure your blood cholesterol level. One of the most common causes of high cholesterol levels in the blood is eating too much saturated fat.

Eighty per cent of heart disease is preventable, simply by making a few dietary and lifestyle changes! Taking plant sterols daily should be your first step in lowering LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol. Plant sterols are naturally occurring substances found in plants and are important for cholesterol lowering thanks to their ability to partially block cholesterol (produced by the body and found in food) from being absorbed into the blood stream from the gut. Normally, about 50% of cholesterol is absorbed from the digestive tract into the blood stream, but when plant sterols are taken, it drops to just 20%. This lowers cholesterol in people

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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) state that you need 250mg EPA and DHA daily to support heart health, while 2-3g omega-3 EPA and DHA is needed to lower blood triglycerides and blood pressure. Eating oily fish twice a week – such as salmon or sardines, provides a healthy dose of omega-3 EPA/DHA. Alternatively, you can take a high-quality omega-3 supplement such as Eskimo-3 to ensure you obtain enough omega-3 daily.

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Her wide ranging list of film roles has ranged from Bond Girl, courtesy of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - through to appearances in The Wolf of Wall Street and Shirley Valentine. TV roles have spanned Purdey in The New Avengers, (a part won over 100 actresses who tested for the role) to Lovejoy, Coronation Street and Miss Marple. One of her most famous creations of course, remains the notorious, but memorable, Patsy in Ab Fab. The latter won her two BAFTAs. There was also the role of Sapphire in the popular science fiction creation, in Sapphire and Stee’ and Joanna has also had a nomination for a Tony Award for a Broadway play.

In 2008, she found a new niche – travel documentaries. When taking part in a documentary on tracking the Northern Lights, her obvious delight in exploring a childhood fascination touched a chord with armchair travelers everywhere. Trips down the Nile and along the Silk Road, plus a return to India, plus Cuba, and Japan were just a few of her later destinations. However, Joanna’s modulated voice and unshakeable enthusiasm grated on some contemporary TV reviewersproducing sneers of ‘jolly hockey sticks.’ Happily, the public loved her style, and her shows now command coveted evening slots.

Accepting the importance of personal style in TV presenters, she remains a hat fan – whether struggling in the desert, or looking smart at weddings. She accepts the fact that actresses have to look the part, and invariably appears fully made up and glamorous, joking that she has dyed her hair so often that she doesn’t now know what colour it really is! However, she also sees the irony in the fact that when she was young, the aim was to be grown up as fast as possible – and now it’s about ‘making older women look like children. That way, madness lies.’ Inevitably, we get to one intriguing question - so what does make an irresistible woman? Refreshingly, there is no prompt ‘pushing’ of any beauty product or line with Joanna. She feels that it is better not to `compete’ with other women – but rather, just focus on being generally nicer. Beauty – after the 50s, do what you can, smile, and keep smiling – gravity will take its toll! Also -`be kind - no jeering or sneering. Grow up – if you only compete with other women. Be nicer. Be loved by men – and above all kinder’. She has also said on television and in print, that whilst we have equal opportunities – she thinks that

trying to ‘outdo ’ men is mistake, for example in binge drinking. ‘Celebrate the differences!’ is her motto.

Another one clearly is - `Rise above it.’ She may have been dubbed a National Treasure – but even they occasionally make mistakes. As a close friend of King Charles and Queen Camilla, she was invited to the recent Coronation – and has also visited some private Royal residences. Probed for details by one interviewer, she revealed that she was impressed when, at the end of one private visit, her car was returned to her fully washed and cleaned – and with a full tank of petrol. A media flurry and online storm started – with anger from some people at their feeling that tax money was being wasted in this way.

There was, unsurprisingly, no comment from Joanna. In reality of course, when King Charles was Prince of Wales, his funds came from the Duchy of Cornwall and its estates – and not from the British Public Purse. Also – the last survey in Royal Funding found that the costing of the Sovereign Grant to the public was just - £1. 29 per person! National Treasures like Joanna are, of course, priceless.

With Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street

As Purdey in the seventies The New Avengers, a part won over 100 actresses

With her great friend King Charles

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*Source: National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008–2012. Public Health England

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In search of the incomparable

Michelangelo

Eamonn Lynskey discusses the complex character of the great artist

Of all the famous names in the history of western art, one of the most universally recognisable is that of the artist who painted the scene of The Last Judgment in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. The mere mention of him immediately conjures up this monumental work and his many other masterpieces, leading to the thought that there was really something superhuman about him and his prodigious output. He cannot have been an ordinary man, we think, this artist who was so phenomenally successful in his own lifetime – something akin to

today’s superstars – the only one that Vasari, that great biographer of Italian artists, included in his monumental Lives of the Artists published in 1550. It is no surprise then to find that over the centuries his name has gathered to itself extraordinary admiration and esteem, but –prodigious accomplishments notwithstanding – Michelangelo Buonarotti was indeed just a man, complete with all the character strengths and failings of any man. To say this is certainly not to downgrade him or his works, only to remind ourselves that, in

the final analysis, every man or woman is a human being first and last. This is our greatest common denominator, with all the attendant inheritances and dispositions that it entails. And, in this sense, Michelangelo was no different from the rest of us.

Born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarotti Simoni in 1475, he was one of five male children of a middleclass banking family. One of his biographers, Ascanio Condivi, in his Vita di Michelangelo (1553) tells us

Pietà a marble sculpture depicting Mary holding the body of her dead son, inspires feelings of compassion.

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that Michelangelo’s wet nurse was the daughter of a stonemason and, since she was also the wife of a stonemason, the artist used to joke that this was the reason why in later life he was so fond of the mason’s chisel.

His father ensured that his son attended formal schooling, but Michelangelo from an early age was always more interested in sketching and drawing and often absconded with his sketchbook to one place or another. This caused a great deal of trouble at home, but it gradually became clear that this strong-willed boy was never going to pursue a career in the family banking business as his father had hoped. Eventually an apprenticeship was arranged in the Florence studio of Domenico Ghirlandaio, a wellestablished artist. Here the young artist learned the techniques of fresco painting and developed his skills at sculpture with another master, Bertoldo di Giovanni.

He proved a diligent student and showed great promise under the direction of his masters. Even so, he seemed destined to become just one of the great artistes of the Florentine Renaissance were it not for a very fortunate meeting.

The development of Florence’s fifteenth century artistic period owed much to the patronage of the Vatican and to the de’ Medici family, particularly to Lorenzo de’ Medici, who was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent because of his extraordinary wealth and political power. Condivi relates how the fifteenyear-old Michelangelo was one day discovered sketching in the Medici palace

gardens by Lorenzo. ‘Il Magnifico’ was so impressed with the youngster’s talents that he arranged to take him into his own household and encouraged and promoted his work. This was the artist’s ‘big break’ and the rest, as they say, is history.

Michelangelo lived to the age of 88, a lifespan much beyond the usual for those times when a person was considered quite old at 60. He produced an astonishing variety of artworks. Descriptions of his work often refer to the quality of ‘Terribilità’ which it can sometimes inspire: a mixture of admiration and awe which causes a viewer to experience a feeling of discomfort and unease somewhat similar to that aroused on viewing ‘The Scream’, Edvard Munch’s famous depiction of modern angst. This reaction is especially strong when viewing Michelangelo’s previously mentioned grim masterpiece ‘The Last Judgement’ in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican where God is shown separating those worthy of paradise from those doomed to hell. This enormous painting is chilling enough for a modern viewer who may – for a fleeting moment – be driven to consider how he might fare in that Judgement. It can only be imagined how greater must have been its impact in an age more accepting of Roman Catholic Church teaching about the nature of the afterlife.

In complete contrast to The Last Judgement, his ‘Pietà’, a marble sculpture depicting Mary holding the body of her dead son, inspires feelings of compassion. ‘Mother and Child’ is a recurring

As might be expected, Michelangelo had a many-sided personality. Pope Julius II, for whom he produced many artworks, is said to have found him to be a ‘uomo terribile’, a difficult man to deal with.

subject in all art but the Pietà is unusual in the way it presents Mary as an impossibly young woman, given that her son is shown as a fully grown man. This depiction was controversial at the time, but succeeding ages have come to realise that the artist was more interested in stirring our emotions than in trying to convey earthly realities. Such is the complexity of his art.

As might be expected, Michelangelo had a many-sided personality. Pope Julius II, for whom he produced many artworks, is said to have found him to be a ‘uomo terribile’, a difficult man to deal with. Quite apart from his artworks, the man himself has fascinated scholars down

Michaelangelo learned his skills in Florence in the studio of Domenico Ghirlandaio

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through the centuries. His rivalry with Raphael has been treated extensively by many writers, especially his reaction when the younger artist was given a commission by Pope Julius ahead of Michelangelo (and ahead of Leonardo da Vinci too!) in 1504. Michelangelo, not used to coming in second place to anyone, was furious. Further, and in contrast to the beauty of his works, an early biographer, Paolo Giovio, called him ‘rough and uncouth,’ while Pope Leo X, echoing his predecessor Julius, confided to Michelangelo’s friend and collaborator Sebastiano del Piombo that he was "terrible … one cannot deal with him".

At least some of these unattractive aspects of Michelangelo’s character can be excused in the light of his papal patrons’ continual interference in the plans for work he had originally agreed with them. His reputation as a ‘difficult man’ has also to be set against the fact that a man of his genius and sensitivity could scarcely be expected to take well the idea of being in any way slighted or undervalued. His difficulties with Pope Julius included an instance, described by Condivi, in which the Pope refused to pay as agreed for materials purchased, leaving Michelangelo to foot the bills himself out of his own pocket, something that would infuriate an artist of much lesser calibre and volatility than Michelangelo. His pride would not allow him to accept such treatment, even from a pope. Very angry, he left Rome and was only with difficulty coaxed to return sometime later. And even though pride is the first-named of the Church’s ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, surely a man like Michelangelo can be forgiven, considering his towering achievements? It is hard to judge him according to the standards of ordinary mortals and in any case, his irritations and outbursts of anger did no real harm to anyone, which is more than can be said for that other great Michelangelo, Michelangelo Merisi Caravaggio (1571-1610) who, among other dastardly escapades, murdered a man in a brawl.

And so, given all his complexity, where do we look for the ‘essential’ Michelangelo? Much insight will be gained from the biographers mentioned above, and the many others, but the most revealing writing about his real self can be found in his letters and poetry. Michelangelo was a man whom contemporaries described as volatile and quick-tempered, but through his poetry

we discover another side to him and find that behind the public ‘uomo terribile’ there was a private ‘fragilità’. His great artworks have long overshadowed his writings and he is not widely known as a poet, but he was indeed a fine writer of sophisticated, structured poetry (over 300 sonnets and madrigals) which is full of arresting imagery and wonderful turns of phrase that run the whole gamut of the long life of this extraordinary and, one might even say, unique man.

One of his earliest poems dates from 1509, during the years he was engaged in painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When we view this masterpiece today one of the first thoughts that comes to

mind is how wonderful an artwork it is –but this is often followed closely by a second, more mundane thought: how did he manage to do such extraordinary work, considering that trying to paint the ceiling of an ordinary 3-bedroom semidetached house is itself no easy feat? His poem describes the cramped conditions in which he had to work on scaffolding for days on end, which he remembers with a kind of wry amusement:

E’ lombi entrati mi son nella peccia, e fo del cul per contrapeso groppa, e’ passi senza gli occhi muovo invano, Dinnanzi mi s’allunga la corteccia, e per piegarsi adietro si ragroppa, e tendomi com’arco sorïano.

David another celebrated sculpture

My loins press against my stomach my arse takes the weight of my back, and I cannot see where to put my feet. My skin in front is all stretched and all wrinkled-up behind as I bend like a Syrian bow.

Then there is the poetry written for the people he loved most, two especially: Tommaso Cavalieri and Vittoria Colonna, to both of whom he wrote numerous poems in which he shows how much he valued those closest to him and how much he depended on their esteem. In these poems there is a tenderness which perhaps he was reluctant to express in public. In a sonnet to Cavalieri he writes, using an image straight out of his sculpting practice:

I’ mi son caro assai più ch’i’ non soglio; poi ch’i’ t’ebbi nel cor più di me vaglio, come pietra c’aggiuntovi l’intaglio e di più pregio che ‘l suo primo scoglio.

More dear to me than I ever I was to myself,

More valued to myself since you are in my heart –like a stone that is carved is more highly prized than when it was just an unworked rock

To Vittoria Colonna, a noblewoman who became a close friend in his final years when he was much afflicted with the vicissitudes of old age and with fears about the afterlife, he wrote many poems, including one with the image of

a pendulum always seeking out its centre of gravity:

Donn’, a me vecchio e grave, ov’io torno e rientro e come a peso il centro che fuor di quel peso alcun non have, il ciel porge le chiave ...

Lady, to me in heavy old age, heaven gives the keys to turn to you like a weight returns to the centre finding no repose elsewhere…

[my translations]

Michelangelo has been the subject of much scholarly and popular literature. Anyone who would like to see deeper into his life and to appreciate better his extraordinary achievements will gain much from reading the biographers mentioned above, and from a biography by the modern scholar William Wallace, (Michelangelo, the Artist, the Man, and his Times, Cambridge University Press 2011).

There is also a novelistic treatment of his life by Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy (Doubleday1961). Those wishing to access his poetry will find an excellent selection (with notes) in Christopher Ryan’s dual text in the Everyman edition of Michelangelo, Selected Poems

Unique though he was as an artist, his poetry shows him to be a man like other men, by turns confident, by turns despairing and, as Shakespeare’s Hamlet

said, subject to ‘The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to’.

Michelangelo continued working until the very end of his long life and it was during his final years that he recommenced working on St. Peters’ Basilica at the Vatican when requested by Pope Paul III (1468-1549).

Begun in 1505 by Julius, it was still not finished 40 years later! Michelangelo, at 71 – an age which even today signals retirement for most people – returned to work and produced new designs and architectural innovations. The magnificent Basilica – a supreme embodiment of the Italian renaissance –was his final great project.

He died in 1564, leaving behind a truly extraordinary cornucopia of artworks in several different disciplines. He is one of the people of whom we could truly say that we will never see his like again.

Michelangelo was a man whom contemporaries described as volatile and quick-tempered, but through his poetry we discover another side to him.

The well-known detail from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Influenza (flu) is a highly infectious acute respiratory illness caused by the flu virus. Flu affects people of all ages. In a typical flu season, up to 500 people, mainly older people, die from flu in Ireland. Flu symptoms come on suddenly with a fever, muscle aches, headache and fatigue. This is different from a cold which is a much less severe illness compared to flu. A cold usually starts gradually with a sore throat and a blocked or runny nose. Symptoms of a cold are generally mild compared to flu.

Flu is unpredictable. While anyone can catch flu, some people are more at risk of getting seriously ill or needing hospital treatment. Serious breathing complications can develop, including pneumonia and bronchitis, to which older people, younger children and those with certain chronic medical conditions are particularly susceptible. Pregnant women are also at increased risk of severe complications from flu. Flu can significantly increase the risk of premature birth and even stillbirth during pregnancy.

This year the seasonal (annual) flu vaccine protects against four common virus strains. The flu virus changes each year and this is why a new flu vaccine has to be given each flu season.

Getting the flu vaccine is the best way to protect yourself, and others from the flu. This year the free flu vaccine is recommended for you if you are in one of these groups:

· Aged 65 years and over

· A health care worker

· A child aged 2 to 17 years

· At any stage of pregnancy

· People with certain medical conditions which put them at increased risk of complications from flu e.g. heart or lung disease

year to be protected for the flu season. Flu vaccines have been given to millions of people worldwide and are very safe. The flu vaccine cannot give you the flu. It takes 10-14 days for the vaccine to start protecting you against flu. Both flu and COVID-19 can cause serious illness. Flu and COVID-19 are caused by different viruses and the flu vaccine does not protect against COVID-19. It is important to get both the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine.

If you have had the COVID-19 vaccine you should still get the flu vaccine. You can get the flu vaccine at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine.

The flu vaccine and administration are free from participating GPs and Pharmacies to those within the recommended groups. If you are a health care worker, you may be able to get the free flu vaccine at your place of work.

More information is available from your GP, Public Health Nurse or Pharmacist.

www.hse.ie/flu provides details about flu vaccination, along with answers to any questions you may have about flu.

PNEUMOCOCCAL VACCINE

If you are over 65 or have a long term medical condition you should also ask your doctor about the pneumococcal vaccine which protects against pneumonia, if you have not previously received it. You can get the flu vaccine at the same time as the pneumococcal vaccine.

Why do you need flu vaccine?

Flu isn’t just a cold Flu is serious

Flu can cause pneumonia and bronchitis and can make chronic health conditions worse.

Flu vaccine protects you

Up to 500 people die from flu every year in Ireland.

You should get the flu vaccine if you:

• are 65 years and older or

• have a chronic health problem such as heart or lung disease or

• are pregnant

Flu vaccine protects others too

You should get the flu vaccine if you are a healthcare worker or a carer or if you live with someone with a chronic health condition.

Flu vaccine is free for people at risk

Talk to your GP (doctor) or pharmacist today about getting the flu vaccine.

For a movie that went into production without a finished script; a cranky leading actor whose marriage of four years was in a mess; a tough, demanding director whose accent few could understand; and to top it all, a world war raging, Casablanca exceeded all expectations.

It went on to win three Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay as well as two nominations, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

Made in 1942, its reputation has grown to the point that its leading players, memorable lines and pervasive theme song have all become iconic. It consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest movies in history. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress in Washington selected the film as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.’

A fascinating new book Bogie & Bacall by William J Mann and published by

Harper Collins UK, tells the fascinating story of the famous movie, described by the renowned New York Times critic Bosley Crowther as ‘a picture that makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap.’ To this day, 80 years on, it enjoys more revival screenings that any other film in history. Watch for it on TV around Christmas.

Also, more myths have grown up around this than any other movie, most of which have never been satisfactorily debunked. Most importantly, Ronald Reagan, the future US President, was never going to play Rick. Bogart was always first choice. He was Warners’ newest and brightest star, having just signed a $3,500-a-week contract.When the publicity people announced the movie, they plucked Reagan’s name out of a hat because he needed a bit of publicity. Nor did George Raft turn the part down as many say. However, he had rejected High Sierra, which had given Bogart his big break.

A leading Hollywood star, Humphrey Bogart was not an easy person to work with, although a lot had to do with his

wife Mayo Method, an actress who had put her own career on hold to become his third wife. They were known as the ‘Battling Bogarts’ as if they were Punch and Judy, with endless stories of fighting.

They were as feisty as each other and both could both drink everyone else under the table. ‘The bottle was what they had most in common,’ said actress Gloria Stuart. He was not adverse to hitting and abusing her, particularly when drunk.

A publicist observed a squabble between the couple that grew in intensity the more they drank, until Mayo, unsteady on her feet, fell backwards, becoming wedged between the sofa and the wall. As she lay there, Bogart kept screaming at her. But Mayo gave as good as she got.

An onlooker once encountered them at a café, heard a slap and assumed Bogart had struck his wife. But when he turned around to look, he saw that it was just the opposite. Bogie had been knocked off a barstool and was spread out on the floor with Mayo looming over him. It was all rather sad because, to begin with,

Thomas Myler on our continuous fascination with Casablanca

‘A picture that makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap.’

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Flights from Dublin or Cork to Venice

7 nights based in Lido di Jesolo

A full day excursion to Venice including a guided walking excursion taking in St. Mark’s Cathedral, the Ca’ d’Oro and Palazzo Ducale

Enjoy plenty of leisure time in Lido di Jesolo or visit the surrounding areas of Italy

Flights from Dublin to Rome

7 nights in Fiuggi, a historic city in Lazio, famous for its beautiful spas

A full day excursion to Rome including St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel (entrance fees included)

A full day excursion to Spoleto and Assisi including a tour of each city

A full day excursion to Ancient Rome including The Colosseum, Roman Forum and Trevi Fountain (Colosseum and Forum viewed from the outside)

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7 nights in Albufeira

A half day excursion to the beautiful town of Silves and the Algarve countryside

A full day excursion to the unspoilt towns of Lagos and Sagres

A half day excursion to the historic town of Faro and Loulè, including a walking excursion and farmers market

Free time at leisure

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Departure Months: 2023 2024

Flights from Dublin to Dubrovnik

7 nights in Dubrovnik

A city excursion of Dubrovnik’s walled Old Town, with entrance to the Franciscan Monastery and City Cathedral included

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Full day excursion to the island of Korcula to include a drive along the scenic Peljesac peninsula and a tour of Korcula’s Old Town

& beachside Tolo

Fully Guided 7 Nights 4 B&B / Half board

Flights from Dublin to Athens

3 nights in Athens and 4 nights in Tolo

A half day city tour of Athens, including the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Erecthion and the Panathinaiko Stadium (entrance to the Acropolis included)

A full day excursion to Delphi including the Temple of Apollo

A full day excursion to Mycenae, Epidaurus and Nafplio

A half day trip to the Island of Spetses

A day at leisure

Venetian Riviera – Light & Relaxed

Rome & Assisi

each thought they had found the perfect partner. Then it all went horribly sour.

To add to all this drama, he was also frustrated that while he was Warners’ biggest star, his contract with the studio did not give him script approval. Even when the outline for Casablanca, based on an unproduced play called Everybody Comes to Rick’s, was given to him, he thought it a poor script and certainly not a worthy follow-up to his recent The Maltese Falcon, his best film to date.

The movie is essentially the story of Resistance fighter Rick Blaine, played by Bogart, who operates a nightclub in Casablanca, Morocco controlled by the Vichi government. Nazis, freedom fighters and refugees all come to Rick’s, exchanging secrets and planning escapes Among them is Ilsa Lund, Rick’s lost love, played by Ingrid Bergman, who arrives with her husband, the Resistance leader Victor Laszlo, played by Paul Henreid.

Aware that Victor is being tailed by German agents, Ilsa hopes that Rick will help provide them with safe passage to the US. But as love for her former flame

blooms anew, she decides she will stay with Rick and let Victor go on alone. Rick is now left with a dilemma: heart versus conscience.

The movie had a superb supporting cast, probably one of the best ever assembled. Besides Bogie, Bergman and Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet is a corrupt club owner, Peter Lorre the snivelling cheat, Claude Rains the shifty police chief, Conrad Veidt the Nazi officer, S Z Sakall the head waiter and Dooley Wilson the piano player.

There were problems the moment shooting began. The director was Michael Curtiz, known ominously as ‘Iron Mike.’ Wearing heavy riding boots, he strode around the set as he barked out orders in a thick Hungarian accent few people could make out.

Curtiz was a workaholic, working long hours without pausing for lunch and dismissing actors who ate lunch as ‘lunch bums.’ All the while, there were continuing problems between the leads. Bogie had met his co-star only a few weeks before production began and

straight away, he felt little chemistry with Bergman. She was equally hesitant.

‘Oh, I’d kissed him but I didn’t know him,’ she said later. ‘Yes, he was polite, naturally, but I always felt there was a distance between us. He seemed to be behind a wall. True, I was intimidated by him. His movie The Maltese Falcon was playing in Hollywood at the time and I used to go there and see it quite often during the shooting of a Casablanca because I felt I might be able to know him a little better through that picture.’

The Irish actor Geraldine Fitzgerald from Greystones, Co. Wicklow recalled a meeting she had with the two of them in the canteen. ‘The whole subject at lunch was how they could get out of that movie,’ remembered Fitzgerald, who had been briefly considered for the part of Ilsa. ‘They thought the dialogue was ridiculous and the situations were unbelievable.’

Paul Henreid was even more dismayed. He had just starred opposite Bette Davis in the classic Now Voyager and was alarmed by the ‘terrible, terrible script.’

‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.’

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He thought his entrance in a creamcoloured suit, having supposedly escaped from a concentration camp, was ‘wildly inappropriate.’

The fact that Bogart was several inches shorter that the statuesque Bergman may have had something to do with being uncomfortable with her. In their scenes together, he had to strap three-inch wooden platforms to his shoes. It was said that it was first time as a romantic hero that he hadn’t measured up to his leading lady.

As shooting proceeded through the spring and summer of 1942, the cast’s spirits slumped. Even with the script now finished, they still lacked faith in the story. Rewrites were frequently being handed to them at the last minute. Several of the leading players threatened walk-outs.

Bogie especially didn’t buy the ending, where Rick, until that point entirely selfserving, cynical and sarcastic, does the noble thing. He tells Ilsa to go with her husband to America instead of staying with him, as he desperately wants.

Bergman was worried too, feeling illinformed about the character she was playing. She complained to screenwriter Howard Koch, ‘How can I play a love scene when I don’t know which man I’m going off with?’ The problem with that scene was that nobody could agree on the ending without appearing to take

Rick out of character. The scene was shot near the end of production. Predictably, star and director clashed again and more hours were lost as they argued some more.

Finally, they came to some understanding and Curtiz signalled the cameras to roll. Rick tells Ilsa to leave with Victor. She objects but Rick insists. Casablanca finally in the can. It went on to become the seventh highest-grossing movie of 1943. It seems all the rows and all the script changes and all the threatened walk-outs had been worthwhile.

Then there are the Casablanca quotes. Here are some of them:

‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.’

‘If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.’

‘Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday, you’ll understand that.’

‘Here’s looking at you kid.’

‘We’ll always have Paris.’

‘Round up the usual suspects.’

‘Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’

Also, to correct a popular misconception, Bogart never said ‘Play it again, Sam.’ What he said was ‘Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By.’

On a different occasion, he says, ‘You played it for her. You can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it.’

Director Michael Curtiz was a workaholic, working long hours without pausing for lunch and dismissing actors who ate lunch as ‘lunch bums.’

The iconic final scene at the airport

Peter Lorre played another of archetypal sleazy characters in the film

If you are 65 years of age and older, or have a chronic medical condition talk to your GP or Pharmacist about getting vaccinated

The sunshine vitamin appears to protect against dementia

By increasing everyone to normal levels of vitamin D, as much as 17 percent of dementia cases could be prevented in some populations, according to a whole new study. The figures represent a major breakthrough in the battle against this dreaded condition.

Most of us know someone with dementia, a condition that is normally associated with growing old. But who would have expected a common vitamin deficiency to be one of the underlying factors of this disease, which is among the major causes of disability and dependence in old age?

It’s the case, nonetheless. A first-of-its-kind study from the University of South Australia shows a direct link between dementia and lack of vitamin D.

Many cases could be avoided

The study, which is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has come up with several key findings. Besides mentioning that low vitamin D status is associated with lower brain volume and an increased risk of dementia and stroke, the study points to genetic analyses that support a causal effect of vitamin D deficiency and dementia.

Specifically, the researchers mention that in some populations, up to 17 percent of dementia cases could be prevented simply by raising people’s vitamin D in the blood to 50 nmol/L, which is considered to be the normal level.

Affects 55 million people globally

Dementia is a potentially devastating condition that affects over 55 million people worldwide. Every year, 10 million new cases are diagnosed. It’s therefore of vital importance to investigate new ways to prevent and treat this mental disorder. The current study is based on data from 294,514 participants from the UK Biobank, a comprehensive biomedical database and research resource with in-depth genetic and health information about half a million UK participants.

Vitamin D levels should be boosted

The scientists underline that their study is the first to examine the impact of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke by using robust genetic analyses among a large study population. Specifically, in this UK population from the UK Biobank, they observed how 17 percent of dementia cases may have been avoided by boosting vitamin D levels so they reach their normal range.

There is no official health claim for vitamin D and mental health. Still, science has found vitamin D receptors (VDR) in virtually all bodily tissues, including the brain, so there is reason to assume that good brain health depends on adequate amounts of the nutrient just like it is the case with bones, teeth, muscles, and other tissues.

Supplementation may be advisable

It is also relevant to mention that there is widespread vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency worldwide, even in sunny regions where one would assume that people got enough sun exposure to ensure healthy levels of the nutrient.

However, sun awareness campaigns, indoor living, and other factors contribute to the low vitamin D status in many individuals.

More and more people have become aware of the importance of having adequate levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream and therefore take a daily supplement to be on the safe side. It is always a good idea to choose a vitamin D supplement that is documented in published studies. Pharma Nord’s D-Pearls has been used in multiple studies in different countries and has been shown to provide good bioavailability and a reliable effect.

Source:

Vitamin D and brain health: an observational and Mendelian randomization study, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2022;DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac107

Mrs Brown puts the sizzle into fund-raising

Ireland’s favourite mammy joins forces with golf legend, Paul McGinley and Kearns Sausages

Kearns, one of Ireland’s best-selling sausage brands, has joined forces with Irish mammy, Mrs Brown, aka Brendan O’Carroll, to help raise funds for golfing legend, Paul McGinley’s charity, the McGinley Foundation.

For every pack of Kearns Sausages sold during the months of September and October, 30 cent will be donated, explained Stephen O’Carroll, head of sales and marketing for Kearns Sausages.

Stephen said: ‘We are delighted to bring together two Irish icons, Mrs Brown and Paul McGinley, to help raise funds and awareness for the McGinley Foundation which helps young people and children across Ireland. Supporting this campaign couldn’t be any easier as all you need to do is buy a pack of Kearns Sausages from your local supermarket.

‘Brendan O’Carroll has exclusively revealed to me that Agnes is a lifetime fan of Kearns Sausages,’ continued Stephen. 'She is an inner Dublin city mammy and Kearns is a staple in her house, so we know she’ll be helping with the fundraising efforts. We are extremely thankful to Brendan and to Mrs Brown for helping us raise awareness of our campaign.’

Mrs Brown’s Boys is one of Ireland’s greatest TV success stories and it is due to return to TV screens this September with a new series.

'Linking up with Kearns makes perfect sense,’ said comedian and Mrs Brown’s Boys creator, Brendan O’Carroll. ‘My mother used to buy them on a weekly basis, and they always went down a treat whether we had them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Agnes loves a good sausage, and you can’t get better than Kearns. Agnes says, ‘go out and get your mouth around my bangers now’.’

The McGinley Foundation, which was set up in 2013 when Paul McGinley was

announced as the 2014 European Ryder Cup Captain, aims to support charities and not-for-profit organisations with particular emphasis on those that assist and support children and young adults.

Paul McGinley said: ‘We are extremely excited about working with Kearns and with Brendan. The proceeds from this campaign will help several charities that I work with.’

From humble beginnings in a Dublin butcher shop in 1905, the Kearns Sausages business has expanded over the decades and its packs of sausages can now be found on supermarket shelves around the country. Visit www.kearnssausages.com for more information.

Paul McGinley said: ‘We are extremely excited about working with Kearns and with Brendan. The proceeds from this campaign will help several charities that I work with.’

Getting started: for absolute beginners

Bridge is a partnership game. North and South sit facing each other and make up one partnership. East and West sit facing each other and make up the opposing partnership.

This time you’re sure of making one trick with the Ace but you have a 50% chance of winning a second trick if you play your cards right. This time you must lead a low card from the North hand and chance the Queen whenever East plays any card apart from the King. The general principle when finessing is to lead from the hand containing the low card(s) TOWARDS the hand containing the high card that you are trying to promote into a winner. In other words, lead from the hand opposite to the one which contains the high card you are trying to promote into a winner.

Now look at this:

In Bridge there are surprisingly few ways of winning extra tricks: One common way of winning an extra trick or tricks is BY POSITION:

Take this example: NORTH

high card that you are trying to promote into a winner. In other words, lead from the hand opposite to the one which contains the high card you are trying to promote into a winner. Now look at this:

You are trying to win a trick with the King but one of the

♥ 4 3 2

Your best way to play this suit is to take the “deep finesse”, trying to promote your lower card first. Lead the ♥ 2 from South towards the ♥ 10 in the North hand. A quarter of the time, when West holds both the ♥ K and the ♥ J, the ♥ 10 will win. You’ll now return to the South hand by means of a different suit and lead to the ♥ Q. If your original play of the ♥ 10 drew the ♥ K, you’ll have promoted the ♥ Q. And if the ♥ 10 lost to the ♥ J originally, which will happen half the time, you can still lead to the ♥ Q on the second occasion.

Your best way to play this suit is to take the “deep finesse”, trying to promote your lower card first. Lead the ♥ 2 from South towards the ♥ 10 in the North hand. A quarter of the time, when West holds both the ♥ K and the ♥ J, the ♥ 10 will win. You’ll now return to the South hand by means of a different suit and lead to the ♥ Q. If your original play of the ♥ 10 drew the ♥ K, you’ll have promoted the ♥ Q. And if the ♥ 10 lost to the ♥ J originally, which will happen half the time, you can still lead to the ♥ Q on the second occasion.

Your best way to play this suit is to take the “deep finesse”, trying to promote your lower card first. Lead the ♥2 from South towards the ♥10 in the North hand. A quarter of the time, when West holds both the♥K and the ♥J, the♥10 will win. You’ll now return to the South hand by means of a different suit and lead to the ♥Q. If your original play of the ♥10 drew the K, you’ll have promoted the ♥Q. And if the ♥10 lost to the ♥J originally, which will happen half the time, you can still lead to the ♥Q on the second occasion.

https://www.andrewrobson.co.uk/andrew/tips_for_intermediates

This next example shows another very common finesse involving the Queen. This time, the ♠ Q is separated from her guardian, the ♠ A.

This next example shows another very common finesse involving the Queen. This time, the ♠ Q is separated from her guardian, the ♠ A.

This next example shows another very common finesse involving the Queen. This time, the ♠Q is separated from her guardian, the ♠A.

Begin by leading a low spade, the ♠ 6, from the South hand, the hand opposite the ♠ Q. You’re hoping that West, the second hand, has the missing ♠ K. In this case, West does have the ♠ K. West has a couple of play options:

Begin by leading a low spade, the ♠6, from the South hand, the hand opposite the ♠Q. You’re hoping that West, the second hand, has the missing ♠K. In this case, West does have the ♠K. West has a couple of play options:

Begin by leading a low spade, the ♠ 6, from the South hand, the hand opposite the ♠ Q. You’re hoping that West, the second hand, has the missing ♠ K. In this case, West does have the ♠ K. West has a couple of play options:

If West plays a low spade, the ♠2, you take the trick with the Q. If West takes the trick with the ♠K, your ♠Q becomes a later trick. Of course, if East, the fourth hand, has the ♠K, it gobbles up your ♠Q, and your finesse loses. C’est la vie

If West plays a low spade, the ♠ 2, you take the trick with the ♠ Q. If West takes the trick with the ♠ K, your ♠ Q becomes a later trick. Of course, if East, the fourth hand, has the ♠ K, it gobbles up your ♠ Q, and your finesse loses. C’est la vie.

If West plays a low spade, the ♠ 2, you take the trick with the ♠ Q. If West takes the trick with the ♠ K, your ♠ Q becomes a later trick. Of course, if East, the fourth hand, has the ♠ K, it gobbles up your ♠ Q, and your finesse loses. C’est la vie.

If you wish to receive three times per week free bridge emails which include lessons, videos & quizzes, please email me:

Upcoming Bridge Breaks

For anyone who is interested, I’m running a Bridge Absolute Beginners Course from the 26th – 30th of November 2023 in The Falls Hotel, Ennistymon, Co. Clare No prior knowledge of Bridge required or expected. Please contact the hotel directly for details.

bridge.

CHRISTMAS 2023

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What is The Blackwood Convention?

In his own first publication on the convention in 1949, Easley Blackwood comments on the entries in books by others and noted that "...in every one of these books, they have it wrong!"

He pointed out several misconceptions and concluded with a summary of the "complete and official" Blackwood Slam Convention. A synopsis of that summary follows:

1. In order to make the 4NT ace-asking bid, you must first:

Easley Blackwood, one of the most famous personalities in the history of contract bridge and the inventor of one of the game's best-known conventions.

Easley Blackwood was so fearful of his name becoming known for his invention of the Blackwood Convention that he asked for the name of Ernest Wormwood to be used instead. The reason for this was that he was in insurance and held a senior position as the manager of the Metropolitan Life Insurance office in Indianapolis. He felt that if his bosses knew that he was involved in a risky game such as bridge, his career might be in jeopardy. When he devised his system in 1933 he had to keep quiet about it.

The impetus for its invention occurred when he bid to a grand slam in Spades while missing the Ace of Spades and as a result lost a tournament. Yet when he first attempted to test the system shortly thereafter, he and his partner were barred from play.

Once known about, his system caught on by word of mouth and spread like wildfire.

Blackwood is the most well-recognized convention for slam bidding. When a player is interested in slam but afraid of missing two aces, and hence two tricks, he can bid 4NT to ask his partner how many aces he holds.

Blackwood's original summary

After developing the concept in 1933, Easley Blackwood submitted an article proposing his slam-seeking convention to The Bridge World magazine but it was rejected. Nevertheless, it gained awareness and use amongst players and was written about by several authors.

1. think your partnership has sufficient strength for a slam,

2. expect to be able to make at the fivelevel even if partner has no aces, and

3. be prepared with a sound rebid no matter how partner responds

2. Partner's responses to the 4NT ace-asking bid are made in step-wise fashion:

1. 5♣ to indicate 0 or 4 aces

2. 5u to indicate 1 ace

3. 5♥ to indicate 2 aces

4. 5♠ to indicate 3 aces

3. When responding, do not count a void as an ace.

4. If the 4NT bidder, after hearing partner's response, bids a previously unmentioned suit, responder must bid 5NT to end the auction.

5. A 5NT bid after a response to a 4NT ace-asking bid, asks for kings.

6. Partner's responses to the 5NT king-asking bid are made in step-wise fashion:

1. 6♣ to indicate 0 kings

2. 6u to indicate 1 king

3. 6♥ to indicate 2 kings

4. 6♠ to indicate 3 kings

5. 6NT to indicate 4 kings

7. To ask for kings via 5NT, one must first ask for aces via 4NT even when possessing all four aces oneself.

8. A jump to 5NT without employing the 4NT ace-asking bid is the Culbertson Grand Slam Force (invented by Josephine Culbertson née Murphy of Irish parentage) which obliges partner to bid the grand slam if he holds two of the three top trumps and a small slam if he does not.

9. The king-asking 5NT bid assures partner possession of all four aces.

In nine decades, the Blackwood convention has spawned a host of variations the latest being Roman Key Card Blackwood, which is now highly popular in tournament play.

Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB) Roman Key Card Blackwood (RKCB) has largely replaced the standard version among tournament players. According to RKCB there are five equivalent key cards rather than just the four aces: the king of trumps is counted as the fifth key card. The key card replies to 4NT are more compressed than standard ones and they also begin to locate the queen of trumps.

5♣ – 0 or 3 key cards

5u – 1 or 4 key cards

5♥ – 2 or 5 cards without the trump queen

5♠ – 2 or 5 key cards with the trump queen

Although the replies to 4NT are more compressed, it is almost always possible to infer which number of keycards is correct: 0 or 3, 1 or 4, 2 or 5. Evidence for that inference includes the entire previous bidding sequence as well as the number of key cards that the 4NT bidder holds.

Some partnerships use the 5♣ response to show 1 or 4 key cards and the 5u response to show 3 or none, dubbed "1430" (coincidentally the score for making a vulnerable small slam in a major suit), with the original version being dubbed "3014" when distinction is necessary.

Many players throughout the world still use Blackwood in its original form. It has been estimated that if Mr. Blackwood had received a one-penny royalty every time his convention was used, he would have been a billionaire twice over.

Improver level bridge break

I shall be running a new bridge break at Improver Level at Knock House Hotel, Co. Mayo, 14th January – 17th January next. Please phone the hotel at 094 9388088 for details.

For anyone who is interested, I’m running a Bridge Absolute Beginners Course from the 26th – 30th of November 2023 in The Falls Hotel, Ennistymon, Co. Clare. No prior knowledge of Bridge required or expected. Please contact the hotel directly for details.

What is The Blackwood Cinvention?

Think Ahead is the easy and convenient way to plan for future needs

Think Ahead is the easy and convenient way to plan for future needs

Irish Hospice Foundation simplifies Advance Care Planning with Think Ahead

Irish Hospice Foundation simplifies Advance Care Planning with Think Ahead

Think Ahead - What is it?

Think Ahead - What is it?

Think Ahead - What is it?

Think Ahead Planning Packs, developed by Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF), are easy to read guides for patients, their families, and caregivers to start putting their affairs in order for their end of life.

Think Ahead Planning Packs, developed by Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF), are easy to read guides for patients, their families, and caregivers to start putting their affairs in order for their end of life.

Think Ahead Planning Packs, developed by Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF), are easy to read guides for patients, their families, and caregivers to start putting their affairs in order for their end of life.

With Think Ahead, people can make their care wishes known, appoint somebody to act as their healthcare advocate, keep track of important documents, and more. In the 10 years since Think Ahead was initially launched, it has become a key advance care planning resource for people in Ireland.

With Think Ahead, people can make their care wishes known, appoint somebody to act as their healthcare advocate, keep track of important documents, and more. In the 10 years since Think Ahead was initially launched, it has become a key advance care planning resource for people in Ireland.

With Think Ahead, people can make their care wishes known, appoint somebody to act as their healthcare advocate, keep track of important documents, and more. In the 10 years since Think Ahead was initially launched, it has become a key advance care planning resource for people in Ireland.

Planning ahead can reduce stress or anxiety people may feel when facing dying. Using Think Ahead can also reduce conflict between family members. Over 100,000 people have already received a version of Think Ahead through their GP, at events, or by ordering from IHF.

Planning ahead can reduce stress or anxiety people may feel when facing dying. Using Think Ahead can also reduce conflict between family members. Over 100,000 people have already received a version of Think Ahead through their GP, at events, or by ordering from IHF.

Planning ahead can reduce stress or anxiety people may feel when facing dying. Using Think Ahead can also reduce conflict between family members. Over 100,000 people have already received a version of Think Ahead through their GP, at events, or by ordering from IHF.

What’s in the Revised Think Ahead Pack?

What’s in the Revised Think Ahead Pack?

What’s in the Revised Think Ahead Pack?

My Personal Wishes and Care Plan booklet asks people completing the forms how they would like to be cared for, in the face of illness or injury. They can record where they would prefer to be - at home, in hospital, or hospice; what is important to them - such as having visitors, spiritual or religious beliefs, favourite music; as well as how to care for them. This document also allows patients to keep track of legal and financial information, and for the courageous - what type of funeral and after-

My Personal Wishes and Care Plan booklet asks people completing the forms how they would like to be cared for, in the face of illness or injury. They can record where they would prefer to be - at home, in hospital, or hospice; what is important to them - such as having visitors, spiritual or religious beliefs, favourite music; as well as how to care for them. This document also allows patients to keep track of legal and financial information, and for the courageous - what type of funeral and after- death care they would prefer.

My Personal Wishes and Care Plan booklet asks people completing the forms how they would like to be cared for, in the face of illness or injury. They can record where they would prefer to be - at home, in hospital, or hospice; what is important to them - such as having visitors, spiritual or religious beliefs, favourite music; as well as how to care for them. This document also allows patients to keep track of legal and financial information, and for the courageous - what type of funeral and after-

death care they would prefer. My Advance Healthcare Directive booklet guides patients in how to refuse or request treatment for a later date, if some illness or injury means they cannot express their choices and they can appoint a trusted person to make healthcare decisions on their behalf. In the Medical Summary , patients can summarise what has been detailed in their Think Ahead documents once completed and ask their healthcare team to make a copy for their medical file. This ensures that if the time comes, everybody who needs to know is already aware of a patient’s recorded choices. All are enclosed in a handy folder for safekeeping.

death care they would prefer. My Advance Healthcare Directive booklet guides patients in how to refuse or request treatment for a later date, if some illness or injury means they cannot express their choices and they can appoint a trusted person to make healthcare decisions on their behalf. In the Medical Summary Form/leaflet, patients can summarise what has been detailed in their Think Ahead documents once completed and ask their healthcare team to make a copy for their medical file. This ensures that if the time comes, everybody who needs to know is already aware of a patient’s recorded choices. All are enclosed in a handy folder for safekeeping.

My Advance Healthcare Directive booklet guides patients in how to refuse or request treatment for a later date, if some illness or injury means they cannot express their choices and they can appoint a trusted person to make healthcare decisions on their behalf.

To Learn More

To Learn More

In My Medical Summary Form, patients can summarise what has been detailed in their Think Ahead documents once completed and ask their healthcare team to make a copy for their medical file. This ensures that if the time comes, everybody who needs to know is already aware of a patient’s recorded choices. All are enclosed in a handy folder for safekeeping.

To Learn More

IHF are running events on Think Ahead over the next few months where people can learn how to use Think Ahead packs and start conversations with their loved ones. Valerie Smith, IHF’s Public Engagement Lead knows talking about dying can be hard, “but talking about it can make dying and death less fear-filled, and a better experience for everyone.”

IHF are running events on Think Ahead over the next few months where people can learn how to use Think Ahead packs and start conversations with their loved ones. Valerie Smith, IHF’s Public Engagement Lead knows talking about dying can be hard, “but talking about it can make dying and death less fear-filled, and a better experience for everyone.”

IHF are running events on Think Ahead over the next few months where people can learn how to use Think Ahead packs and start conversations with their loved ones. Valerie Smith, IHF’s Public Engagement Lead knows talking about dying can be hard, “but talking about it can make dying and death less fear-filled, and a better experience for everyone.”

For further information and to order Think Ahead packs: visit www.thinkahead.ie, call IHF on (01) 679 3188 or email thinkahead@hospicefoundation.ie Email valerie.smith@hospicefoundation.ie or call (01)963 1161 to arrange Think Ahead training for your community.

For further information and to order Think Ahead packs: visit www.thinkahead.ie, call IHF on (01) 679 3188 or email thinkahead@hospicefoundation.ie Email valerie.smith@hospicefoundation.ie or call (01)963 1161 to arrange Think Ahead training for your community.

For further information and to order Think Ahead packs:

Valerie Smith (5th from right) at a recent Think Ahead training event.

Age Action Cork

Are you or someone you know in need of a helping hand around the house? Age Action Maintenance Team is here to support you! We provide services throughout Cork to make sure you can remain in your home with dignity and independence.

Hospital Discharge Programme

Free of charge service (except for materials) for people coming out of hospital, nursing home etc. Whatever needs doing to make the return home comfortable, and regardless of home or hospital location, we can move furniture, clear areas for first time use of mobility aids, install grab rails in and stair rails. Our staff are on the phone to take your requests from 9 – 5 weekdays: 021 2067399.

General DIY Programme

For those smaller jobs – the tasks we used to be able to - we have a team of Care and Repair volunteers who will carry out jobs that would not require a tradesman, free of charge. They can assist with various household tasks such as installing smoke/carbon monoxide alarms, security locks, fixing door handles and taps, putting up curtain rails, small painting jobs, garden work. They will always call you beforehand to arrange the job.

At Age Action, our aim is to make your home a safe and comfortable place, ensuring you have the support you need. Whether it's post-hospital care or DIY assistance, we're here to lend a helping hand!

AGE ACTION GETTING STARTED

PROGRAMME CORK - Digital Empowerment for the Modern Senior!

Do you or a loved one feel left behind in the digital age? Age Action's Getting Started Team is here to bridge that gap! We offer one-to-one training courses throughout Cork to ensure you stay connected and confident in the digital world.

• Digital Literacy Courses: Completely free one-on-one sessions tailored for those unfamiliar with technology. Whether it's learning to send an email, video call with family, or simply browse the internet, our dedicated volunteers are here to guide you patiently and at your own pace, step by step.

weekdays

Home Assistance for a Safer and Cozy Living!

At Age Action, our mission is to ensure that the digital world is accessible to everyone, regardless of age. From mastering basic tech skills to navigating the latest apps, we're here to support your digital journey!

If you or someone you know could benefit from Age Action's services, or if you simply wish to learn more, don't hesitate to contact us. Our Cork office is conveniently located, and the team is always eager to assist.

Cork Office Details: WEARE MOVING OFFICE

Location: Age Action, Core House, Westpoint Business Park, Link Rd, Carrigrohane, Ballincollig, Co. Cork

Contact: Tel: 021-2067399

Email: aac@ageaction.ie

Opening Times: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM,

Get in touch with Age Action today and discover the wealth of resources and support available to you. Your golden years deserve nothing but the best!

Consumers warned to be on high alert for text message scamsFraudSMART

eFlow, the HSE, parcel delivery services or any other company, do not to click on the link, especially if there is a sense of urgency to it. Pause for thought and if in any doubt contact the company independently.”

Ms Davenport continued: “Don’t be afraid to ask for help if something goes wrong. Sometimes people who have given their bank details to a fraudster keep that fact to themselves out of embarrassment. If you have shared your bank details and realise that it is a scam, report it to your bank and the Gardaí as soon as possible. FraudSMART also provides a wealth of information and tips so visit the website at fraudsmart.ie to keep up to date on the latest advice.”

What to do if you receive a suspicious text message:

• Do not respond to messages with personal information.

FraudSMART is warning consumers to be on high alert as text message fraud, known as smishing, continues to become more prevalent. A recent survey by FraudSMART revealed that this type of fraud is now the dominant channel for fraud attempts, with 1 in 2 adults having received fraudulent text message in the previous 12 months. These text messages often include a link and sense of urgency requiring immediate action.

A recent FraudSMART report shows that fraudsters stole nearly €85 million (€84.6m) through frauds and scams in 2022, an increase of 8.8% on 2021. Card fraud accounted for over 95% of fraudulent payment transactions with most of the increase driven by online card fraud or ‘card not present’ fraud where a criminal uses the victim’s compromised card information to make an online purchase.

Commenting on how consumers can stay alert, Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime, FraudSMART said: “The truth is any of us can fall victim to fraudsters. Frauds and scams are becoming increasingly more complex and credible and are often undertaken by criminal gangs who run large scale operations. Banks are using a range of measures such as encryption and continuous fraud monitoring to protect their customers and ensure every day payments can be made securely, but fraudsters are increasingly targeting businesses and consumers directly through online channels including emails and social media or by phone, so it is important for us all to know how to protect ourselves.”

“If you receive a text asking you for personal or financial information, whether its purporting to be from your bank,

• Do not click on links in text messages, instead log into your service provider account through the official website or app

• A bank will never text/email/phone looking for personal information.

• Contact your bank/service provider/employer directly.

• Never use contact details from a text message, always independently verify.

• Always double check before clicking links or attachments in random or unexpected emails or texts and never give away security details such as PINs or passwords to anyone.

Consumers can access a wealth of other advice on how to avoid fraud by visiting www.FraudSMART.ie and signing up for email alerts on current risks and trends.

About FraudSMART: FraudSMART is a fraud awareness initiative developed by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) in conjunction with the following member banks, Allied Irish Bank plc, Bank of Ireland, KBC Bank Ireland, Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank, An Post Money Barclays and Avant Money. The programme aims to raise consumer and business awareness of the latest financial fraud activity and trends and provide simple and impartial advice on how best they can protect themselves and their resources. www.fraudsmart.ie

Crossword.  Three subscriptions to Senior Times

Margaret Mungan, Castlerea, Co Roscommon

Bryan Jackson, Kilcullen, Co Kildare

Marie O’Sullivan, Bantry, Co Cork

Three copies of As Tides Go Out

Brona Burke, Enfield, Co Meath

Pat  O’Connor, Douglas, Cork

Helen  Folen, Spiddal, Co Galway

Western Ways

George Keegan on what’s happening in travel, the arts, food and entertainment along the Western Seaboard

Michael Davitt Museum is a real gem

Michael Davitt was born in Straide, County Mayo and became a global reformer. During a short and difficult life (1846- 1906), his achievements were extraordinary. He was evicted during the Great Famine, began working in England at the age of 9 years and in early life during his time at a cotton mill lost an arm which had become entangled in a machine. He joined the Fenian Movement becoming an arms agent for England and Scotland (for which he spent seven years penal servitude in prison charged with treason). Afterwards he became known as the one-armed Fenian.

Davitt also established the Land League, was invited by Michael Cusack to become a patron of the GAA, became President of The Irish Democratic Trade and Labour Federation (later the Irish Congress of Trade Unions) and was requested to lay the first sod at Celtic Park where he named the club Celtic F.C. In between all this he travelled the world as a journalist writing about and attempting to help people in distress. During his writing career he produced six books.

If interested in learning the complete story of Michael Davitt’s life then head for a real gem of a museum situated in a rural setting along the N58 between Castlebar and Ballina in the very heart of the Yew County. Originally established within the local community centre building, the artifacts on display were then transferred to the old parish church on the same grounds which was completely refurbished and transformed into the present day museum. On entering you will encounter showcase after showcase of historic artifacts, all donated by family members and neighbours. Among the items which stand out are a set of Land League drums with 19th century flute, plus original Land League sash, Davitt’s walking stick and a signed menu by Eamon De Valera when he attended a commemorative dinner celebrating Davitt’s centenary. Michael Davitt died in Dublin at the age of sixty from septicaemia and at his own request is

buried in Straide. His grave is situated beside the 13th century Straide Friary beside the museum.

While in prison Michael Davitt’s parents and three of his sisters emigrated to America and settled in Scranton where his father Martin is now buried. Last month a politician from that city on a visit to the homes of his grandparents in the Mayo area called into the museum. He announced that he is very keen, if elected in the November elections, to set up a museum in his home city to relate the story of Davitt and his connection with Scranton to the American people.

The museum is open to the public from 10am – 5pm Monday to Saturday. Admission charges are adults €8 and children €3. On arrival visitors are invited to watch a ten minute video outlining Michael Davitt’s life and times, before taking the guided tour explaining all about the items on display, then walking around the Sensory Garden, visiting the Davitt grave and 13th Century Straide Friary. Note all visitors also receive a free pass to the Céide Fields plus a 10 per cent discount voucher for food or goods purchased at the Foxford Woollen Mills a short distance away.

The Michael Davitt Museum requires extra funding sooner rather than later if it is to survive into the future and staff need to be employed on a full-time basis rather than on temporary contracts. It did receive some heartening news recently that Mayo Co. Co intend to continue GMA funding in the 2024 annual budget. However extra funding will also be required to help the museum to develop further and the same time remain viable.

Michael Davitt’s statue outside the Museum

Inside the attractively presented museum

Michael Davitt’s walking stick

Tours now available to Mayo oyster farm

Situated at Roslaher, Kilmeena a short distance from the main Westport to Newport road and along the Great Western Greenway you will find Croagh Patrick Seafoods, a family run business producing Clew Bay native oysters, Pacific oysters, mussels and clams. For well over twenty five years the Gannons have successfully been harvesting oysters, producing them for both the local market and exporting to Europe, mainly France.

Padraig Gannon, one of a family of nine children, took over his father’s farm after finishing an agriculture course in the early 1980’s. He owned a small herd of dairy cattle and the thatched cottage where his father was born became the diary unit. It was becoming increasingly difficult to survive with such a small holding but fortunately he happened to meet some French tourists who suggested he might perhaps consider moving into aquaculture instead. The idea was born and he contacted Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) who informed him they were intending to run a course, so he signed up. This was a one-year course held in nearby Newport and as a part of it Padraig spent two weeks at a shellfish farm in Brittany to gain experience. His newly established oyster farm went from strength to strength. Some months ago he decided it was the right time to build a Visitor Centre and offer guided tours.

Padraig told me 80% of the oysters are shipped to France where they actually acquire the tiny seeds for growing. It takes 3-4 years from seed to plate. He believes Aqua tourism in this country has definitely arrived. “It has a great future as more and more people like to know and view where food products originate and It can only enhance the production process”, he says.

Cork Elizabeth Fort well

The new state of the art unit was officially opened last month and has become one of 22 tasting points along the Great Western Way between Donegal and Kinsale in Cork. Facilities include a kitchen to prepare the seafood, an area for tasting, large information posters lining the walls outlining the many aspects of oyster production techniques, flavours etc. Taking pride of place at the centre is an original curragh once used for fishing in Clew Bay.

Each tour begins with Padraig giving an introductory talk about his family’s history and an explanation on how oyster farming works. Visitors are then brought down to the shoreline to view the oyster process and enjoy a tasting before spending some time in the new Centre. Tours should be booked in advance and visits can be subject to tide and weather conditions.

Should you not be interested in taking a tour the new Centre is an ideal spot for a lunch break. On the menu there is a choice of smoked salmon, steamed mussels and fresh or grilled oysters.

The star shaped Elizabeth Fort (Dún Eilíse) situated on Barrack Street in Cork City just a short walk from St.Finbarrs Cathedral, dates back to the 17th century. It has played an important role in city life all down the years. First constructed in 1601 and built from earth, stone and timber it was completely re-constructed between 1624 and 1626. It has survived many revolts, the siege of Cork, War of Independence and the Irish Civil War and was in use as a military or judicial base until 2013. Now you visit the Elizabeth Fort free of charge and enjoy spectacular views of the cityscape below. It’s open daily between May and September (closed Mondays Oct-April). There are guided tours at 1pm each day costing €5 per person with no booking required, or you can use an audio guide in 6 languages for €3 per person.

Upcoming Cork events

Sounds From A Safe Harbour: This Festival taking place from 7th -10th September at numerous venues around the city promises to be an eclectic mix of music, dance, literature, theatre and conversation. It is curated jointly by Bryce and Aaron Dessner, well known as founders of rock band The Natural, actor Cillian Murphy and playwright Enda Walsh. The festival director is Mary Hickson.

The 50 Plus Show: Don’t forget to call into the ever popular 50 Plus Show which will be held in the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa at Little Island on 12th and 13th September. It will feature over 50 displays covering health, hobbies, pastimes, personal finance advice, several workshops and much more. A shuttle service will be available to and from the venue on both days. Open 10am – 4pm.

Useful websites

www.michaeldavittmuseum.ie

www.croagh-patrickseafoods.ie

www.corkcity.ie/en/elizabethfort

www.seniortimes.ie

Life and Soll of the party

Soll and beyond in Austria

The hills are alive.. with the sweet sound of tinkling bells from the collars of grazing goats. The sky is a magnificent blue, the mountain air is crispy fresh, the last of the ski-season snow has melted, and the luscious green grass reminds me of home. But I am nowhere near home. I’m in Northwest Austria in the splendid Tyrol region. Soll, to be exact. I almost expect a plaited Heidi type character to come skipping out from behind a fir tree.

Apart from the obviously stunning scenery all around me, I am in awe of the cleanliness of the area. It is spotless, pictureperfect – the sort of place you’d be tempted to sit down by the side of the road to enjoy an apple strudel. I fell in love with Soll from the second our hired transfer bus brought us here from the airport. The sight of the wondrous Alps looming ahead in all their dramatic glory, snatched my breath away.

Soll is part of the Wilder Kaiser Alps region, very close to the German border. We flew from Dublin airport into Munich airport which is about an hour and 40 minutes away from the resort. The transfer was comfortable and without hassle. When you think of Austria, you probably imagine snow and skiing, but Soll is an all-round resort, not just for winter skiers. It is also a great summer or autumn destination with plenty of sunshine and activities on offer for everyone. What struck me most is that this is a very family friendly resort – suitable for granny and grandad, mum and dad, and kiddies of all ages. The more energetic visitors will enjoy challenging hikes offering spectacular scenery, but for those that just wish to sunbathe and relax? That is fine too. This is an ideal spot for retirees who love the outdoors but don’t need to exert themselves too much if they don’t wish to. Keen photographers of all ages will be in their element with the mix of forestry, rivers and beautiful lakes.

In fact, one of the highlights of my trip was an impromptu lake swim at nearby Hintersteiner See. The water was so clean I could see my feet, and it was instantly refreshing and exhilarating. Can you imagine

on offer here. A small slice of paradise.

Food lovers visiting Soll will adore the vast choice of restaurants. As a vegetarian I was spoiled for choice with the Austrian fare. I particularly liked the menu at the spacious and popular Auf da Muhle in the centre of town, but the resort offers plenty for meat lovers too. Fancy a burger? Check out a great casual dining eaterie called the Schulhaus. This small, but eclectic restaurant also offers quirky family accommodation in musicthemed rooms. It gets busy though, so I’d recommend booking.

The restaurants in Soll are not unreasonably priced and are usually lively, but not uncomfortably so. We ate one evening at the Franzlhof Hotel (www.franzlhof. com), where we were staying for our short stay. The meals were great and we had our pre-dinner drinks out on the delightful sunny terrace, which was a treat. If residing here, aim for a room with a balcony overlooking the mountains. It is such a pleasure to pull back the curtains each morning to watch the cows and goats grazing at the foot of the hills. They even have a sauna – swimsuits are not required!

A good place for lunch outdoors and to enjoy some people-watching is the Alpengasthof Hochsoll restaurant right next to the gondola station. The menu is impressive (try the dumplings!) and the desserts are particularly wonderful). I loved the fact that you could sit outside, but under the shade, as it gets quite hot during the day.

E bikes are the best way to explore the surrounding areas. You can hire them out individually or else join a guided group tour. Now I wouldn’t be much of a cyclist. Years of battling the rain on my bike ride to school, could never convince me this is a fun activity. However, E bikes are a completely different story and are a dream to navigate. Even complete beginners will quickly grasp how to ride one of these beauties. We hired our bikes from Sports Edinger, at the valley station. In winter they also hire out ski equipment and the staff members are very helpful and knowledgeable.

amusement park with spooky attractions and fun water play areas. You can even watch women in witches’ hats and dresses make brooms in their workshops! It’s fun and so different. Oh, and you don’t have to be very young to enjoy it either. Myself and my inner child had a ball!

Of course, you couldn’t have a trip to Austria without enjoying some traditional schnaps. We had our own private tasting in the Oberkollerhof, and although we were pretty tired after our early flight, this was a highlight of the trip. Tastings take place in a stunning, very old traditional chalet. Simon and Fabian Koller who run the distillery, will teach you how the schnaps is made. Bookings need to be made in advance, and just make sure you’re not driving after the tastings as the schnaps are strong.

I really wish I could go back and enjoy the trip all over again. Late summer or early Autumn would be an excellent time to visit before the snow arrives. No matter what the season though, this is a very special place. I miss it already. Soll, you have stolen my heart!

Useful links:

Marisa Mackie is the author of Confessions of an Air Hostess

The picturesque village of Soll set snugly in the Austrian Alps

Meeting a Soll witch. I’m on the right!

Pat Keenan reports on happenings in and around the capital

Meandering through history on Dublin’s Southside

Sinéad

enthralled with that voice that made her an internationally successful singer/songwriter. Never afraid to speak her mind at home or abroad, no matter how that might damage or hurt her career. It was all part of her often confused search for some kind of spirituality.

Recent meanderings took me to the end of the DART line on Dublin's southside, and a bit beyond. On Bray seafront, the outpouring of grief by thousands of fans from far and wide paying tribute to Sinéad O’Connor, supremely talented yet recurrently troubled woman who touched the country and many lives for the better. Sinéad enthralled with that voice that made her an internationally successful singer/songwriter. Never afraid to speak her mind at home or abroad, no matter how that might damage or hurt her career. It was all part of her often confused search for some kind of spirituality.

Damaged as far back to her early teens when petty theft and truancy had her placed for over a year and a half in the uncaring hands of nuns, washing priest's clothes and scrubbing floors in a 'training centre' at St Mary’s High Park Convent on Grace Park Road Drumcondra beside the infamous Magdalene Asylum.

Continuing to Greystones and a bit inland to Annamoe and memories of my old friend, food critic and fellow traveller Paolo Tullio who in the 1970/80s ran Armstrong's Barn Restaurant. Like many high-end restaurants it provided a private dining room for the rich and famous, neighbours like John Boorman, Frederick Forsyth and their well known friends. But most famously Taoiseach Charles J Haughey and social columnist Terry Keane. This particular private dining room had a separate entrance so one could slip in or out unseen by diners in the main restaurant. It had one large table that would seat from two to twelve guests. A switch at the table would turn on a red light outside the door. Normally used to summon staff to enter but CJ Haughey used it differently, for him the red light meant 'do not disturb.'

Still in Annamoe, Glendalough House was the ancestral home of the AngloIrish Protestant unionist and imperialist landowning Childers and Barton families, both were loyal supporters of the the British administration in Ireland. They served in the South African Zulu war. Erskine Childers served with the British Army in the Boer War. Famously, before Ian Fleming and John le Carré, Childers wrote the first modern spy

novel The Riddle of the Sands. By the early 1900s all began to change, he and cousin Barton became supporters of Irish Home Rule and self government and became much more radicalised when he and his wife Mollie landed in Howth aboard his yacht with over 1,000 German rifles for the Irish Volunteers.

The outbreak of the First World War brought Childers back to side with Britain where he served in the Royal Navy and later in the new RAF. Post war, despite high praise from Churchill, the divided loyalties of being English or Irish returned. Precisely what caused him to break with empirical unionism and return to Irish nationalism remain open to conjecture, we may never know. He even opposed the Treaty and joined with Eamon de Valera. Incensed, Arthur Griffith called him ‘a damned Englishman.’ It was in Annamoe at his family ancestral home where Free State forces arrested Childers and took him for imprisonment in Portobello Barracks.

His son, also Erskine, then 16 briefly interrupted his education at Gresham's School at Holt in Norfolk, England, so that he could visit his father in his prison cell. His father would shortly after be executed by a firing squad at Beggar’s

O’Connor

With restauranteur, food critic and fellow traveller Paolo Tullio in Scicily in 2003.

Bush Barracks in Dublin. Young Erskine returned to England to complete his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA in history and politics. In time he would become a Fianna Fail TD, a minister in several governments in the 1950s and 60s and became the fourth president of Ireland. When he died in office in 1973 his state funeral in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was attended by the previous Irish President Éamon de Valera, and Earl Mountbatten of Burma represented Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and opposition leader Edward Heath. He is buried at Derralossary Church of Ireland, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow.

State funerals

State Funerals are usually reserved for Irish dignitaries. Although Childers was English by his birth at 13 Embankment

Gardens, Chelsea, London. He became a naturalised Irish citizen while working in Dublin at The Irish Press in 1938. There were exceptions. Adolph Reifferscheidt, German Ambassador died in office Dublin in 1963.

His state funeral was at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough Street. In 1976 Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave made the offer of a state funeral for British Ambassador Christopher Ewart Biggs after his car was blown up by an IRA land mine on Murphystown Road, at the time just a country road, today a teeming thoroughfare on the Luas line linking Leopardstown and Carrickmines.

Jane Ewart Biggs thanked him but declined. His remains were taken from St Vincent's Hospital to Baldonnel Airport and returned home.

Chester Beatty funeral honour

English born Chester Beatty became the first private citizen in Irish history to receive a State Funeral. He had a large townhouse on Ailesbury Road and in 1953 opened his Chester Beatty Library on Shrewsbury Road. The library which housed his collection of rare manuscripts, books, and other treasures

from round the world. He was made a Freeman of Dublin in 1954 and became the first person ever granted honorary Irish citizenship (1957). He continued living through the 50s and 60s between Dublin and the south of France, still actively acquiring important Ethiopian manuscripts and Japanese printed

Erskine Childers wrote the first modern spy novel The Riddle of the Sands. By the early 1900s all began to change, he and cousin Barton became supporters of Irish Home Rule and self government and became much more radicalised when he and his wife Mollie landed in Howth aboard his yacht Asgard with over 1,000 German rifles for the Irish Volunteers.

materials until his death in Monte Carlo, Monaco in 1968. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin.

Visit the Chester Beatty Library, its in the Clock Tower building in the grounds of Dublin Castle. Admission is free or online at www.chesterbeatty.ie/

is free or online at www.chesterbeatty.ie/

The Chester Beatty Library, its in the Clock Tower building in the grounds of Dublin Castle. Admission

Chester Beatty. English born Chester Beatty became the first private citizen in Irish history to receive a State Funeral.

A time of reflections...

We seem to be going through a time of reflection with hindsight, how we remember some people who changed the times we lived through. Charles J Haughey more than most provoked a great dichotomy between many positive accomplishments and many dangerous failings. Questions always surrounded Haughey rise from a modest middle class Dublin family in Donnycarney to live in historic splendour at Abbeville mansion on 250 acres in Kinsealy on the Malahide Rd.

His long political career in Fianna Fáil began winning a seat as TD for Dublin North in 1957 and held in every election to 1992. He was Taoiseach on three occasions, was Minister for the Gaeltacht, Social Welfare, Health, Finance, Justice.

He lived through a series of scandals. One even introduced GUBU to the lexicon of Irish politics. Dublin socialite, Malcolm MacArthur on the run having killed twice was eventually apprehended in the apartment of his government's Attorney General Patrick Connolly with whom he had been staying for some time as a guest.

The acronym GUBU comes from how Haughty tried to explain the incident, calling it ‘grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented,’ Another was the revelation that his government's Justice Minister Sean Doherty had tapped the phones of two journalists. And of course the long running intrigues of the Arms Trial. Then the revelation that AIB wrote off his million pound overdraft.

All culminating in two tribunals, chaired by judges McCracken and Moriarty, we discovered his habitual use of political leverage to fund his expensive and lavish lifestyle, expensive wining and dining with his mistress gossip journalist Terry Keane, Inishvickillane island holiday home, an ocean going yacht Celtic Mist and secret offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. Further findings: he was paid more than £8 million (over €10 million) from various benefactors and businessmen, including €1.6 million from the Dunnes Stores supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne but despite this largesse he didn't get his shirts in Dunnes Stores, he preferred monogrammed silk ones from Charvet of Paris, £700 - a pop.

Recently a thought provoking reappraisal by Justine McCarthy appeared in Irish Times that Sebastian Barry, Elaine Feeney, Paul Lynch and Paul Murray are long listed for this years Booker awards and that this places Ireland at ‘the top of the pile, per capita, for bagging the most Booker nominations since the award’s inception;. She proposes that no Taoiseach before or after Haughey has matched his influence on the country’s artistic life. She does recognise that other factors played a part, a tradition of storytelling, the inspirational presence of Yeats, Joyce, O’Casey, Beckett, Wilde, McGahern et al. Censorship and other factors drove many of these into exile. Haughey's 1969 Finance Act may have changed all that. The introduction of the artists’ tax exemption began to reverse the tide, helped writers and artists to stay at home in a more financially secure way, and in time censorship too would disappear, although this nothing to do with Haughty. His Tax Shelter lured writers from abroad, American novelist JP Donleavy, English playwright John Arden and writer Frederick Forsyth et al.

(IFSC) and the Temple Bar development and most importantly, dear reader, he introduced free travel for the elderly.

Addendum

In the next issue, reflection with hindsight will look at Dr. Noel Brown and Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, a minister fired from office because he advocated free hospital treatment for mothers and children and a bishop who lived in a palace in Drumcondra and a mansion in Killiney - recently on the market for €12 million.

For CJ Haughey the red light at Armstrong’s Barn meant ‘do not disturb’

Charles J Haughey, the one involved with the restoration of Government Buildings

edited by Peter Crooks, Elva Johnston and Timothy Murtagh

This special issue marks the centenary of the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland in the Four Courts fire of 1922. Since IMC’s foundation in 1928, recovering from the disaster of 1922 has been central to its mission. This special issue of Analecta Hibernica — a collaboration with the Beyond 2022 project and the Virtual Record Treasury — contains a selection of previously unseen and unexamined documents from seven centuries of Irish history saved from the flames of 1922. It also presents an IMCsponsored archival list of 379 bundles of previously unexamined “salved” records.

ISBN 978-1-906865-94-8 I €30 I SEPTEMBER 2023

Analecta Hibernica No. 53

SPECIAL ISSUE

INCLUDING: ‘For fear of oblivion’: Archival fragility and persistence from the Middle Ages to 1922 — and beyond (P. Crooks, E. Johnston and T. Murtagh); The salved records of 1922 (P. Crooks and Z. Reid with J. Baldwin, C. Fahy and B. Gurrin); The state of the Exchequer, c. 1284 (E. Biggs and P. Dryburgh); ‘Of old time annexed to your crown’: Documents on the Irish parliament and the crisis of 1441–2 (P. Crooks and L. Kilgallon); Early membership lists of the Dublin Guild of Carpenters, 1514–20 (S. Hendriks); An invitation to an early modern Irish funeral or a celebration? (B. McGrath); The humble desires of the General Convention of Ireland, 1660 (N. Johnston); Financing counter-revolution: A ledger from the Irish Government Consol, 1797–9 (D. Brown); Notes from the Chief Secretary’s office: Edward Cooke’s letters to Sir Edward Hill, 1795–1802 (T. Murtagh); Surviving returns from the 1813–15 census of Ireland (B. Gurrin); Documents and destruction: Selections from the Public Record Office of Ireland Correspondence Collection at the National Archives, Ireland, 1867–1922 (C. Wallace); The survivors: A photographic essay (P. Crooks and Z. Reid with J. Baldwin and B. Gurrin).

IRISH MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION

COIMISIÚN LÁMHSCRÍBHINNÍ na hÉIREANN

The Importance of Quick Response: How Eila Connect’s Fall Detection Systems Save Lives

Caring for the elderly can be a rewarding but challenging responsibility. As caregivers, we strive to provide the best possible care and ensure their safety and well-being at all times. Unfortunately, falls are a common occurrence among the elderly and can lead to serious injuries and even fatalities. In this post, we’re looking at the importance of quick response and how Eila Connect’s fall detection systems are playing a vital role in saving lives.

The Prevalence of Falls among the Elderly

Falls are a significant concern among the elderly population, and the statistics are alarming. According to the World Health Organization, falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide, with adults over 65 years old being the most vulnerable.  A 2021 report by WHO estimated that 37.3 million falls are serious enough to require medical attention each year, you can read more on their website at this link.

Understanding the Consequences

Falls can have severe consequences, including fractures, head injuries, and reduced mobility. Additionally, they can lead to a decline in overall health, increased hospitalisation rates, and a loss of independence.

The recovery process can be lengthy, challenging, and emotionally taxing for both the elderly person and their caregivers. It is crucial for caregivers to prioritise fall prevention and have access to reliable emergency response systems to mitigate the risks and ensure prompt medical attention.

The Role of Eila Connect’s Fall Detection Systems

Eila Connect’s fall detection systems are revolutionising the way we respond to falls among the elderly. These advanced systems use state-of-the-art technology to detect falls and immediately alert caregivers or emergency services. They combine wearable devices, sensors, and artificial intelligence to identify potential falls accurately.

Prompt Response Saves Lives

The key advantage of Eila Connect’s fall detection systems lies in their ability to provide swift response times. In the event of a fall, the system sends an immediate alert, allowing caregivers or emergency responders to react quickly. This timely response can significantly reduce the duration of time an elderly individual is left unattended after a fall, which can be crucial in preventing further injuries or complications.

Enhanced Safety and Peace of Mind

Eila Connect’s fall detection systems offer peace of mind to both the elderly and their caregivers. By knowing that help is just a call away, seniors can remain independent and confident in their daily activities, reducing anxiety and fear of falling. Caregivers can also trust that their loved ones are protected, even when they are not physically present, thereby easing their concerns.

The importance of quick response in fall detection systems cannot be overstated. Eila Connect’s innovative approach to fall detection not only saves lives but also improves the overall quality of life for the elderly and provides peace of mind for caregivers.

Fall Detection

By combining cutting-edge technology with timely emergency response, these systems play a pivotal role in mitigating the risks associated with falls and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the elderly. As caregivers, it is essential to embrace these advancements and prioritise the implementation of fall detection systems such as Eila Connect, to enhance the care we provide to our aging loved ones.

How it Works

SMART HOME

Our trained staff will place sensors around your home. These sensors detect activity in your home. They are wireless and require no cables. There is a pendant with fall detection and

an emergency button.These are all connected to a central unit which also has an emergency button.

How Eila Connect Enhances your life

We offer a range of devices that can be fitted to your Eila Connect system, added peace of mind;

FAMILY CONNECTION

The Eila Connect System has an app which allows your family member or caregiver to see that everything is ok with you. That you are up and about. That you have returned home for a trip, or simply that your day to day activity is happening as normal

I have been living in Blackrock in the suburbs of the beautiful city of Cork for over fifty years now, but I am still considered a ‘blow-in’ here from the West of Ireland. However, there is one thing I have no doubt about—Cork is the humour capital of Ireland, leaving Galway, Belfast and even Dublin trailing in its wake.

That can make life difficult for the standup comedian or the humour writer, but truth to tell, every Cork man or Cork woman you meet is a comedian, rolling them in the aisles in every pub, factory, office, golf club, school and other place where people congregate, and I can speak from experience. Spontaneous heckling in the Opera House, in Pairc Ui Caoimh or in Turner’s Cross, the home of Cork City Football club, is legendary, and heaven help the outsider or even stage performer who attempts to trade witticisms with these hardened performers.

The humour of Cork is based on the undeniable premise that Cork people are superior to the rest of us in every respect—mind, body and spirit; ‘way ahead of ye boy’ is the phrase that sums it all up. And the technique of Cork humour is impeccable and possibly unique. They build you up, flatter you and praise you, lulling you into a false sense of security and relaxation, and

CORK HUMOUR

By Des MacHale

then, when you are at the apex, they pull the rug from underneath your feet and bring you back down to earth with a devastating knockdown that completely takes the wind from your sails. The great Niall Toibin, surely Cork’s greatest comedian ever, and maybe Ireland’s too, once told me the following example of this technique:

The newly-appointed director of the Barrack Street band was being addressed by the disappointed man who had coveted the position for many years.

‘Well done Mick, congratulations on your appointment’.

‘Thank you very much, Con’.

‘Look, it was very well deserved’.

‘Well maybe it was.’

‘You put in the hours, you have the experience, and you were the popular choice.’

‘Very good of you to say so, Con.’ ‘Come here to me, you can hardly recognise the national anthem.’

Cork people seem to have a unique ability to laugh at illness and death, which are the ultimate facts of life, and nowhere is this better exemplified than in the columns of the local newspapers, the Echo and the Examiner. Genuine items include:

• An In Memoriam notice in the Echo: In loving memory of Frank, whose sixth anniversary occurs today. Masses offered.

Underneath was written: You’d be alive today if you did what I told you.

(Now there’s a new concept for you— post-mortem nagging!)

• When the Titanic sank, the Echo headline ran:

WEST CORK MAN LOST AT SEA

• An extract from a report on the funeral of a much-loved ninety-six year old Macroom woman:

At the graveside, the nephew of the deceased collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital. This naturally cast a gloom over the entire proceedings.

• And an Examiner item:

The death has occurred in East Cork of Mr. John L. O’Sullivan, the well-known secret agent.

(He was the best in the business, but Cork being Cork, everyone knew his business)

When relations with Russia were better than they are now, a Cork businessman went on a trade mission to Moscow and of course as a special treat was invited to view Lenin’s tomb, which he had no desire whatsoever to do, but he did not

Cobh

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Humour

wish to offend his hosts or jeopardise his deals. Nobody jumps the queue at Lenin’s tomb so he had to stand in sub-zero temperatures for over an hour. When he reached the tomb, there were four rigid Russian armed soldiers there, standing to attention and as he passed them, he smiled and said in a broad Cork accent, ‘Didn’t he go very sudden in the end?’

At a performance of the opera Faust in the Cork Opera House, the entrance to the underworld and hell was a trapdoor in the middle of the stage. When the rather portly baritone had finished his aria, he attempted to return to the regions below, but got stuck in the trapdoor, and despite the efforts of the rest of the cast and several stagehands, he remained tightly jammed there, unable to move up or down. As the curtains were being drawn, the tension was relieved by a voice from the gods, ‘Great news lads, hell is full!’

The great circus owner P.T. Barnum once visited Cork, and the great attraction in his show were the famous Siamese twins, Cheng and Eng. He was approached by a curious Cork woman who asked him if the twins were brothers. Hardly able to keep back the laughter, he assured her that they were definitely brothers.

‘Wasn’t the good Lord merciful,’ she said to him, ‘to make them brothers and not to tie two total strangers together for life.’

Cork produced the great comedy pair Chah and Miah, Michael Twomey and Frank Duggan, stalwarts of Hall’s Pictorial Weekly for many years. Once they were on the train to Cobh when a very buxom lady began to breastfeed her baby.

‘What is she doin’, Chah?’ asked Miah, who had never seen such an activity before.

‘Don’t be showin’ your ignorance, boy, she’s just feedin’ the baby’.

He’s not going to eat all that is he?

But the baby was a reluctant feeder, and the woman said, ‘Drink that up now, or I’ll give it to the man.’

I once had a Japanese professor of mathematics stay with me who took a walk around Cork City to see the sights and meet the locals. He came back and said he was delighted to hear fluent Japanese being spoken on the streets of Cork.

‘I think you must be mistaken,’ I said to him.

‘No’, he replied, ‘as I crossed over Patrick’s Bridge, I saw two men shaking hands and addressing each other, ‘O’Hora, O’Hara, oo hoor u, how are u?’

A very pregnant woman was making her way up the steep Patrick’s Hill and eventually knocked on the door of Dr. Murphy. He opened the door, and seeing her condition, said ‘Sorry, there must be a mistake. I’m Dr. Murphy all right, but I’m a doctor of music. I’m orchestrating The Boys of Fair Hill at the moment’.

‘I’m very glad to hear that,’ said the woman, ‘but it’s nine months too late for me’.

University College Cork, where I had the honour to teach for forty years, is an institution of very high academic standards but it is also a hotbed of humour, which made working there very pleasant.

There was a very unpopular UCC professor who was seriously ill. The Academic Council wished him get well soon by thirteen votes to twelve—with twenty seven abstentions.

A young lad up from West Cork on his first day at UCC met the Professor of English and asked him ‘Excuse me sir, which direction is the library in?’

‘Now my good man,’ said the professor,’ You are now at University College Cork, and one thing we do not do here is end a sentence with a preposition. Now would you like to rephrase your question?’

‘Certainly sir,’ said the student, ‘Which direction is the library in, asshole?

A first class honours graduate in engineering from UCC got a job in an engineering office on the South Mall. On

his first morning at work, the boss handed him a brush and said, ‘Here, sweep up the floor.’ But I’m a first class honours graduate in engineering from UCC,’ protested the young fellow.

‘OK’, said the boss,’ I’ll show you how to do it’.

A Cork man named Con was a whizz at the quizzes, so he went on Mastermind and chose as his special subject the Irish Rebellion of 1916.

The first question was, ‘Who was the leader of the 1916 Irish rebellion?’

‘Pass’, said Con.

‘How many rebels were in the GPO in Dublin?’

‘Pass’, said Con.

‘How many people signed the 1916 Proclamation?’

‘Pass’, said Con.

And a voice from the back of the studio shouted out, 'Good man Con, tell them nothing.’

A middle Eastern potentate was looking for a name for a new city he had built but could not think of a suitable one. So he saw a huge ship sailing up the Gulf and said to himself, ‘The first person that gets off that ship, the first words he says. I’m going to call my new city by that name’.

Now the first person off the ship was a Cork man of course, and the Sheik said to him, ‘The first words you say. I’m going to give that name to my new city’.

‘Do boy’, said the Cork man.

Des MacHale is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at University College Cork, He is an author and speaker on several subjects, including George Boole, lateral thinking , puzzles and humour.

The Young Offenders

Let your love of dogs live forever.

When you join Valerie and Rowley and include a gift to Dogs Trust Ireland in your Will, your love of puppies and dogs can live forever. Through this very special gift, you can help create an Ireland where all dogs have a happy, healthy life in their forever home.

TO FIND OUT MORE and request your FREE guide visit DogsTrust.ie/Legacy or call us on 01 879 1832.

“Dogs Trust gives dogs a second chance – with a gift in my Will I can do the same.”

Valerie.

Valerie’s dog, Rowley.

Wine World

Great wines delivered to your door

so much of our daily lives, and that certainly included getting out and about and doing our shopping. I have noticed that since that time there has continued to be a huge jump in on-line shopping, and whether it is having your groceries delivered, or buying clothes and gifts, shopping electronically has really caught on. This is true across all generations and all kinds of products. When it comes to buying wine, it has certainly proved to have been a very welcome development. There are many wine companies now who offer home delivery, recommended wines and special offers. And of course another great advantage is that you can order a case of wine, enjoy free delivery and makeup your own selection. There is nothing as exciting as having a box of wine delivered to your house where you can plan what you will drink and when, what food you will prepare to enjoy with what bottle, and maybe even who you

heavy box home from the off-licence.

While I have encountered several companies who are offering wine deals online in the past couple of years, I have recently come across an unusual company that goes that bit further when delivering exceptional wines with great recommendations and very fair prices. The Nude Wine Company - www. thenudewinecompany.ie - promises to deliver wine as nature intended. They are passionate about wine and believe the closer you get to nature, the better it is for everyone. And so to minimise environmental impact, they source organic and biodynamic wines mainly from Europe.

The Nude Wine Company was founded in 2019 by Michelle Lawlor who has worked in the wine industry for 18 years

And you might also recognise her from her appearances talking about wine on Virgin Media Ireland, Ireland AM

Michelle knows her wine and she knows her customers. Their best selling wines include white from Galicia which is perfect for people who love wines like Macon and Chablis. The Gran Cerdo is a favourite with Rioja, Beaujolais and Malbec lovers. They have put together a Best Selling Mixed Case 2023 which includes six white and six red wines which have proven to be big hits with their customers. This would be a fabulous gift – to yourself of course! - if you would like to try some new and popular wines that you might not have come across before.

Michelle Lawlor has worked in the wine industry for 18 years across three continents.

One of Nude’s best-selling mixed cases

in prestigious Michelin restaurants, including Ireland’s two star restaurants, Chapter One and Patrick Guilbaud’s. This is an exceptional wine selection and includes Maria Casanovas Cava Brut de Brut – a Spanish treasure at El Bulli and crafted from Xarello, Macabeo and Parallada grapes. Also included is the Filipa Pato DNMC white from Portugal, perfect for Chablis lovers. Then from New Zealand there is one of the top Sauvignon Blancs – Tin Pot Hut which has received numerous awards. Finally the collection includes a delicious red wine from France, Cahors Pur Fruit, one of the finest Malbecs I have tasted. You can get this case of Michelin wines for just €85

With these wines you can create your very own Michelin experience without having to leave your house!

You can get all the information you need about these wines and all the bottle and case options on their website. www.thenudewineco.ie

The Best of Spain - 30th September

Champagne Night - 28th October

Festive Wine Ideas - 24th November

During the Newbridge Silverware wine tastings, you will enjoy luxury cheeseboards as well as the wines.

For all details of the tastings and the wines on offer, check out their website or alternatively you can give them a call at 01-9089539 .

You can also tune into Ireland AM on Virgin Media to catch some information and recommendations from Michelle on the wonderful world of wine.

Getting top recommendations and having the wines delivered to your door means that you can enjoy a real Michelin experience without leaving the house. All you need to do is prepare a five star meal to go with these amazing wines!

Filipa Pato, one of the Nude Wine company suppliers.

Fiona Turner from Tinpot Hut, another Nude supplier

Michelle Lawlor is a regular presenter on Ireland AM.

If Ireland can do it in a generation – with the right support, any country can do it!

“In many ways, I’ve been privileged. Not many people get the opportunity to see a drilling rig hit water in a drought-prone area. When that water gets hit and it spurts up into the airyou can’t describe the community’s celebration and the joy!”

For 30 years, Carlow woman Therese Dooley worked as one of UNICEF’s leading water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) specialists. Retired to her hometown, Therese reflects on her memories of a remarkable career, having worked in over 60 countries including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Haiti and South Asia, where she has seen at first hand the consequences of unsafe water and sanitation.

One of the areas of sanitation, Therese is particularly proud of, is supporting girls with menstrual hygiene. “There were very few women working in WASH. It’s traditionally a maledominated sector. And in many cultures, the issue of menstrual health is taboo, like it was in Ireland when I was growing up. However, it’s important for a girl’s dignity and self-esteem; for keeping girls in school and making sure they see school as a safe environment.”

In India, a study in 2014 found that 23 million girls were dropping out of school each year when they got their period. This tragically can lead to teenage girls getting married young and losing out on their opportunity to realise their potential, and their right to an education.

Recently in Giridih, India, we heard of just such a case of a young teenage girl called Priya. When Priya first got her period at school, she had no idea what was happening to her. Thankfully, she felt able to speak with her teacher, Ms Pratima Singh (pictured below), who kindly explained what was happening and gave her a sanitary pad.

However, when Priya went home, her mother was deeply worried about her using a pad and made her stay at home for five days until her period had ended. Priya told us, “My mother] believed that if I threw away a pad in public, I would become infertile for the rest of my life. She had a set of myths and taboos, such as not touching trees, using a cloth to manage menstrual flow, and washing and drying my clothes separately. [I had a] five-day seclusion in which I was not even allowed to attend school.”

When she was allowed return to school, Priya confided in Ms Singh once more. Ms Singh had undertaken Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHM) training with UNICEF, and she called Priya’s mother to address the taboos that were preventing her allowing Priya to attend school.

Alongside our partners and working with governments in India, UNICEF is working to improve sanitation across communities, with a special emphasis on girls so they can safely and privately manage their periods and stay at school.

Therese demonstrating the positive impact of handwashing to girls in India.

© UNICEF/Dooley

© UNICEF/Dooley

Therese Dooley, Retired UNICEF WASH Specialist

Along with menstrual hygiene training for teachers, UNICEF has helped to provide Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, including the training of teachers in WASH in 218,000 schools in 2021.

There have been significant improvements over the past 10 years in India, with a 48% drop in the number of schools without sanitation facilities giving girls the opportunity to safely navigate this vulnerable time of their teenage years.

"I'm thrilled 20 years later to see, that we now talk openly about menstrual hygiene management. We put it in as part of our programmes and also the people are talking about it. I was in India the year before last at a public meeting. A public meeting in India isn't 20 people. It's a couple of thousand people and the schoolgirls and women were standing up and talking about menstrual health and hygiene. And to me, that's really really important if it keeps the girls in school longer. Because every year a girl stays longer in school, her children will be healthier, more nourished and fitter. And what more can we ask for?"

Content with her career, Therese has returned to Carlow and finds hope in the Irish experience. “I’d a pretty normal Irish upbringing. I was born and raised in Carlow. We owned a little fruit shop, had a modest home, and went to the local schools.

Everyone thought I was going away to volunteer for two years, and I came home 32 years later. But my anchor and roots have always been in Carlow. Throughout my career, when I’ve thought about Ireland and how not that long ago 40% of our population was using outside toilets - and some people didn’t have any. That’s been one of the motivating factors for me. If Ireland can do it in a generation – with the right support, any country can do it!"

September 13th is International Legacy Day and we are very grateful to Therese for sharing her story and helping raise awareness and support for UNICEF’s work. Learn more about Therese and watch her interview on: UNICEF.ie/legacy

husband Nick visiting a school sanitation project in Zimbabwe, 1984.

Teacher Ms. Pratima Singh gives an awareness class about menstrual and general hygiene to her students, in Giridih, Jharkhand state, India.

© UNICEF/India, 2022/Vishwanathan

Priya outside her school in Jharkhand state, India.

© UNICEF/India, 2022/Vishwanathan

© UNICEF/Turkey, 2023/ Karacan

Golf

Dermot Gilleece recalls the career of Tom Craddock who he observes was especially hard done by, among other things, for not receiving Walker Cup recognition at an earlier stage

Tom Craddock, Ireland’s most neglected amateur?

Though it is less prevalent in these egalitarian times, the notion of golf as an elitist sport, still persists. Yet the less-privileged practitioner is unquestionably treated a lot fairer than was the case in the hey-day of the amateur game in this country.

This was brought home to me quite forcibly on recent reading of a special survey carried out by Fleet Street’s Daily Express prior to the British Amateur Championship of 1959 at Royal St George’s, where America’s Deane Beman captured the title. The survey concluded: ‘Tom Craddock would love to have a crack at the championship, but instead of mixing with the elite of the amateur game, he will be doing as he does every week – collecting insurance.’

A courageous fight against the odds, however, was maintained with so much success that 1965 became known affectionately as ‘Tom’s Year’. He had remained hugely popular on the home circuit, where there was no more dedicated or distinguished supporter

of scratch cup events throughout this country.

‘It didn’t seem odd to me that I should have cycled to Portmarnock when I won the Close Championship there in 1959,’ he reflected. ‘The fact is that I didn’t have a motor-car until 1968. So, when I competed in events like scratch cups outside the Dublin area, I had to rely on lifts from people like Joe Carr and Noel Fogarty, who were very kind to me.’

He went on: ‘There was also the problem of getting time off work. Any day off I took to play golf, was deducted from my annual holidays, so with interprovincial and international commitments, quite apart from the championships, my problems were obvious.’ As it happened, ill-health also conspired against him, culminating in a serious loss of form which cost him an international place from 1961 to 1964.

Which was all the more regrettable in view of his standing across-channel. I happen to have a hand-written letter

from the former England international, Gerald Micklem, dated July 1959 when he was chairman of the Royal and Ancient’s selection committee. Micklem wrote: ‘Dear Tom. Many congratulations on your great form this year, and particularly on beating Joe at Portmarnock. Looking forward to seeing you at Southport and Ainsdale..’ Then came the postscript: ‘I gather that your putting is wonderful at present, but you might find something useful sometime in the John Jacobs article [which he had enclosed].’

It was May 1965, however, before Craddock took what became a highly significant step on the road back among golf’s amateur elite. And it was a truly memorable return. Indeed that season would prove to be one of the most successful of a sparkling career, despite the disappointment of losing to Carr in the final of the Irish Close at Rosses Point. Co Sligo GC was something of a home from home for Carr, who by that stage had captured 11 of his 12 West of Ireland titles. And this latest win was to

The victorious Irish team at Dublin Airport after winning the European Amateur Golf Championship in 1967. From left, Tom Egan, Tom Craddock, RC Ewing, captain, Vincent Nevin and David Sheen

RESTORING SIGHT: SOMALIA EYE CAMPS

TREATING CATARACTS

This condition causes cloudy patches to form in the lens of the eye. It impairs vision and, without surgical intervention, causes blindness.

1. Light entering the eye is scattered, causing blurry vision.

2. A simple operation can replace the damaged lens with a new one, allowing light to focus correctly on the retina.

2. EYE TESTS

“What’s also important is that, through this work, we’re able to reach a group of people we often struggle to treat: elderly men. And in these areas of Somalia, when you reach that group, it opens doors for your work. It encourages people to accept you and what you’re doing, so that then you can reach other people.”

€22.23

Prescription glasses for children

4. FITTING GLASSES

“Many children have been struggling to see at school, but then they come to the eye camp, they are provided with a prescription and glasses, and their performance, their ability to learn, their quality of life and their options for the future are all improved.”

€3.03

Medication drops for eye infections

1.

SCREENING CLINIC

“There is a lot of preparation for each camp, in the days leading up to it, we hold a range of clinics where people are screened to ascertain if they need surgery, glasses, further examination or medical treatment.”

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors

Without Borders (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organisation. We provide lifesaving emergency relief and longer-term medical care to vulnerable and excluded communities in more than 70 countries around the world.

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3.

CATARACT SURGERY

“By the day the surgeons arrive, everything and everybody is ready, Cataract surgery is done under local anaesthetic and is a relatively short procedure, lasting five to ten minutes.” On average, about 4,000 people are treated during each camp.

Teams of MSF eye specialists have reached thousands of people living with eye diseases across Somalia, in many cases helping them to regain their sight.

Treatment ranges from cataract surgery to treatment for eye diseases to glasses prescriptions.

Dr Fuad, MSF medical coordinator for Somalia describes how “common conditions such as cataracts all too often lead to blindness if left untreated.

5. FAST RESULTS

“What we’re doing here is not complicated, even the surgery, but it’s completely transformative for the people treated. One man we operated on had been blind for five years but was suddenly able to see.”

Losing one’s sight – which often leads to losing one’s livelihood –can be devastating, especially in a country affected by conflict and poverty.

Which is why this relatively simple surgery can have a huge impact on patients’ lives, improving their chances of living a dignified and healthy life.”

CLEAR REPLACEMENT LENS

IRIS CLOUDY LENS RETINA

complete a hat-trick of Close titles which started 60 years ago at Killarney in 1963, whereas Craddock was competing in the event for the first time in five years.

As it happened, the Malahide man became East of Ireland champion a month later. Now, there could be no disputing Craddock’s right to a return to the international side which, ironically, occurred in late June of that year at Royal St George’s, where he had been unable to compete in the British Amateur six years previously.

It was a notable occasion, marking Ireland’s first challenge in the European Amateur Team Championship which had been instituted in 1959. On that occasion, only nine countries competed at El Prat, Barcelona, where Sweden emerged victorious. A rota prescribed that the fourth championship be held in the ‘Britain and Ireland Zone’ in 1965, which prompted Ireland to enter a team for the first time, as did their counterparts in Scotland and Wales: England were already established challengers.

From an entry of 17 countries at Sandwich, Ireland emerged victorious, with Scotland second, England third and Wales fourth. This is how Paul MacWeeney described the climactic moments in The Irish Times: ‘It was left to the physically strong and mentally secure Tom Craddock to stick it out and secure the one-hole victory in the last match to finish, which finally closed our grip on the prized trophy. Craddock’s superb pitch-and-run from 20 yards off the 18th green, finished stone head [against England’s Martin Christmas at number three]. It must go down as one of the game’s historic shots.

‘Of a total of about 130 players in the tournament, Craddock alone emerged unbeaten and he was deprived of a

100 per cent record by one of the most freakish finishes ever seen in amateur golf. Having hit two perfect shots at the 18th when dormie one on Bill Tucker, the Welshman holed a 70-yards pitch for a birdie-three to win the hole and halve the match with Craddock sitting eight feet from the pin, with 999 times of 1,000 two-putts for a victory.’

When asked if he was aware that the entire Ireland team were depending on him in his match against Christmas, the typically calm Craddock replied: ‘Dor [Joe Carr’s wife] told me after the 16th. I always felt that I could get a halved match at least. Golf, of course, is a funny game but you can only do your best.’

A month later, he embarked on an extraordinary spell of competitive achievement. On Tuesday, July 27th at Ballybunion, he led Malahide in the semi-finals and final of the club’s first, national victory in the Irish Senior Cup. MacWeeney later highlighted that Craddock was unbeaten throughout the Senior Cup, before going on to win 5 1/2 points [out of 6] at number-one for Leinster in the Inter-provincials at Ballybunion, steering his province to overall success. Going straight from the exertions of Ballybunion, he headed for Mullingar where he tied with Peter Townsend, one of England’s young stars, in the 72-holes Scratch Cup, and lost only at the third hole of sudden-death. They finished the scheduled distance, locked together on 285, which was superb scoring and, as a feat of stamina as well as skill, Craddock’s effort has had few, if any, parallels in Irish amateur history.’

Concluding his review of the year, the scribe made this telling observation: ‘The supreme injustice was Craddock’s omission from the Walker Cup team; his presence might well have given Britain and Ireland that extra half-point which

would have brought Carr his greatest triumph as captain – the capture of the trophy for the first time on American soil.’

Still, Craddock’s achievements did not go unrewarded among his many admirers at home, where he had no serious challenger for a Caltex Sports Star of the Year award. Overdue Walker Cup honours came eventually two years later when, curiously, Royal St George’s was once again the venue. Perhaps the selectors remembered Craddock’s exploits from the European Championship of 1965. In the event, the match predictably went very much America’s way in a 13-7 victory overall, but not before Craddock thrashed Jack Lewis by 5 and 4 at number six in the singles order on the second day. He played again in the 1969 matches at Milwaukee CC where the home side maintained their dominance of the event, but not before the Malahide man gained an admirable half with the distinguished American, Vinny Giles.

In July 1998, a special ceremony was held in Mullingar’s clubhouse to dedicate the upcoming Scratch Cup to Tom. Aware of the player’s seriously declining health, the club were anxious to acknowledge his wonderful loyalty to the event over a period of 30 years. Typically courteous, he travelled with his wife Nola to the function where he proceeded to express surprise that he should have been considered worthy of such an honour. Four months later, Tom Craddock was dead.

Honours are invariably welcomed by the amateur sportsperson, whenever they come, but there has always been the feeling that Craddock was especially hard done by, not to have received Walker Cup recognition at an earlier stage. Among other things, it would have made Tom’s Year all the more special.

Tom Craddock, left, after winning the Mullingar Scratch Cup in 1964. Centre is Ray Macken and right Kieran Houlihan

Royal St Georges Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent scene of a famous Irish victory in the 1967 European Amateur Championship. Tom Craddock secured the one-stroke triumph with a superb pitch-and-run off the 18th green.

Art

Rediscovering the multi-talented Marianne

Marianne Agren McElroy, whose art pieces include sculptures, graphics, mixed media; exhibited widely in Dublin in the 1960s and 1970s. She had a solo exhibition at the Project Arts Centre in 1968 and also exhibited in the Emmet Gallery in 1976. Her art is included in private collections and has also been purchased by The Arts Council of Ireland, An Chomhairle Ealaíon. Her many achievements include representing Ireland with a ceramic sculpture called ‘Marah’ in 1972 at the V&A in London.

Marianne Agren was born in May 1926 on Lidingö, an island near Stockholm. From the beginning, she had a strong belief in herself but was devastated when her parents refused her permission to attend Art College. Her mother said, “Nice girls do not do that kind of thing.” However, despite this setback, Marianne studied graphic art in Stockholm and Paris and was also for some time, a night student at the National College of Art (NCAD). She

At the recent exhibition of Marianne Agren McElroy’s works in Dublin from left Ingrid Agren McIroy, Peter Sheridan and Kristina Agren McIroy

Marianne aged 18

Ennistymon, Co. Clare

ree Nights B&B with Dinner from

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Four nights B&B with dinner, daily Bridge clinics, a ernoon hotel activities.

Whist with Marie

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October 1st –5th

November 26th-30th

Four nights B&B with dinner, daily Whist clinics, a ernoon hotel activities.

Four

had come to live and work in Dublin in the early 1950s. But, it’s a signpost of the times (which didn’t place the importance on the term ‘artist’ as exists today) that when Marianne had her passport stamped by the Swedish Embassy, they placed ‘Mrs’ in front of her chosen profession of artist. This title, in wry fashion, subsequently became the title of the pop up exhibition.

The McElroy addition to Marianne Agren’s name came by way of Paddy McElroy, a man she met when she attended the college’s annual costume ball in the Metropole, Dublin. In the words of her daughter Kristina, her mother “had an eighteen inch waistline, was tall, blond, 25 years old, wearing Dior New Look clothing straight from Paris.” From his vantage point on the balcony, Paddy spotted her. At the time, Paddy also cut an eye-catching figure, (but for different reasons), deciding to dress up in the style of an El Greco painting. Part of this authentic look was to not wash himself during the previous weeks. It didn’t stop him jumping down from the balcony and sweeping up to Marianne in his “stained and dirty sackcloth and ashes.” I suppose every great lover has a memorable quote. Paddy was no different. “Tell your grandchildren that today you met the great Paddy McElroy”.

Kristina acknowledges that although “it’s a privilege to be the children of such a great love affair”, sometimes they felt excluded.” Both Marianne and Paddy have passed away now; “there are no more tears and rows”. But the heat of their relationship often caused frequent

volcanic eruptions. Paddy’s endless flirting and philandering finally had repercussions, which included living apart from Marianne.

However, these two vibrant, artistic people, became working artists, who met, fell in love, married and lived on Upper Mount Street in Baggotonia. This word was coined by Anthony Cronin and referred to the fact that many artists and writers lived between the two canals. During the 1950s, along with their friends and fellow artists, “they were in the vanguard of modern art at the time.’ Although Baggotonia resembled ‘The Village’ in New York, the wider society in Ireland outside this creative enclave knew very little about these artists.

Kristina’s memories of living in 21 Upper Mount Street are moving and lyrical: Of her mother she says: “She was amazing. Strong and always elegant. I loved the verdant notes of Muguet des Bois, her perfume. She was a circus acrobat heaving and hauling daily a shuddering pram up five granite steps to put her key into the green-painted front door, where layers of blistering paint marked the passing of time. Then, with one hip, she would push the heavy wooden door to allow her domestic juggernaut through. Pram, baby, shopping and me. This pram was then parked in the mouldy, dark, silent hall next to the unoccupied ground floor flats. If she saw it as the enemy of good art, that pram in the hall, as children we never heard her saying it. Her art was made in her private time she somehow salted away. From there we climbed, spiralling upwards. She carried

my brother and the shopping. I loved passing old Mrs Brennan’s flat. She was like a nice witch from a fairy story. The pigeons cooed and showed their jewel-like necks on her green copper roof. Taking a break at the next landing where the very independent Miss Merilson, a hotel housekeeper lived, we would then climb up one more flight of stairs and up to our flat. There she did her magician’s trick of putting a key in the door while carrying a baby, scooping up shopping and ushering me through to arrive at our top floor flat. From the living room window I could look down to see people passing by. My street was my village. I could see children skipping and friends and neighbours going about their lives. Some I knew well as they were friends of my parents, the other artists and writers of Baggotonia, as it became known. Everything happened on our street – the Pike Theatre, the graphic studio, and many pockets of artistic life in other flats, all equally cold and damp and plagued with scampering mice. Maybe they dreamed of Paris where artists were appreciated? My mother loved France. She bought Elle in French and on her record player Edith Piaf sang ‘Sous le ciel de Paris’. My mother kept safe for all of her life a Franc from her trip to Paris in 1946. She loved to talk. On the daily shopping trips, I had to endlessly stand in the street, holding the pram handle while she held court. Only for the same thing to happen a few steps on. I was privy to, but did not take part in conversations about landlords neglecting their properties, art exhibitions or what happened in McDaid’s and how (the name would be said in a lowered voice) was found in a gas oven. As a result, I thought for years that gas cookers were

Marianne and Paddy with, from left, baby Ingrid, John and Kristina

Charlie Baby, one of Marianne’s many plaster works

malevolent and that they killed people. Making toast, I would turn on the gas and then throw the match to achieve a flame –safely from a distance!”

(Kristina Agren McElroy).

Despite the attitude of the times, when women were side-lined in professions other than that of wife and mother, Marianne continued to work as an artist, continued to innovate and experiment with materials. She moved from sculpture to drawing to graphics with all the curiosity and verve of the true individual. She was never an artist who could be confined to one label. And she was outspoken at a time when silence in women was more valued. For an article about ceramics in the Irish Independent, 19th March, 1961, students in the National College of Art pottery class run by Professor Herkner were interviewed. Marianne made the remark that “there is far too much Celtic art used in modern pottery here. Celtic art is beautiful. It belongs to the past and next to history. When I get my own kiln I am going to experiment with Irish clays and glazes a great deal because I feel it’s high time much more essentially Irish ceramics were born.”

When Marianne moved to Beaumont Avenue in Churchtown, she got her studio and worked with Coalisland clay from Northern Ireland. She found it suitable for her ceramic sculptures. She mixed this clay with grog. The 60s marked a period when Marianne began to carve out a career as an artist. Despite working in the Swedish embassy and raising three children. In 1961, Marianne was a guest exhibitor with the Independent Artists. One of her pieces ‘Lazarus’, from this exhibition, showed how radical she was as an artist. She worked directly with plaster and scrim and she made the choice to use ceramics as a sculpture. She was a versatile artist, exhibiting pen and ink drawings and enamelling pieces. The technique of enamel painting consists of the copper plate having first been cleaned in an acid bath and the colours then placed in position. The piece is then placed in a preheated furnace and fired at a temperature between 700 - 1,000 degrees Celsius. Enamels are coloured flint glass and the fusion of the glass to the reheated copper produces a brilliance of colour and a permanency which no other medium can give. Enamel painting is a

very ancient technique. Objects from early Celtic times have still the same vivid colours as when they were first fired. Interesting to note is that one of Marianne’s artistic ancestors was enameller to the royal Swedish court during the 17th century. On a practical, domestic level, Marianne, grown tired of washing nappies in the bath and then walking down five flights of stairs to hang them out to dry, ‘invented’ an early version of disposal nappies, using rolls of cotton wool and cotton gauze.

Although Marianne and Paddy McElroy separated in 1976, they had enjoyed a strong relationship. They were both outsiders. He, because he was a working-class artist who enrolled in NCAD in his late twenties and she because she was a foreigner from Sweden. But they fell in love and got married, had three children. They were both rescued from the narrow lives they would have lived before WW 11. Instead, they became working artists who met, fell in

love, married and lived on Upper Mount Street in Baggotonia. The 1950s might seem to be a time of limited possibilities but, along with their friends (artists and writers) they helped forge an Ireland that moved from a cultural backwater out into the wider world.

Marianne had always carefully catalogued Paddy’s career but when they separated, she no longer continued to do so. Ireland however, was not kind to separated women in the 1970s and Marianne struggled as she grew older. Kristina remembers accompanying her mother to a discussion programme on RTE where a Catholic fundamentalist tried physically attacking Marianne for suggesting that perhaps Ireland needed to legalise divorce. Marianne Agren McElroy died in November, 2006. The woman whose faith in herself was not unfounded, left behind a legacy to the art world that is considerable in its range. She may be gone but thanks to her family, she is not forgotten.

Marianne’s drawing of Paddy

By Debbie Orme

Northern Notes

Potentially Northern Ireland’s finest – and most prolific – journalists is to feature in a new documentary, which will examine the role of music in the battle against fascism.

On Resistance Street features a section, which examines the contribution of Northern Ireland’s punk scene during the 30-odd years of The Troubles, contains contributions from well-known journalist and author, Henry McDonald, who sadly died on 19 February in Belfast, at the relatively young age of 57.

The Belfast premiere of the documentary will take place on October 19 at the Queen’s Film Theatre and will undoubtedly be attended by many of Henry’s former colleagues from The Irish News, The Observer and The Guardian.

At the age of twelve, Henry managed to gain entry to St. Malachy’s College, a prestigious school for Catholic boys in Belfast and it was while there he developed his involvement in Belfast’s punk rock scene.

Former journalist to feature in punk documentary

Although he had started out primarily as a newspaper journalist, he soon turned his attention to writing books. In 1991 the paper sent Henry to report on the first Gulf war and the information he gained in South Lebanon was to form the basis of his first book: Irishbatt: The Irish Army in Lebanon, which came out in 1993.

In 1991 I was working with Henry in The Irish News and he really was the life and soul of the party. When he told me he was heading to South Lebanon, I was the one who expressed concern. He literally had no fear. He didn’t know how to stop working either and his workrate really was phenomenal.

A series of books on The Troubles was followed by his second book – INLA: Deadly Divisions, which he co-wrote with his cousin, Jack Holland. This was followed by UVF: the Endgame and UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. As I said, Henry’s workrate was phenomenal and while in the middle of writing these books he also managed to produce a well-

received profile of the North’s former First Minister, David Trimble. The nature of Henry’s books often produced a negative response from those involved in The Troubles, but, as he said himself, he’d already lost count of the number of death threats he had received and had no fear. There was nothing that Henry didn’t know about events in Northern Ireland and his knowledge was breathtaking.

Despite his prolific output, however, Henry was happy and to spend time talking to those hoping to get into journalism – myself included.

By 2017 Henry had turned his attention to novel writing. The Swinging Detective (2017) was a political thriller set in Berlin, while Two Souls (2019) looked in depth at Belfast’s music scene. Another novel Thy will be Done is with his publisher at the moment.

Henry will be sadly missed by all who knew him and I regret that it took me until now to do this tribute.

Henry McDonald: he didn’t know how to stop working

Volunteer with us

As a Samaritans volunteer, you’ll help us be there for people when it matters most.

We will train, mentor and support you all the way.

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Welcome return for Sperrins Walking

Following last year’s success, Sperrins Walking makes a welcome return. The programme will take place September, October 2023 and March 2024 across Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural beauty (AONB).

Sperrins Walking, developed and delivered by The Sperrins Partnership and outdoor experts Far and Wild, is designed to appeal to a broad range of walkers to enjoy this beautiful landscape as well as promoting health, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Participants will not only enjoy discovering a destination filled with unique experiences, but a great choice of walks ranging from moderate ability to more demanding longer walks, all in small groups, guided by experienced leaders who will help to uncover the stories, history, environment and heritage of this unique landscape.

Sperrins Walking Programme and dates are:

Mid Ulster 23/24 September 2023: A moderate looped walk looking at adaptive plant species in the area around Davagh Forest (8km) and two challenging looped walks, one on Slieve Gallion including a prize for the best landscape photo (12km) and exploring place names on Carntogher (12km)

Derry City & Strabane 7/8 October 2023: Sperrins & Killeter features two themed moderate walks: Explore the emigration story in Castledamph and including parts of Bradkeel and the Moat (8km) and Stories from the Killeter via the causeway and Carrickaholten (9km)

Causeway Coast & Glens 14/15 October 2023: Explore the natural and human history in the North Sperrins with two walks looking at late Bronze Age to current day heritage. Participants can look forward to a moderate ability walk at Banagher Glen (10km) and a challenging walk to the summit of Mullaghaneaney and sister peaks (12km).

Fermanagh & Omagh 23/24 March 2024: Four walks including: Challenging walks exploring traditional routes of travel on Mullaghcarn Ridge (12km) and over Doorish Hill linking to Meenadoan National Nature Reserve (10km). Moderate looped walks with a foraging guide in Gortin Glen Forest Park (8km) and exploring upland geo-ecology between Lough Bradan to Sloughan Glen (8-9km).

‘We are very pleased to announce the return of Sperrins Walking,’ said Ciara Toner from The Sperrins Partnership said: “. Following the success of last year’s inaugural programme the four Councils that make up the Sperrins

Partnership have once again come together to deliver a range of walks to enjoy throughout the beautiful Sperrin Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) while also promoting health, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

‘The Sperrins has so much to offer those seeking adventure, while exploring history in this beautiful wild and unspoilt landscape. Sperrins Walking encourages everyone to get out and get active while at the same time affording participants the opportunity to celebrate the beauty of one of the most spectacular and undiscovered locations in the island of Ireland. The knowledgeable walk leaders will reveal points of interest and facts that will leave participants better informed about the natural, cultural and built heritage of this beautiful region.’

For further information on the Sperrins Walking programme and to book your place visit https://farandwild.org/land/ or https://sperrinspartnershipproject. com/sperrins-walking/ #SperrinsWalking.

Stunning new portraits of peace heroines

If you’re planning a trip to Belfast before Sunday 8 October, why not visit an exhibition with a difference?

In the build-up to the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in 2023, Herstory partnered with the National Museums NI and Department of Foreign Affairs to create the Peace Heroines education programme.

The programme features a touring exhibition, with stunning new portraits of the peace heroines by the artist FRIZ, and youth workshops exploring power.

From grassroots to government levels, the exhibition captures

a diversity of voices and perspectives, featuring 30 women’s stories including:

• Monica McWilliams and Pearl Sagar

• Linda Ervine MBE

• Pat Hume

• Baroness May Blood MBE

• Hillary Clinton, and

• Saidie Patterson.

Powerful partnerships are explored such as Peace People, NI Women’s Coalition, Women Together, and Derry Peace Women.

For more information go to www.herstory.ie/peaceheroines

Some of the group celebate the return of Sperrin Walking

"Everything is connected": protecting future generations with today's farming techniques

Minister visits Bangor to set sail in Ballyholme Bay

Formula 18 sailor Adrian Allen with Minister for State for Northern Ireland Steve Baker

On Tuesday 22 August The Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Steve Baker, a keen fast catamaran sailor, visited Northern Ireland’s newest city to experience some of the water sports on offer in the area.

On a previous visit to Bangor, the Minister heard first-hand about the exciting regeneration plans in development for the city. As he enjoyed a tour of the waterfront area, it prompted the Minster’s desire to return, and with a particular interest in sailing, he visited Ballyholme Yacht Club.

Ballyholme Yacht Club benefits from both the safe waters of Ballyholme Bay and the open waters of Belfast Lough. During today’s visit, Minister Baker enjoyed sailing a hydrofoiling sailboat and catamaran, and also took the opportunity to meet children taking part in an RYA Youth Sailing Scheme.

The Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Steve Baker, said:

‘Sailing with local people in Bangor’s Ballyholme Bay has been an amazing experience,’ the Minister said, ‘which has allowed me to enjoy first-hand the city’s great watersports infrastructure.

‘This area has a bright future, with exciting projects such as The Queen’s Parade Development which will benefit from £10m of UK Government Levelling Up funding, and the £40 million Belfast City Region Deal Funding from the NI Executive set to redevelop assets such as Bangor Marina.

‘Such significant investment will provide a real boost, driving tourism and improving facilities for local people.’

many. The importance and power of listening can never be underestimated.”

Samaritans vision is that fewer people die by suicide, but only one in five calls to the charity are from people who are suicidal. The majority of callers report being lonely, feeling isolated, are facing problems at work or at home, or they may be struggling to cope with any issue, including the cost of living.

As well as supporting people emotionally on the phone, Samaritans volunteers undertake outreach in the community, fundraise, and take on administrative roles, all of which are vital to ensure that the service remains available round the clock, every day of the year.

Jon – who tells his full volunteering journey on the Senior Times website - added: “You don’t have to be an expert to join Samaritans, just being there to listen and showing you care is the best skill you can have.

“It is a privilege to be part of an organisation made up of volunteers who freely give of their time and emotional energy to provide emotional support to those in distress.”

For more information on volunteering with your local Samaritans branch visit www.samaritans.ie/volunteer

Anyone in need of support can also call Samaritans on freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.ie

Samaritans is urging others to get involved with the charity to give something back to the local community and help change people’s lives

Beauty

on a budget

Mairead Robinson suggests ways of maximizing the benefits of your beauty regime.

Some people think that having an effective skin care regime means spending a lot of money, and indeed there are many luxury products out there that certainly cost quite a lot. But if you purchase wisely and use appropriately, your skin care should not cost the earth.

Let’s start with the products that you have purchased. Choose wisely and ensure that the products you have bought are exactly what your skin type needs –there is no benefit to using cream for dry skin if you have oily skin, for example. Check your products regularly and make sure they are in date. If you let them get out of date, they will certainly have reduced efficacy. If you see your skin creams showing a lumpy or yellowing appearance indicating a change in structure, this means some of the product is no longer at its best. When it comes to pump bottles, you may find the first measure of product out of the dispenser is affected the most. Get rid of this and use a fresher second or third measure for

maximum benefit, as recommended by facial skin care experts. The next point is how to store your products. A bathroom window sill or a sunny open shelf may seem like a good place to keep your skin care products, however this is not the case. The fast changing temperatures in the bathroom could be affecting how your toiletries work. Retinol, Vitamin C and SPFs are all sensitive to slight and heat, it can cause them to become less efficient. Therefore, keep your lotions in a cool, dark place. I keep all my skin care products in a drawer in the bedroom.

The final tip then is to use the products as recommended by the manufacturer. There is no benefit to applying layer after layer of moisturiser or serum when one of each does the job perfectly, applying the serum first on cleansed skin, followed by the moisturiser. Once you have chosen the correct product for your skin condition, use as recommended, no more and no less, in order to get the maximum benefit from your purchase.

And so to price. You might be surprised to learn that there are some great bargains out there with top class beauty products. For example check out www.theordinary.com where you can get Hyaluronic Acid, in a very pure form at a fraction of what some beauty brands charge for a similar product. Hyalluronic Acid is a very important ingredient for younger looking skin, and this hydrator smoothes and plumps the skin. Hyaluronic Acid 2 per cent + B5 is the ultimate hydration. Also check out Ascorbyl Glucoside Solution, which is a Vitamin C solution that brightens the skin and is another key ingredient in the battle against ageing skin as it targets dullness, signs of aging and uneven skin tone. You can check out these and other great products at excellent prices either on line or at select branches of Boots Chemists.

MUSIC WITH NAXOS

“Naxos is part of every music lover’s life.” – Gramophone

SELECTED TITLES INSPIRED BY THE SENIOR TIMES CLASSICAL COLLECTION PODCAST

GEORGE ANTHEIL

VIOLIN SONATAS

Brand New to the American Classics Series

Tianwa Yang, Nicholas Rimmer

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Nivea is a very popular brand that has been providing effective products at very affordable prices for some years. New to their collection is the Derma Skin Clear range which tackles blemish-prove skin with its most advanced face cleanse collection. Formulated with Salicylic Acids, Gycolic Acid and Niacinamide, this new range supports the skin’s own natural renewal process, unclogs pores and reduces the appearance of blemishes with visible skin improvements in just seven days. The range consists of Derma Skin Clear Chemical Exfoliator – which is priced at just €7.99. The other products in the range are all priced at just €6.99 and they consist of Derma Skin Care Wash Gel, Derma Skin Clear Toner, and Derma Skin Clear anti-blemish scrub. These products are suitable for both men and women and anybody who suffers from blemish-prone skin who suffer from pimples, oiliness and uneven skin.

A favourite luxury skin care brand have just released a really effective colour correcting range of products. And they are coming in at a very affordable price. Clarins have launched their SOS Primer collection that boosts radiance and preps and hydrates the skin and minimises signs of fatigue.

These new SOS Primers are not just primers, but also real skin rescue products. They are highly effective and high performance and literally come to the rescue of your skin to make it more beautiful – even bare. They enhance the radiance of bare skin and also improve make-up hold and allow the skin to breath. They can be applied alone or before foundation. And the great thing about these new creams, is that they are priced at just €33.50

the appearance of fine lines – don’t we all?- Clarins have launched instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, which smoothes wrinkles and fine lines, giving a blur effect texture and can be applied alone of before make-up. This little beauty costs just €34 And the products do not cost the earth – literally, they are plant based and while kind to your purse, they are also kind to the earth. Available at Clarins stockists nationwide and on www.clarins.ie

So it is wise to shop around, know what suits your skin and check out the regular three for two offers at Boots, and other similar offers. There is no need to comprise on good skin care if you shop around!

Meeting Place

THE WEDNESDAY CLUB is a select social club located on Dublin ‘s southside for widows/widowers and otherwise single people over 55 to enjoy social and cultural activities together. Our activities include dining out, visits to the theatre, museums, gardens, golf,  bridge, poker nights, talks, occassional trips and so much more. For further information email wednesdayclub01@gmail.com Or:

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER W1

NORTHSIDE DUBLIN LADY would like to meet other females 60s-70s for friendship, socialising, coffee, meals out etc. Dublin, Co Dublin or surroundings counties.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E1

Co DUBLIN GENT MID 60s NS, SD, well spoken, good humoured, well presented and adventurous. Interest include keeping fit, driving, eating out, concerts, current affairs, cinema, all types of music and travel. Looking forward to meeting that special lady! REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E2

SINCERE KIND CO MEATH WIDOW, GOOD APPEARANCE, keen sense of humour, good listener, considered attractive. Interests include theatre, dancing, music, reading, walking. WLTM a warm personable, educated gent for friendship, preferably widower 70s-80s.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E3

KILDARE GENT MID 70s slim and good appearance WLTM a lady 65-70 to share C&W music, dancing, weekends away, eating out and walking and to share the good times together.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E4

EASY GOING CO CORK LADY WLTM intelligent, kind gent 65-75 to share life’s experiences and create new ones. Must have GSOH, be passionate about music, reading, the arts, history and current affairs. Carpe diem. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E5

RETIRED PROFESSIONAL SOUTH

DUBLIN GENT, 70, NS, SD 5ft 11in, medium build, GSOH, kind and personable. Many and varied interests including music (member of a ukulele band), ballroom dancing, theatre, cinema, eating out, travel at home and abroad, bridge, current affairs, sport. WLTM lady with some of these interests for friendship/relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E6

DUBLIN GENT, 68, WLTM FEMALE COMPANION to share life and interests, which are laughter, music and gardening and holidays abroad.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E7

DUBLIN WIDOWER 72, 6ft 1in, NS, SD, GSOH WLTM al lady for friendship, companionship. Interests include travel, theatre, music. I am from a bygone era of conversation in a nice restaurant with a glass of wine.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E8

DUBLIN WIDOWER 70s, NS, SD, GSOH, enjoys a joke and the craic. Like music, art, drives to the beach, coffees mornings and the normal things in life. WLTM broadminded lady for personal relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E9

SOUTH DUBLIN MAN, 67, RETIRED, ACTIVE. I have a good life and keep myself busy and always up to something. WLT M active lady to share our lives. It would be great to hear from you and see how we get on. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E10

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME and maybe we could light a spark and start a lasting relationship. I am looking for a widowed or single lady in her 70s like me in the Cavan/ Meath/Monaghan area. I am a widower, slim, fit. NS, SD VGSOH with many interested including current affairs, sport and music. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E11

NORTHSIDE DUBLIN MAN early 70s many interests WLTM friendly lady for companionship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E12

DOWN TO EARTH DUBLIN MAN. Separated, 70 years young Not ready for pipe and slippers by a long way. Slim build, fit, NS, SD, GSOH, neat appearance and dress. Like the great outdoors, drives in the country, concerts, weekends away, cinema, traditional and classical music, dining out. WLTM a lady with similar tastes and outlook and a zest for life who would like some male company.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E13

GLAMOROUS LADY, 68, with a zest for life, WLTM a gentleman of similar age for companionship and possibly relationship. I love nothing more than a good conversation over a glass of wine. If you’re generous, kind and sincere like me I would love to hear from you. I am Cork-based but to open to meeting someone from a different county.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E14

YOUNG 72 YEARS OLD WOMAN, NS, SD, retired teacher separated, living in South Dublin but originally from Kerry. I'm fit, healthy, slim, attractive and friendly. My interests include most types of music, especially classical, attending concerts, watching good films and going to the theatre. I enjoy

a glass of wine with a meal. I love to read . I enjoy exercising, mainly walking, especially in parks .I would like to meet a gentleman with whom I can share some of my interests .I enjoy travelling at home and abroad, a good meal out ,coffee in lovely surroundings. I enjoy simple pleasures. I'm seeking a long-term respectful relationship

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER E15

NORTH WEST GENT 73 WLTM a lady of similar age and interests. I am a sincere and honest person. Interests include history, easy listening and classical music, travel, theatre and musicals. NS, SD, divorced many years, tactile, affectionate. So if you would like a relaxed and friendly fun relationship please contact me.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J2

ATTRACTIVE DUBLIN SOUTHSIDE

LADY, 60, seeks tall gentleman from Dublin or surrounds. Attractive gent with car would be great. Generous type preferred for friendship initially. Interests included music and theatre. Under 70s only

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J3

NICE TIPP LADY looking to meet a kind and respectable gent. Interests varied. Age preferably 60-70 to enjoy life together in North Munster area.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J4

GENEROUS SEPERATED CO CORK

LADY, 68. with a zest for life. WLTM a gent of similar age for companionship and possible relationship. Love good conversation over a glass of wine. If you are generous, kind and sincere like me I would love to hear from you. I am cork-based but open to meeting someone from another county. GSOH, NS, SD.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J5

MID WEST GENT 76, retired professional, own home, no ties. NS, SD, Interests include current affairs, politics, sport. WLTM professional woman late 60s early 70s for friendship and possible relationship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J6

TIPPERARY LADY no brothers or sisters would like to meet ladies in similar position IN Tipperary or surrounds for chats, eating out etc. Interests include crafts, eating our, theatre etc. Age range 65-85.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J7

DUBLIN LADY, LATE 60s, single, outgoing, GSOH. Enjoys walking, (esp. by the sea), music (all kinds), travel, visiting art galleries, current affairs, entertaining at home & eating out. WLTM gentleman, around same age, with similar interests.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J8

DUBLIN PROFESSIONAL LADY WLTM gent for friendship. Age group 65 to 75. I am divorced and live alone. I like music, dancing, reading, cinema, theatre, meditation, walking etc.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J9

SLIM FIT DUBLIN GENT in his 70s addicted to YouTube Netflix Spotify TED Talks Keep Fit healthy eating, not a snazzy dresser or a dancer or sports fan. Seeks similar female. ALA. SWALK.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J10

EDUCATED LADY 70s would like to meet somebody for meals out, coffee once a week or walking. Must be a good conversationalist and have an interest in current affairs and events outside of Ireland. Returned emigrants welcomed.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J11

DUBLIN LADY, LATE 60s single, outgoing, GSOH. Enjoys walking, (esp. by the sea), music (all kinds), travel, visiting art galleries, current affairs, entertaining at home & eating out. WLTM gentleman, around same age, with similar interests.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J12

MID WEST WIDOW , retired professional. Young at heart, positive generous caring & having a good outlook on life. Interests include reading, travel, nature & social interaction. WLTM interesting, kind, personable GSOH special gent in 70s.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER J13

EDUCATED LADY 70s would like to meet somebody for meals out, coffee once a week or walking. Must be a good conversationalist and have an interest in current affairs and events outside of Ireland. Returned emigrants welcomed.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N1

SLIM FIT DUBLIN GENT in his 70s addicted to YouTube Netflix Spotify TED Talks, Keep Fit healthy eating, not a snazzy dresser or a dancer or sports fan. Seeks similar female. ALA. SWALK.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N2

FOREVER HOPEFUL DUBLIN FEMALE, 61, divorced with three adult children WLTM a gentleman from Dublin. Slim, reasonably fit, young at heart, upbeat and positive/ Semi retired and looking forward to the next phase of my life which would be even better if shared with a partner. Enjoy reading, music and socialising with friends.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N3

SINGLE DUBLIN GENT WLTM lady. I am 60 and great craic, well presented and adventurous. Interests include walking, weekends away, eating out, concerts and living life to the full. Laughter is the best medicine and timeless and makes dreams come true. Could we laugh together and make our dreams come true?

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N4

SINCERE, GENUINE, KIND-HEARTED WIDOW from Midlands, ND, NS, VGSH. Retired, family grown up. Interests include reading, walking, drama. WLTM personable, refined gent, preferably a widower. Age range 70s-80s

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N5

RISING SUNSHINE SOCIAL CLUB. Dublin-based over 50s singles club for socialising, weekends away, holidays abroad etc. Interested in joining? Let’s hear from you!

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N6

DUBLIN WIDOWER 70s . Own house and car, good appearance. WLTM a lady with jolly outlook and good dress sense to accompany me to exhilarating events, holidays worldwide, concerts, cinema. I have a GSOH. SD, NS. I hope ladies replying have the same characteristics so that we bond.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N7

SOUTH DUBLIN LADY sincere, outgoing, attractive, late 60s WLTM good humoured, honest gentleman mid-60s for companionship/relationship. Many interests including travel, golf, readings, theatres, cinema, foreign languages.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER N8

TALL SINGLE PROFESSIONAL LADY

WLTM single professional Irish gentleman 65-75 for socialising and maybe a relationship. Many interests include ballroom dancing, world travel, going to the concert hall, theatre, eating out, current affairs, GAA, swimming. Must be of generous nature.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R2

MUNSTER LADY, sincere with a positive outlook and having a zest for life, Widowed. Enjoys social interaction, reading, art, dining out, travel, gardening, country and coastal exploration drives and rambles. WLTM a genuine, kind, personable unattached gent NS with GSOH in his 70s to share laughter and interests.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R3

DUBLIN MALE CROSS-DRESSER

WLTM others for chats and possible meetups. Have contacts for clothes. Discretion assured. REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R4

WIDOW 67, living in Dublin, originally from Meath. WLTM a nice gentleman who is interested in cinema, theatre, travel, walks, music, coffee and restaurant Dates. A guy with a GSOH like myself would be fun yippee! REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R5

NORTH CO DUBLIN WIDOW, 75., GSOH, NS but happy to have the odd drink and great chats and laughs. WLTM a gentleman who is sincere and loyal, who likes cinema, theatre and enjoys each other’s company. I want to meet that special man –could be you!

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R6

DUBLIN MALE LATE 50s, SEPARATED, NS, SD, GSOH, average height/build. Many interests. WLTM lady of similar age for friendship/companionship.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R7

TIPPERARY LADY. SEMI-RETIRED. 65, WLTM ladies and gents for friendship/ companionship from Tipperary and neighbouring counties. Interests include gardening, walking, eating out, music and cinema

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R8

GALWAY MAN, 5ft 8in, 12 stone, interest include sport and keep-fit. Would like to hear from other males. Age unimportant. Clergy welcome.

REPLY TO BOX NUMBER R9

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, PO Box 13215, Rathmines, 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 October 24th 2023.

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, in associations with the publishers the O’Brien Press, are offering five copies of Sandy Kenny’s long awaited autobiography In My Own Words as prizes in this issue’s crossword competition. Born in Sligo into a family of travelling entertainers, Sandy Kelly went on to become one Ireland’s most successful singers. She was co-opted into the family variety show from an early age, laying the foundations for a lifelong career in music. As a teenager she sang on the UK social club circuit. Career highlights include recording ‘Woodcarver’ with Johnny Cash, achieving Gold record status, and receiving a Gold record for her version of the Willie Nelson song ‘Crazy’ in 1989. Sandy has recorded and toured with a host of legendary US country artists, including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Glen Campbell, Tammy Wynette, George Hamilton IV and Chet Atkins. ‘She won the hearts of everyone who saw her’ - Johnny Cash

Crossword

Crossword

Number 125 by Zoë Devlin

ACROSS

1 Area where Irish is predominant language (9)

6 Children’s game played with chestnuts (7)

10 Romulus’s twin brother (5)

13 Add up .. tot .. tally (3)

15 US writer of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ with a karma twin? (4,5)

16 Area in Dublin 8 close to Guinness Brewery (7)

17 Secret agent hired to obtain information (3)

18 Fruit of the oak tree (5)

19 Food such as Irish ___, hotpot or ragout (4)

20 Sailing boats (6)

21 Government tax on imports (4)

22 Military trainee, officer class (5)

23 Has possession of .. (4)

27 Island republic in the Mediterranean (5)

29 Basic monetary of most of the EU (4)

31 Autumn month preceding 88 Across (7)

33 There’s no elk kid in this gold-rush region! (8)

37 Fisherman who uses a hook and line (6)

38 Large spotted feline or expensive motor car? (6)

39 Small body of flowing water (6)

40 Opposing military force (5)

42 Habitual twitching of the face (3)

44 Renown or state of being acclaimed (4)

46 Notable achievement (4)

47 She was the wife of Adam (3)

48 Tolerate .. put up with (6)

50 French fashion designer, ___ Saint Laurent (4)

56 Every year (8)

57 Derry-born receiver of Nobel prize, John ___ (4)

58 Could be Gate, Abbey or operating? (7)

60 Big .. not small (5)

61 Inexpensive (5)

62 Donegal band, with Brennan clan and their uncles! (7)

66 Aromatic herb found in a corsage? (4)

Biologist specialising in study of plants (8)

Male deer or bachelor party (4)

DOWN

1 Athletic facility for physical training (3)

2 Lofty nest of an eagle (5)

3 To lug or carry with difficulty (4)

4 Only a hard case would play this party game! (8)

5 Freshwater fish (5)

6 Sleeveless garments for space? (5)

7 Is he mad? No, he just moves from place to place. (5)

8 Action by landlord to compel tenant to leave (8)

9 Air pollution, smoke and fog (4)

10 Rogue or scallywag (6)

11 Perhaps .. possibly (5)

12 Celestial body (4)

13 She had seven dwarves to mind her! (4-5)

14 Residence of a religious community (9)

19 Lively ballroom dance from Brazil (5)

24 Wearied .. tired .. dulled (5)

25 Speak humourously or joke (4)

26 Smile contemptuously (5)

28 Written record of events at sea (3)

30 Inner Dublin 8 suburb or bridge in Venice? (6)

32 Funeral procession (7)

34 Does Emil like this citrus fruit? (4)

35 Writing desk with drawers (6)

36 Capital of Lebanon (6)

41 I parcel up this reproduction or copy! (7)

43 Monetary unit found in this century! (4)

44 Dublin-born artist, ___ Bacon (7)

45 Did this man lead S.Africa as president? (7)

49 ‘___ a deer, a female deer’... (3)

51 Coating that gives a hard, lustrous finish (7)

52 Perfumed .. fragrant (7)

53 Stripy, stinging insects (5)

54 Fictional character such as Jane Eyre (7)

55 Also known as (5)

57 Adult female bird (3)

59 Primate .. found in a chapel or trapeze? (3)

63 Building where birds are kept (6)

64 Large, hard-shelled seed (3)

65 Pointed missile thrown at a board (4)

66 Do pet eels live in this tall, tapering church tower? (7)

67 Band worn around the leg to hold up stocking (6)

69 Baby cat (6)

75 Meryl streep played ‘___ Mia’ (5)

76 Have a care for this unit of 4,840 sq. yards! (4)

78 Form of football played with oval ball (5)

79 Low female singing voice (9)

80

82

85

86

Unseeable .. impossible to see (9)

Taste sensation .. not sweet (4)

Utilise or employ (3)

Completely unclothed (5)

87 Metric weight unit = 2.2 lbs (8)

88 Infirmary or health facility (8)

93

Person who rules or guides others (6) 96 Traffic light colour between red and green (5)

98 Rotten smell (5)

99 Heathen or infidel (5)

100 Go ham it up in this Co Tyrone town! (5)

102 Completely conscious (5)

103 Douglas __, first president of Ireland (4)

104

Large sea-going vessel (4)

105 Paul David Hewson, also known as ___ (4)

110

Browning of the skin from rays of the sun (3)

Crafts It's on the cards..

Connie McEvoy recalls being commissioned to produce a Ruby Wedding anniversary card

On February 20th 2006 I received a letter from the editor of an Australian craft magazine titled Embroidery, Beading and Cross Stitch informing me of the fact that my work/designs had come to their notice. It went on to say that they would like to commission me to design, work and provide instructions for two greeting cards, one suitable for a Ruby anniversary and a second of my own choice. The cards would need to be ready for the issue that had on sale date June 2nd 2006, so I got to work and had the Ruby Anniversary card done to my satisfaction fairly quickly and I then started a violet card for Mother’s day.

Ruby anniversary card

Time: about 10 hours

Expertise intermediate Cost €7.50

Requirements: 1 piece of ecru evenweave 10x11cms

Anchor stranded embroidery cotton 1 skein in the following colours green no 281 and 580, ruby red no 042, pink no 502 and dusty pink no 484. The card used in this project is roses, lilies and honeysuckle by DMC creative world but a plain cream coloured card would be equally suitable. For the smaller aperture – some Daler~Rowney Canford art paper ruby red/pink measuring 10x12cms with 7cm circular aperture. Greaseproof paper, a water erasable pencil and a black pencil. Scissors, pins, masking tape an iron and prittstick. A fine crewel needle, a tapestry needle (for needleweaving) and a thimble.

Stitch key as follows- 2 strands of thread used throughout project. Stems; thicker one on left- stem stitch overcast using 1strand of no580 and no042 combined, the other stem is worked in no281 stem stitch overcast also. Thorns and stitches at base of buds- slanted stitches. Leaves; 6 large- worked in fishbone stitch green no580, 5 smallneedleweaving worked in green no281.

random, the smaller rose and two buds are worked in no 505.

Step1 Draw the design onto the greaseproof paper using the black pencil, place the traced design centrally onto the wrong side of the fabric and pin securely in place.

Step 2 Use the masking tape to fix both the fabric and design to a window or glass with light shining through (right side of fabric facing), draw the design onto the right side of fabric using the water erasable pencil.

Step 3 Remove masking tape, pins and greaseproof paper, the project is now ready for embroidery.

blooms and slanted stitches and finally the needlewoven leaves.

Step 5 Wash the work flat in a shallow bowl of tepid suds in order to remove any water erasable pencil outline sections that may not have been completely covered in the stitching, rinse well and roll in a towel to remove excess water. Iron while quite damp on several layers of towel.

Step 6 Draw a 7cm circle on the ruby coloured art paper and cut the excess away carefully, smear some prittstick around the aperture on wrong side, position the aperture centrally over the embroidery and fix securely in place. The project can now be fixed in the cream aperture card.

To

With my legacy, I want you to know that you are not alone. There are people who care and who want to see you thrive.

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