Ulster Tatler

Blog by Andrea McVeigh

2008-11-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

They say travel broadens the mind - but it's playing havoc with my body clock! I'm just back from a trip to Korea and am still on Asian time - that means eating breakfast at tea-time and going to bed at 8pm!
I wouldn’t have missed the trip for the world though, because I discovered a beautiful country with a fascinating history and welcoming, friendly people. I even took part in a 'home stay' programme and stayed with a Korean family overnight, and was treated to their hospitality and delicious home-cooked food, all while I got a real insight into their lifestyle.
My trip to the DMZ - the demilitarised zone - near the capital Seoul, was particularly fascinating. It's the area between South and North Korea and you can only get to it on a pre-organised tour, as it's heavily guarded with soldiers from both sides, but it was a day I'll never forget.
Seoul is a lively, bustling, fast-paced city but there are pockets of serenity in the Buddhist temples and lush green parks you'll find all over the city. I also travelled out of Seoul to the bustling southern port of Busan, Korea's second biggest city, as well as Andong with its traditional folk village and Gyeongju with its impressive national museum. Korea is one of Asia's best-kept secrets but hopefully it won't be that way for much longer - I loved it and I'll definitely make plans to go back.
In the meantime, when I'm not trying to catch up on my sleep, I'm making the most of being back in Belfast.
I'm a bit of an art buff, so I was happy to discover homegrown talent in the form of Holywood-based artist Dawn Whalley. Her work is filled with imaginative and enchanting imagery and she unveiled her latest works in Holywood's Whalley Gallery recently to great acclaim. Check it out if you're in that part of the province and you could find yourself going home with a brand new painting for your wall.
With Belfast Fashionweek week taking place all thoughts are currently on style this month, and another local name to watch out for is fashion designer Zoë Boomer, who was born and brought up in Belfast but now lives in London.
She caused a stir at Dublin fashion Week recently with her fluid, floaty creations in sumptuous chiffon and silk.
She also counts Madonna and singer Natasha Bedingfield as fans of her work, which is pretty amazing when you consider that Madonna, in particular, has the worlds top designers at her beck and call. So the fact she rates a local gal shows just how special 25-year-old Zoe's designs are.
Of course the biggest fashion parade of all could be seen at the recent Ulster Tatler People of the Year Awards - everyone looked fabulous! All the men looked dapper in suits while the women were stunning in every type of ball gown and formal dress. I got loads of compliments about my long black and gold dress from Beverly Hills on Bloomfield Avenue, and I felt like quite the starlet! In terms of dressing-up, it was definitely Northern Ireland's answer to the Oscars! It was a real occasion to get the glad rags on and a great time was had by all. It really was the social event of the year - roll on next year's awards!

Swapping is the new shopping by Andrea McVeigh

2008-10-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

Swapping is the new shopping! Even Hollywood A-listers are at it! Lindsay Lohan was the guest of honour at a clothes swapping event held by Visa, the credit card people, in London this summer. But us Northern Irish gals have got in on the act too.
The Blick folk, who work out of a shared space for creative types on Belfast's Malone Road, held a skills swapping party recently, and a few weeks back I held my own book and clothes swap party at home.
The idea is to get a group of mates together and bring all your old books and clothes along - anything that still has some life left in it, but that you no longer need or want. Then put all the items down and let everyone be free to take their pick. It's also known as 'swishing' and it's all the rage in London these days. Try it yourself - me and my friends had a great girly night, a few drinks and a lot of laughs. You'll have a fab night and could even bag a new wardrobe without spending any money - how's that for credit crunch shopping!
You could even get everyone to donate some money and then give it to charity - and with Breast Cancer Awareness Month taking place this October, what better excuse do you need to get swapping!
Talking of books, a big event in the local publishing calendar takes place mid-month with the launch of Gerry Kelly's autobiography. The talented UTV talk show veteran hosted The Kelly Show, live on Friday nights on UTV, for no less than 17 years - so he's got some great stories to tell!
Known both locally and nationally as Northern Ireland's own 'Mr Chat', he's had a fascinating life - I had the pleasure of working for him on the Kelly Show a few years back and I know what a great man he is. And boy, he can tell a great story too! This is one book I can't wait to get my hands on. I'm not even going to wait until Christmas (or for a book swap party!) - I'll rush out to buy it as soon as it comes out!
October is certainly shaping up to be a busy month as Belfast Fashionweek also takes place mid-month. I love seeing the latest styles on local models and I know that I'm not alone - ticket sales keep rising every year that it runs and tickets for most of the shows usually sell out soon after they go on sale. I love the 1970s-style boho fashion looks that are filling the rails this season so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for some hot style tips during Fashionweek too.
Besides all the fab launches and social occasions taking place over the coming weeks there's another reason to celebrate autumn too - great telly! I'm currently glued to Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday evenings and have shouted myself hoarse cheering on local girl Christine Bleakley, the talented and extremely glamorous co-presenter of BBC1's flagship The One Show. As cheerful and friendly in real life as she is on TV, our girl Christine deserves to win - so get voting!
With Ugly Betty on Fridays, the airing of Little Britain USA, also on Fridays, and Strictly on Saturdays, that's my weekend viewing sorted. I'm also a big movie fan too, and I was lucky enough to catch a preview of How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, recently. Starring Simon Pegg as an inept British journalist who lands a job at a fashionable New York-based magazine, it's based around the real-life experiences of gaffe-prone British writer, Toby Young. It's also one of those British movies you wish they'd make more of - funny, clever and fast-paced with lots of laughs, snappy dialogue and great acting.

Blog by Andrea McVeigh

2008-10-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Some guys have all the luck - Belfast’s metrosexual males have a fabulous new place to hang out and be pampered.
It’s the Man at Partners male grooming salon adjoining the fab Partners Hair salon on Castlereagh Street in the east of the city - and it has local ladies green with grooming envy! Its owner, Paul Meekin, spotted a gap in the market and realised that there was a huge potential for a new, exclusive male grooming salon, offering everything from massages and facials to hot shaves and haircuts.
Paul says it has already proved to be a hit with shy guys who prefer the atmosphere in traditional male barbers, where there are no women around, as well as with blokes of all ages who are keen to try out some of the new pampering treatments on offer. One of the most talked about treatment on the Man menu is the Mankini wax - also called a ‘Boyzilian’ and it’s the male equivalent of the female Brazilian or bikini wax. And despite what you may think, it turns out that several local guys are keen to try it out and have already booked in for their Boyzilian - but I'm naming no names!
The salon itself has been gorgeously designed with style-conscious males in mind and features lots of masculine dark woods and chrome fittings. But if you’re one of the female of the species, don’t worry, just pop next door into Partners for an equally luxurious time. I nipped in recently for a wash and blow dry and was treated to a manicure while I was getting my new look from the salon’s owner and master cutter, Paul Meekin, himself. Next time I go I plan to try a massage in one of the calm treatment rooms.
I'm not long back from my Alaska cruise and I'd thoroughly recommend it! We breezed through Terminal 5 at Heathrow on the way there and back and enjoyed really comfortable flights with British Airways to and from Vancouver, where the cruise departed from, even bagging seats with extra legroom, which made the flight even better. The food was top-notch, the cabin crew were friendly and when we weren't eating we watched back-to-back movies - bliss! Usually I dread long-haul flights but these were comfy and quick - we'll definitely be flying BA again!
Our trip took in a cruise around Alaska’s Inside Passage with the brilliant cruise company Holland America Line, onboard its elegant and superbly-equipped ship, the MS Ryndam. The ship offered all the facilities you’d find in a five-star hotel, including a gym, several high-class restaurants, a library, a coffee shop, several bars, a shopping gallery and a spa, where I treated myself to a pampering facial.
All the stops along the route were amazing too and I really fell for the wide open spaces, fresh air, friendly locals and awe-inspiring scenery of Alaskan towns and cities such as Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. The tour excursions were awesome too - my hubby and I went on a helicopter ride and walked across a glacier, hired a Harley Davidson and went on a motorcycle tour around Ketchikan, winding between sea and forest on Alaska State Highway 7. Ray, our leader on the Harley tour, told us all about the history of the area and we made new friends in the form of the other riders in our multi-cultural tour group - Peter from Yorkshire and seasoned American bikers, Doug and V. My other half and I were the only Irish people to take the tour that summer, so at least we’ll be remembered.
I was tempted to stow away and stay onboard for another week but duty called back home, in the form of work. One treat to look forward to though - and it’s all in the name of research, of course! - is the Marks & Spencer autumn/winter fashion show that’s taking place in Dublin at the end of September. A group of Northern Irish fashion writers will be heading down with the chic PR girls from Anderson Spratt to check out the hottest looks for the coming season - and stylishly showing those Dublin gals what fashion is all about!

THE event season - By Andrea McVeigh

2008-09-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

THE event season has started up again, with the re-launch of Canvas art gallery on Belfast's Stranmillis Road and the Raspberry Beret relocation party (the fab vintage fashion store has moved from the city centre to Bloomfield Avenue in east Belfast) both taking place recently.
But the highlight of September has to be the Ulster Tatler's own People of the Year awards.
This is the inaugural year of the awards ceremony, which is being held in association with House of Fraser, and which has been launched to celebrate and reward inspirational local people - of which there are many!
There's an abundance of brilliant, talented people in Northern Ireland, as I found out recently when I was asked to be one of the judges for the awards.
There are numerous trophies up for grabs, covering everyone from brides to businessmen, sportsmen to chefs, and all the shortlisted nominees really deserve their place in the final.
I was on the judging panel for two of the categories - and the consensus among the judges was that everyone who had made it onto the shortlist deserves a prize.
Unfortunately, there can only be one winner in each category but I know that I, along with the rest of the judges, had a hard time debating the merits of each nominee.
The beauty of the awards, which will be handed out in Belfast's Waterfront Hall in September, is that it was down to Ulster Tatler's own readers to send in their nominees, so this really is an awards ceremony 'for the people'.
Along with the Canvas and Raspberry Beret parties, another highlight of the month was the catwalk preview for the Autumn/Winter collections at House of Fraser.
The clothes were all gorgeous and, thanks to House of Fraser and the gorgeous clothes on show, I've already planned my new season wardrobe, which will be full of tartans, purples and luxurious fabrics.
Style-spotter Katrina Doran was making lots of notes at the fashion show too. She's the Editor of www.sugahfix.com, which bills itself as a guide to life and style in Belfast and beyond.
The site recently marked its one millionth hit, just three months after it launched, and Katrina told me how thrilled she is that local women are logging on to find out the latest fashion, shopping, beauty, travel, style spotting and entertainment news.
Sugahfix was responsible for the recent poll that gained so much attention in the Press recently, in which UTV's own silver fox Frank Mitchell was in the top three of the most attractive grey-haired men in the world, as voted for by Sugahfix readers, after George Clooney and James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan!
I must confess to especially liking the travel section of Sugahfix.com - because I contribute to it! And, being the inveterate traveller that I am, I'm currently planning my Christmas getaway. I know it seems like Christmas is a long-time away, but there are actually only around four months to go until the big day, and those months will fly by!
My hubby and I try to get away every year at Christmas because there's nothing like spending the festive season soaking up a different culture - in the past we've eaten noodles in Tokyo on 25 December and counted down to New Year's Day in San Francisco.
This year we'll be spending Christmas Day onboard one of the fabulous Star Clipper tall sailing ships on a cruise around the islands of Tahiti. It's our dream holiday, and when we looked into it, it proved to be very accessible, once you fly to LA, all you have to do is head on to Tahiti (not exactly a hardship!), where the Star Clipper ship sails from.
We've been on Star Clipper ships before and loved the fact that they're more intimate than those mega-ships that carry thousands of people. And the prospect of spending Christmas Day onboard a masted clipper ship in one of the most beautiful areas on earth was one we couldn’t resist. Apparently, the cruise is popular with honeymooners, but since I'm already hitched, we'll turn it into a second honeymoon!
Before that though, we're off on a very different trip - an Alaskan cruise. From Alaska to Tahiti via Northern Ireland - we vowed to make 2008 our year of travel and we're certainly sticking to our resolution!

Andrea McVeigh's Blog

2008-09-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

There's an abundance of brilliant, talented people in Northern Ireland, as I found out recently when I was asked to be one of the judges for Ulster Tatler's own People of the Year awards.
This is the inaugural year of the awards ceremony, which is being held in association with House of Fraser, and which has been launched to celebrate and reward inspirational local people - of which there are many!
From sportsmen to chefs, businessmen to brides, there are numerous categories on offer - I was on the panel of judges for two of them - and the consensus among the judges was that everyone who had made it onto the shortlist deserves a prize.
Unfortunately, there can only be one winner in each category but I know that I, along with the rest of the judges, had a hard time debating the merits of each nominee.
The beauty of the awards, which will be handed out in Belfast's Waterfront Hall in September, is that it was down to Ulster Tatler's own readers to send in their nominees, so this really is an awards ceremony 'for the people'.
There's no award for 'recently launched online women's magazines in Northern Ireland', but if there was, Katrina Doran and Niamh Larkin would be up for a trophy.
They're the two local women behind www.sugahfix.com, which bills itself as a guide to life and style in Belfast and beyond. They also recently celebrated the site's one millionth hit, just three months after launching it online, and they're thrilled that local women are logging on to find out the latest fashion, shopping, beauty, travel, style spotting and entertainment news.
Sugahfix was responsible for the recent poll that gained so much attention in the Press, in which UTV's own silver fox Frank Mitchell was in the top three of the most attractive grey-haired men in the world, as voted for by Sugahfix readers, after George Clooney and James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan. Katrina and Niamh are another shining example of the wealth of talent we have here in the province.
I must confess to especially liking the travel section of Sugahfix.com - because I contribute to it! And, being the inveterate traveller that I am, I'm currently planning my Christmas getaway. I know it seems like Christmas is a long-time away, but there are actually only around four months to go until the big day, and those months will fly by!
My hubby and I try to get away every year at Christmas because there's nothing like spending the festive season soaking up a different culture - in the past we've eaten noodles in Tokyo on 25 December and counted down to New Year's Day in San Francisco, and loved every minute of it.
This year we hope to spend Christmas Day onboard one of the fabulous Star Clipper tall sailing ships on a cruise around the islands of Tahiti. Sounds fabulous doesn’t it! In fact, it almost sounds too good to be true, but when we looked into it, it proved to be very accessible, once you fly to LA, all you have to do is head on to Tahiti (not exactly a hardship!), where the Star Clipper ship sails from.
We've been on Star Clipper ships before and loved the fact that they're more intimate than those mega-ships that carry thousands of people and the prospect of spending Christmas Day onboard a masted clipper ship in one of the most beautiful areas on earth was one we couldn’t resist. Apparently, the cruise is popular with honeymooners, but since I'm already spliced, we'll turn it into a second honeymoon!
Now that summer is almost over, there are more and more fab events taking place locally including the re-launch of the recently-refurbished Canvas gallery on Belfast's Stranmillis Road. Another date in the diary will be Belfast Fashionweek this Autumn, during which time local fashionistas will be out in force to see the best examples of local, national and international style. With the gloomy recent weather and horrendous flooding affecting everyone's mood, it's something glamorous and stylish to look forward to during the weeks ahead!

Blog by Andrea McVeigh

2008-08-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

I made my catwalk modelling debut recently, not that I think Kate Moss would lose any sleep if she knew! It was for a charity event, the Uber Chic Look Good Feel Better fashion show, held in Belfast's Ramada hotel at Shaw's Bridge and organised by the fabulous Marcus Hunter Neill. Marcus is a local entrepreneur and fashionista who stole the show from Noel Edmonds when he appeared, a few years back, as a contestant on Deal Or No Deal. He's also been on UTV's L8 and Live series and has his own radio show on Feile FM.
He's also behind the local launch of a new beauty brand called Uber, which is a favourite with celebs such as Charlotte Church and Coleen McLoughlin, and he recently took over the local running of a brilliant charity called Look Good Feel Better. It's a cancer support charity that provides free makeover sessions for groups of women affected by cancer and its visible side-effects, such as hair loss. As well as getting a goodie bag filled with free products, women can come together and enjoying a pampering day filled with make-up tips.
So that was the reason for the fashion show, which featured eight 'real women' as models, including me! There were tall and short, young and mature, skinny and plus-size women in our group, and that was the whole point - to show that real woman are beautiful and special, each in their own way, and that we don’t all need to fit in with some random idea of what's attractive.
Unlike the reputation that supermodels have, there was no cattiness backstage - in fact, we all bonded brilliantly and had a real laugh doing the show, even though our hearts there thumping and we were filled with nerves before we took to the catwalk. Once we mastered our walking, we were fine. Yes, you read that right - walking! It's not as easy as it looks, not when you're on a catwalk, walking in front of 350 people. It's all to do with sashaying, turning, pausing - and trying not to trip!
Once we got past our initial nerves we all had a great time - and we made new friends into the bargain and helped raise money for a brilliant charity that really does make a practical difference to women's lives. Not a bad night's work - and it was great fun too!
One of the boutiques which lent clothes for the show was Beverly Hills on Belfast's Bloomfield Avenue. I've also made a friend in its owner, Sheila. It's funny how fate and fashion can throw people together! Anyway, she sells amazingly beautiful ball gowns and 'occasionwear' dresses for women going to formals, weddings, cruises and days at the races. It's a little piece of Hollywood in the heart of east Belfast and without the La La Land price tags!
With the weather being so bad and no prospect of any holidays on the horizon, I'm making the most of Belfast's newest cinema, the Odeon in the Victoria Square complex. With a cinema, shops, restaurants and even apartments, the development is like a mini city in its own right.
The screening room I was in to see The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, was huge, and accommodated hundreds of people. Being there felt like the old days when I used to go to the Curzon on Belfast's Ormeau Road with my mum, dad and big brother and you had the choice of sitting upstairs or down! The Odeon isn’t quite that big, but the sheer size of it was impressive.
I loved the movie too, even though I'm a girl who usually prefers romantic comedies! The late Heath Ledger was brilliant in it and even though it's a bit of a lads movie, specialising in special effects and sci-fi technology, the cinema was filled with women. Come to think of it, the film did star the gorgeous Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart. Maybe that's why so many women had turned out to see it!

Blog by Andrea McVeigh

2008-07-11T06:19:00.001-07:00

July has arrived. But can we really call this summer? Today alone, there's been rain, sunshine, clouds and strong winds. That's all four seasons in one afternoon! The only thing missing was snow! Hopefully, the weather will improve over the coming months because it's not just getting me down, but everyone I know too. We're all grumbling about the miserable weather. Like the old joke says, my two favourite days in Northern Ireland are Christmas and summer!
Even though the temperature isn’t hotting up that much, my social life is. It's been the season of concerts recently, with some huge names hitting Ireland, north and south, and I've been lucky enough to see not one, but five, musical legends in action. First up was Leonard Cohen, who played an open air gig in the grounds of Dublin's 17th century Royal Hospital Kilmainham (now home to the Irish Museum of Modern Art). It was the 1960s folk scene survivor's first tour in 15 years and it was a magical night, even if it did pour with rain!
Back in Belfast I caught another living legend and another artist whose music defined the 1960s. Lou Reed was in town to perform his entire album, Berlin, from start to finish. I've been into Reed's music since I was a teenager, and I'm glad to say it was a fantastic gig. The subject matter is a bit dour and serious, but the show was like a piece of theatre.

The following night's concert couldn’t have been more different - Dolly Parton! The Backwoods Barbie put on a brilliant show, and I was up and dancing to all the big hits, including Jolene and 9 to 5. I didn’t know I knew so many words to Islands in the Stream, until I caught myself singing along to all the verses!
I also caught The Police at Stormont - an arresting performance if ever there was one (pardon the pun!) and most recently, I caught Kylie in action. The Aussie pop princess's show was an amazing spectacle, filled with dramatic stage sets and elaborate costume changes.
Summer is when Belfast really seems to come alive, rain or no rain. The Gourmet Burger Bank on Belfast's Malone Road hosted its official launch recently, and the wine and burgers were flowing. It's a fab spot and the weather, for once, was quite nice, so lots of people chomped down on their free mini burgers while they chatted outside.
Another celebration came in the form of the first birthday party of The House bar on the Stranmillis Road, where the champagne and Guinness flowed and guests enjoyed an outside bar and barbecue, along with cocktails and canapés.
The House, which is renowned for its delicious cocktails and expert mixologists behind the bar, recently launched its new cocktail menu and I must admit, I'm enjoying working my way through it.
The House is regular haunt for me, because I'm lucky enough to have bagged a job DJing there every Saturday night, and have been doing so for the past year now. The music is a mix of soul, funk, Motown, disco, R&B, chart and 80s - and whatever else gets the party started! Next time you're out and about call in and say hi - one of the nicest parts of working the decks is getting to meet so many of the chatty, friendly people who go there. And feel free to ask for a request. Unlike some DJs who insist on doing their own thing, even if no-one is appreciating their playlist as much as they are, if I have it, I'll play it!

Blog By Andrea McVeigh

2008-06-16T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hello from the high seas! So far this week, I’ve woken up to a different view every morning - from the sights of Lisbon to the scenery of northern Morocco - eaten in a Marco Pierre White restaurant, worked out in the gym while enjoying amazing panoramic views, met children’s character Noddy, taken in a West End show, gambled in a casino and soaked up the Mediterranean sun while sipping cocktails on the balcony of my cabin. If you haven’t already guessed, I’m currently on a cruise, in particular, a fabulous Riviera Romance maiden season voyage onboard the P&O liner Ventura, which launched in April this year. The daily shore excursions are just one of the highlights of the trip, but with a theatre, nightclub, spa and 11 different places to eat onboard (including The White Room restaurant, from culinary legend Marco Pierre White) my hubby and I could quite happily live on board, never mind simply stay here for two weeks. Noddy, by the way, is here for the children, but it has to be said, he’s gone down a storm with nostalgic adults like myself, too.

We left for our Med cruise just a week after coming home from Singapore and Australia, which led my husband and I to think that maybe we’d started to live some bizarre Truman Show-style reality TV lifestyle without knowing it. We’re living like millionaires, only without the requisite bank balance! But late last year, we designated 2008 our ‘year of travel’ and we’re staying true to that aim.

The night before we left for Southampton (from where the liner set sail), I got invited to a champagne dinner in the Four Winds’ Ink restaurant - one of my favourite restaurants. How could a gal say no to that? Needless to say, I didn’t! It was for one of Ink’s Gourmet Evenings, which are held every couple of months or so. The events are always themed, with creative, five-course menus and different wines for each course plus an expert guest speaker talking diners through the various different vintages. This was the first time they’d had a champagne theme, so I’m glad they thought of me when the prospect of that invitation came up! We had the pleasure of sitting with Teresa and Susan from Wine Inns, as well as local photographer extraordinaire Bill Smith and Belfast-born, New York-based movie actress, Geraldine Hughes - who starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa. Down-to-earth, charming, funny, intelligent and interesting, you couldn’t get a nicer silver screen star than Geraldine. The Gourmet Evenings are starting up again in September, after a summer break, and I highly recommend them. You may not always spot a Hollywood celeb there, but you’ll have a great time nonetheless!

By the time I get back home, a new fashion era will have started in Belfast, with the relocation of Topshop from Donegall Place to the new Victoria Square centre. “Meet you outside Topshop” - I must have said that thousands of times, and had it said back to me an equal number of times, over the years. In the days before mobile phones and texting, you had to arrange a meeting place in advance and stick with it. And so I spent most Saturday afternoons during the 1980s standing outside Topshop waiting to meet up with friends, before we did our circuit of the city centre, checking out the shops, the scene and the boys! The Donegall Square branch of Topshop opened in August 1980, so it would have marked its 28th anniversary in that location this summer. And throughout The Troubles, when few big-name High Street stores wanted to open in the city, and when some of those that did soon closed again, Topshop was always there for us. The new store promises to be bigger and better but I’ll always be nostalgic for those teenage Saturdays standing outside Toppers, waiting to meet up with my mates. Like my friend Katrina, Editor of online magazine Sugahfix.com, quipped, “before there were mobile phones, there was Topshop.”

Down Under

2008-05-26T06:28:00.001-07:00

By Andrea McVeigh

Well, I did it, I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Not by myself, of course, and not without a fully-trained BridgeClimb leader, in the shape of the highly personable Bernie. But I did it. I made it to the top, 134 metres above Sydney harbour, with only a few wobbles along the way (the lower bits are actually the worst, I found. Once you get onto the bridge itself, it’s so secure, so wide and the arch is so gradual, it’s not at all scary). Just to be totally corny about it, I have to say it was the ‘high point’, in more ways than one, of my trip to Australia.

From our fabulous room in the Shangri-La hotel, in Sydney’s historic Rocks district, I could look out and see the bridge every day (our fabulous view also included the Sydney Opera House, for good measure, so I’d thoroughly recommend the hotel if you ever make it to Sydney). It was a few days after we arrived before I got to climb the bridge, so the anticipation made it even more worthwhile.

BridgeClimb, Sydney, has been running for ten years and so far, more than 2 million have done the climb. And it got me thinking - why can’t we do something like that in Northern Ireland? We’ve got the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, which is an amazing - and truly terrifying for some - tourist attraction. But how about climbs or official tourist trips up Samson and Goliath, the shipyard cranes in Belfast? Just a thought - but you never know, in 10 or 20 years time it could be the hottest tourist attraction around!

My Australian holiday is almost over, which is a shame, as I’ll miss the easy-going lifestyle, the beaches, the super-friendly people and the weather. We arrived in Sydney to temperatures of 20C a couple of weeks ago, only to be told by some of the locals that they considered this cold! It’s currently their Autumn, but to us, after barely surviving the Belfast winter, it felt like a heatwave!

On the way back we stopped off in Singapore’s island resort of Sentosa (again staying in a Shangri-La hotel and again highly recommended) where I enjoyed the most unusual spa treatment I’ve ever had. It was at the Fish Reflexology spa, next door to the hotel, where hundreds of tiny Turkish fish nibble the dead skin off your feet. Once I stopped shrieking and laughing (it tickled a lot!), it turned out to be the best spa experience I’ve ever had.

Still, my return to Belfast is well timed, as I’ll make it home in time for the launch of the hotly-anticipated Sex And The City movie. My thoughtful hubby bought me the DVD box set of the TV series for Christmas, so I’ve been re-watching the entire show and reacquainting myself with Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, and their assorted men friends.

The film is set to be the movie highlight of the year - if not the decade - for a generation of women who saw in their Twenties and Thirties in the company of the four New York sassy lassies. From Manolos to Cosmopolitan cocktails, the TV show has shaped popular culture - for women at least. I can’t see too many boyfriends and husbands pouring into the cinema to see it - unless they’re there under duress!

And on the subject of Manolos, Northern Ireland has its own shoe designer to the stars, Anita Flavin. I’ll be going to her Minette shoe party next week, which is being held the night before the SATC preview - talk about perfect timing! - at the FASHIONWEEK offices in Belfast. All the fashionistas will be out in force to celebrate the work of this fabulous designer. Who needs New York when you’ve got events like this in Belfast! Move over Carrie!

Street Smart

2008-05-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

Name:
Laura McAleer, Lisburn

Occupation:
BA Hons Graphic Design student at UU

Where did you get the outfit you’re wearing today?

I picked up my dress (£15) from a vintage shop in North Wales, cardigan (£30) in Warehouseand Miu Miu bag on eBay. I bought my shades (£20) in Accessorize and my sandals (£20) are from Topshop.

How much would you spend on clothes each month?

Between £300 and £400.

Who are the best and worst dressed celebrities?

I enjoy looking out for what Victoria Beckham will be wearing next. Worst? Kelly Osbourne is just too grungy.

What are your favourite high street shops and designers?

My favourites are Topshop, H&M and All Saints. Designer-wise, it’s got to be Balenciaga and Fendi for dreamy bags.

How would you describe your style?

I mix and match depending on my mood. I can go from maxi dress to baggy jeans and still keep it girly.

What has been your worst ever fashion mistake?

A long, multi-coloured, vertical stripe jumper worn with brown cords and pink trainers.

What has been your best bargain?

A Fendi Spy bag from eBay.

Street Smart

2008-05-20T01:32:00.000-07:00

Ulster Tatler hits Belfast city centre to check out what’s hot in the style stakes.

Name:
Cheryl McHenry, Belfast

Occupation:
Administration, Flagship Media

Where did you get the outfit you’re wearing today?

I bought my dress (£35) from Mango in London, my shoes (£15) from New Look and my bag (£10) from Primark. I picked up my shades (£20) in River Island and my Guess watch was a birthday gift.

How much would you spend on Clothes each month?

About £200 - even though I know I shouldn’t!

Who are the best and worst dressed Celebrities?

I love Nicole Richie’s versatile look. Worst? Britney Spears is just horrendous.

What are your favourite high street shops and designers?

On the high street, Topshop and River Island. On the catwalk, I love Vivienne Westwood’s take on girlie chic.

How would you describe your style?

My style’s quite simple. For nights out I would team dresses with high heels for a bit of glitz.

What has been your worst ever fashion mistake?

A pair of shimmery tights I wore to a club a few weeks ago. They started to glow under the UV lighting!

What has been your best bargain?

A white silk shirt I picked up in Paranoid, which was reduced from £75 to £10.

Land of the Pharoahs

2008-05-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

Andrea McVeigh explores the amazing wonders
of cairo, egypt.

Nothing quite prepares you for seeing the pyramids at Giza, on the outskirts of sprawling Cairo. Ever since I can remember, I’ve known about them, read about them, seen pictures of them and heard about the myths and legends that surround them. Built as tombs for the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, the pyramids, and the Sphinx which guards them, have captured the imagination of people around the world for more than three thousand years.

It’s hard to take in the scope of Cairo’s history. It witnessed the origins of civilisation, the rise of the Greek and Roman empires and the establishment of Christianity. And here I was, standing under the blazing Egyptian sun, so close I could touch the Great Pyramid - the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence. It was an amazing moment. I went to bed that night feeling privileged to have seen them, but also unable to quite take in all in.

Even as I gazed at the River Nile from the balcony of my room in the Sheraton Cairo Hotel Towers and Casino, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

Cairo is now easier to visit since the launch, last November, of bmi’s new route to the city, proving invaluable for both business and leisure passengers.
If you can, go business class, with its lounge access, priority boarding, menu choice, dedicated cabin crew, complementary bar and, most importantly on a four-and-a-half-hour flight, 50 inch seat pitch (although economy is spacious too!).

Depending on when you go, Cairo can be hot (temperatures passed the 40˚C mark in April), humid, chaotic, noisy, intense, smoggy, friendly and hectic. Venture out in a taxi and you’ll feel like you’re in a giant dodgem car adventure, while pedestrians trying to cross the road take their life in their hands. Yet you’ll also see many lush, green parks and beautiful plantlife - this is a city just bursting with life, in all its forms (the population is around 19 million, and that doesn’t include tourists!)
For this reason, it’s a good idea to hire a guide to escort you around the main tourist attractions. Our female guide, Asmaa, was a joy to be with, as she escorted us around the city and told us about the fascinating history of each new place we visited. Her joy at being able to share her culture with us was infectious.

As well as visiting Giza, I saw the ancient burial ground at Sakkara, 30km south of Cairo, which features the world’s oldest standing step pyramid, as well as the ruins at Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt (the best way to visit these sights is on an organised tour).

Cairo isn’t nicknamed the ‘city of a thousand minarets’ for nothing, and a visit to the mosque of Mohamed Ali in the citadel of Saladin is another must (women must cover their shoulders, and everyone must take off their shoes, in respect of the Muslim religion). With its largely alabaster exterior, it’s truly beautiful and offers amazing views over the city.

The Egyptian Museum, with its huge collection of sculptures and antiquities, including those from the tomb of Tutankhamun, is another attraction that should be on your itinerary while a tour of old Cairo, with its churches and historic synagogue will both amaze and delight you.

Culture of an altogether different sort can be enjoyed on a dinner cruise. We went on the Nile Maxim and were treated to a show featuring singers and a belly dancer, a buffet meal and views of the skyline at night, while upmarket cuisine is served at the luxurious Mena House Oberoi Hotel, the home-from-home for visiting VIPs, such as Tony Blair.

Another ‘must see’ is the Khan El Khalili bazaar, the place to go for tourist trinkets, where vendors shout at you from every direction trying to tempt you with their wares and where haggling is the norm.

By luck, I stumbled upon an oasis from the intensity of the market, in the form of Lehnert & Landrock, a bookshop and gallery in an indoor mini-mall on El Moez Ledeen Ellah Street, the first main street of the souq. Established in 1904 by two European men, it’s filled with prints of old photographs of the region, taken from the early 20th century, which make beautiful, classy (and inexpensive) souvenirs. Ask for the manager, Mohamed, tell him Andrea sent you and enjoy a cup of mint tea!
To round off my trip, I went back to Giza for one of the music and light shows that are held, in English, every evening. As lasers and lights lit up the pyramids and a booming voice narrated the history of the ancient world, I had to pinch myself again, it was all so magical.
Fact File
bmi offers a daily direct service from London Heathrow to Cairo with connecting flights from Belfast City Airport. Fares start from £352. Visit www.flybmi.com for schedules.

Mena House Oberoi Hotel,
El Rubbaeyat Restaurant,
tel: 0020 33773222.

Cairo Sheraton Hotel Towers
and Casino, tel: 0020 33369700.

Nile Maxim floating restaurant, tel: 0020 27374833.

These boots are made for walking

2008-05-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

Ulster tatler’s Laura Slade investigates the latest craze in footwear - mbt shoes - and discovers real comfort and style while doing so.

If you watched the 2008 London Marathon you could not help but notice the six Masai warriors who took part and their fantastic posture. I always felt my own posture was ‘normal’ but after watching the Masai warriors I realised my posture was poor in comparison. So when I was offered the chance to try out a pair of MBT’s (Masai Barefoot Technology) which are renowned to improve posture, I jumped at the chance.

The MBT shoe dates back to a discovery by Karl Müller who during his stay in Korea suffered from backaches and would often walk barefoot over rice fields whenever he was in pain. He found this eased his pain amazingly quickly and in an attempt to understand this extraordinary finding, he came across the secret of Masai.

The Masai are members of a group of people in eastern Africa who constantly move from place to place and are renowned for their excellent posture. They rarely experience joint pain and by going barefoot on natural ground which can be uneven, they are forced to keep their balance.

On many reviews it states that the MBT shoes have been known to improve posture, relieve pressure on joints and the back and are very good for exercising muscles, therefore I was keen to get hold of a pair.

I must admit after reading reviews about this shoe I was a little nervous about whether I would be able to get used to this ‘phenomenal’ creation. Would I find it hard to get my balance? Would my posture improve? These were some of the many questions racing through my mind.

Upon my arrival at Blackstone Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic in Moira I was warmly greeted by Kay McLorn, the Practice Principal of the clinic. Kay’s warm and professional manner instantly put me at ease and I felt in safe hands. Firstly Kay measured my feet to see what size I would need as MBT shoes have been found to be quite different in size compared to regular shoes. I decided on the Mwalk Silver MBT, a casual design as I exercise on a regular basis and felt these would fit in well with my daily routine.

Upon my first step in my new MBT shoes I found the sensation was very strange but in a good way. I could not believe my feet were in shoes! They were so comfy and springy, it felt as if I had cushions under my feet. I instantly began to relax and was excited at the thought of going out and about to really put my MBTs into action. The synthetic leather and single-layer mesh allows durable wear which can keep your feet warm in winter and cool in summer. The tongue of the shoe is padded and the collar prevents rubbing so you do not experience discomfort sometimes associated with new shoes.

However, at first I noticed my balance was not as good as it usually is. The soles of these shoes encouraged me to test my balance and there is a rocking sensation I experienced for the first few days until I found my balance. However, this was expected as the MBT makes a point of forcing its wearer to balance and straighten up whilst walking to improve posture and acts like a shock absorber to relieve pain.

The first few days in my new shoes went well. I only wore the shoes for 2 hours a day the first week as I had been advised by Kay to break myself in to this new style of shoe. I decided to be brave a week later and attempt a long distance run, something I do on a regular basis. I was gradually getting used to walking in my shoes but running was a whole new experience. I was pleasantly surprised as you can really feel your legs working, a similar sensation to running on sand but without the pain. The next day I could feel the muscles in my legs feeling tauter and more toned and knew these shoes really were working.

After a week I was beginning to get used to the balance and running in them. Even walking up stairs is a workout in itself as you can really feel it on your calf muscles and thigh muscles, these shoes are fantastic.

After wearing my MBTs for a month I am a firm believer in them. They are renowned as the world’s smallest gym and I feel this is very true. I feel my posture has improved immensely and my legs are becoming more toned. MBTs are a must for anyone that suffers body pains or aches or anyone who wishes to tone up. I really would rate these shoes 10/10 for comfort and effectiveness.

Do I think the hype surrounding these ‘phenomenal’ shoes is well deserved? Definitely! If anything there is not enough hype surrounding this genius invention.

For more information visit www.swissmasai.ie, www.blackstonephysio.co.uk or email blackstonephysio@tiscali.co.uk

The Allure of the Big Screen

2008-05-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

Paul Harron discovers a recent book on Hollywood’s Irish connections published by Appletree Press.

LALA-Land’, ‘Tinseltown’, ‘Dream Factory of the World’ – just some of the names ranging from the derogatory to the infatuated coined for that famous stretch of land in the hills above Los Angeles synonymous with celebrity, hedonism and, of course, film-making. The big white cut-out letters which spell out Hollywood have become iconic, but in fact they originally spelt out the longer ‘Hollywoodland’ and were put there as a marketing ploy by an Irish American, John Roche, only later to be shortened to ‘Hollywood’, advertising not just a place but an industry and even a lifestyle.

Holywood’s associations with Irish men and women stretch back further and go deeper than that. In fact, the development of the place – and much of LA and its waterways – owes much to a pioneering Irish immigrant, William Mulholland, an engineer who is immortalised in the famous Mulholland Drive.

THE MOVIE MAKERS

As the authors of Emeralds in Tinseltown say, Mulholland prepared the way in the West for a new type of American adventurer who would follow railroads from the East: the movie makers. Many of these film folk were Irish and among them was a young man from County Meath called Owen Moore, Ireland’s first movie star and director. He starred alongside Mae West in She Done Him Wrong, for example, and went on to marry the actress Mary Pickford from whom he was later divorced – she went on to marry Douglas Fairbanks thereby becoming one half of ‘the king and queen of Hollywood’ partnership in the 1920s.

The Irish stars of Hollywood are described in fascinating detail by the authors, Steve Brennan – international editor of the entertainment daily The Hollywood Reporter – and Bernadette O’Neill – an Irish stage and screen actress, film historian and founder member of the IFTA. They take a roughly chronological approach, breaking the book up in chapters which are either thematically- or personality-based. Rex Ingram – originally Reginald Ingram Montgomery, the Dublin-born son of a clergyman – was one of the first to head across the Atlantic in the early twentieth century and take up directing, his first big box office hit for Universal being Black Orchids set in pre-Revolutionary France. He later went on to team up with Waterford-born Pat Powers, one of the founders of the Universal Film Manufacturing Company (later Universal Studios) and directed the renowned The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse starring Rudolph Valentino.

Other early Irish names were Cedric Gibbons, the Oscar-winning art director behind the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz, and other films such as Little Women, An American in Paris and Somebody Up There Likes Me. People ‘down here’ liked him too – as well as the Oscars he was awarded the award for distinguished achievement for art direction in 1950 by the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors.

Swashbucklers and stars of particular interest to Northern Irish film buffs, perhaps, is one of Hollywood’s most colourful Irishmen, Errol Flynn. Although actually born in Tasmania he like to be referred to as Irish when he was at the peak as the movies’ most infamous swashbuckler. His father Theodore Thompson Flynn was a popular professor of Zoology at Queen’s University, Belfast. Flynn, whose autobiography was entitled My Wicked, Wicked Ways (which just about says it all) shot to fame in Captian Blood in 1935 and went on to play action-hero roles in The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Dawn Patrol, Gentleman Jim and Against All Flags, which co-starred Maureen O’Hara and Anthony Quinn. Flynn finds himself in two chapters – one covering the Irish cowboys, another honing in on ‘Holywood’s glorified missus’, Greer Garson. Born in County Down, Garson was a reluctant émigré but was eventually attracted by the thought of the Californian sunshine adding ten years to her life (as Louis B. Meyer promised it would) and went on to become one of Holywood’s most enduring and respected stars (think, for example, Goodbye Mister Chips). She felt she was typecast as prim and proper and is pictured in the book battling the prim role in the embrace of Errol Flynn in the film That Forsythe Woman.

There are inevitably detailed and lively chapters on characters such as Gene Kelly, Maureen O’Sullivan and – ‘Holywood Screen Royalty’ – Maureen O’Hara and Grace Kelly. O’Hara – born Maureen FitzSimmons in Ranelagh, Dublin, in 1920 – went on to become particularly identified with the cult classic The Quiet Man, while Grace Kelly, the epitome of beauty on screen and star of film classics such as High Society and Hitchcock’s Rear Window, To Catch a Thief and Dial M for Murder, was the daughter of an Irish-American millionaire and of course went on to become real royalty through marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco. Her elegant features grace the cover of the book.

NEW GENERATIONS

Richard Harris’ life is covered well, from his early career and films such as This Sporting Life through to the acclaimed Jim Sherridan film The Field in which he played Bull McCabe. Harris had a reputation as a rebel, but thought that his epigraph should really read ‘he was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad’. His life story heralds the final chapters of the book marking the new generation of Irish-linked Holywood stars. These hot commodities include Colin Farrell, Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Roma Downey and directors Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan.

Emeralds in Tinseltown is an enjoyable book – one which can be easily dipped in and out of. There’s plenty of eye candy in the wealth of good archival photographs and film stills, and it’s attractively designed with nice little touches like the distinctive running images for each chapter. Anyone with an interest in films and Holywood and its Irish connections in particular will enjoy it. It’s not a definitive reference book (and it’s a slight shame that there’s no index) but it is packed with facts and interesting tit-bits that will please the film buff and those attracted to the glamour and allure of the big screen and its big stars down the years.

Emeralds in Tinseltown – the Irish in Holywood by Stephen Brennan and Bernadette O’Neill is published in hardback by Appletree Press (ISBN 978-1-84758-048-1) and widely available from local bookshops. For further information visit www.appletree.ie

Andrea Mc Veigh

2008-05-16T01:25:00.001-07:00

I have, on my fireplace, two beautiful 'thank you' cards. One of them was sent to me by the sister of a friend, both of whom I'd invited to a party (more about the party later). It was the first time I'd met Fionnula and it was a lovely gesture for her to send me a card. So much so, in fact, that I was tempted to send a thank-you-for-the-thank-you card! It's a trend I've noticed, in this era of texts and emails - the return of the greetings card. It's a delight to get them through the letterbox, when you’re more used to bills, junk mail and flyers. Last month I received even more, including some unexpected 'thinking of you' cards from friends. I send them myself, my favourite being a 'George Clooney' card for my GC-obsessed friend Jacquie with the scribbled note, "I saw this and thought of you". And a few years back I was thrilled when my friend Sonja sent out 'thank you' cards for her birthday presents. The post-birthday thank you note is something I hadn’t thought about since childhood, but it's a tradition I now aim to keep up.
It's good to know that in these busy times, people still take the time to seek out pretty cards, write a note, find a stamp and post it. It takes such a small amount of effort yet means so much. You should do it yourself. Next time you see a nice card that makes you smile, buy it and send it to someone you love - it'll make their day.
But back to that party. It was an Uber Pamper Party, and I'd not heard of them either until my friend Marcus Hunter Neill told me he'd bought the Uber rights for Belfast and Co. Down. You may remember Marcus form his star-turn on Deal or No Deal when he totally stole the show from Noel Edmonds! He's since turned up on UTV and, as well as his media career, he also works in property development and management - he's a busy man! Pamper Parties are like Tupperware parties but with skincare, beauty, hair and tanning products instead of sandwich boxes. You get a group of female friends round and an Uber rep will come and give you all mini-facials and you can buy the products you like at the end of the night. It was great fun and it's certainly a craze that's sweeping the province (you can call Marcus on 07717 229880 to organise your own party).
I could do with some more pampering after my trip to Cairo on behalf of Ulster Tatler (you can read my travel feature on the city in an upcoming issue of everyone's favourite glossy magazine). Not that the trip was in anyway bad - far from it. Cairo is an amazing city, vibrant, busy and fascinating and I had a fantastic time. I don’t know why I didn’t visit years ago. But boy, was it hot. It was difficult to get a proper temperature reading during my all-too-brief stay, but there were rumours it reached around 45C degrees on some of the days I was there. That's hot!
It was amazing though, seeing the pyramids and the Sphinx, up close and personal. I even went inside one of the pyramids to see one of the burial chambers. Getting inside involved bending over from the waist and almost-crawling along a narrow passageway. Even though I was only one of many people making their way through the tunnel, I felt like an adventurous explorer entering the temple of doom, when I eventually made it into the chamber. Just call me Indiana McVeigh!
The next time I write I'll be in Sydney, on a long-awaited holiday to Australia, so I'll be able to share my news about this fascinating place. I also aim to take part in one of the organised climbs up the Sydney Harbour Bridge - even though I'm afraid of heights! Maybe that Indiana McVeigh nickname isn’t so inappropriate after all!

Face Off

2008-04-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

By Andrea Mc Veigh

Yesterday, I threw a sheep at a friend who lives in Australia, bought a round of drinks for pals in Dublin and Toronto and showed my recent holiday photos to mates across Northern Ireland, all at the same time and I didn’t even have to leave my house.

Of course, I didn't physically do all those things. I did them virtually, through Facebook, which I'm now addicted to, since signing up last December. Not a day goes by when I don’t itch to check out what my online friends are doing, what daft quizzes they've taken and what virtual gifts they've given me. I love reading their witty 'status updates', finding out who is on holiday, who is hung-over and who is glued to their computer screen like me!

For those who left technology behind circa the introduction of the pocket calculator, Facebook is a social networking site. For those au fait with the MySpace generation, Facebook is like Bebo (the cyberspace hangout of choice for many teens), but for older people. It's a generation thing - my nephew and niece, at ages 21 and 18, would be lost without Bebo but don’t see the appeal of Facebook at all, probably because on Facebook you'll find correctly spelled words and proper sentences!

But be warned, it's easy to spend a whole morning updating your profile and writing to friends before realising you haven’t actually done any work/taken in the washing/fed the baby and that your boss is ready to fire you/your washing has got soaked in the rain/your baby is not happy! I'm old enough to remember the days when there were no mobile phones, no e-mails, no texting and, if you wanted to meet a friend, you had to make an arrangements in advance and stick with them, or else leave them standing in the rain outside your chosen destination while you rushed to catch the last bus into town. I much prefer today's way of doing things!

I'd also be lost without the Internet. I'm not long back from a trip to Lithuania, and before I went I was able to check my hotel bookings, source restaurants, look for shops and see if there were any concerts on worth going to over there, leaving me free to really hit the ground running once I got there. Lithuania itself was a revelation. It's not a place I'd really thought much about before, but it's gaining a reputation as a destination for medical tourists and spa fans. In fact, there a whole city, Druskininkai (which I wasn't able to pronounce no matter how hard I tried!), which is filled with spas and health resorts.

Some of them are former sanatoriums, which were used when the country was part of the USSR (it gained independence in 1990) and it's also famous for its health-promoting mineral water and therapeutic mud. Needless to say, I came back relaxed and refreshed after several lovely treatments. But home in cold, rainy Belfast, with the phone ringing and lots of emails to reply to (modern technology does have its downsides!) it didn’t take long before my stress levels started to rise again!

But I always like to have a holiday to look forward to - I wouldn't be able to get through the day without a wee day-dream about foreign shores - so I can't wait until I go to Cairo next week. I'll be writing a feature on this fascinating city, home of the pyramids, for Ulster Tatler magazine on my return - so keep your eyes peeled for that. I think I may pass on the camel-riding opportunities at Giza though. I've never really got on with camels - they scare me for one thing, and if you get up close, they don’t always smell that good! But, in the interests of investigative journalism, I may be willing to give them a second chance. Wish me luck!

Spring has Sprung by Andrea McVeigh

2008-03-26T09:24:00.001-07:00

Spring has sprung. Or has it? It's hard to tell with the schizophrenic weather we've been having. Some days, the sun is shining and I'm full of the joys of spring, while other days it's blowing a gale, pouring with rain and the sky is looking thunderous, as is my face. On my reckoning, winter has already lasted for around 36 months (given that we totally missed out on a decent summer last year), and I've had enough. I hate the rain and the cold weather, the rain, the grey skies, dark nights and the rain. I really, really hate the rain. What's worse, I hate it when people say they love winter. As soon as August eases into September, they start rhapsodising about wrapping up warm in woolly jumpers, knitted scarves, hats, boots and proper coats. Smothered in around 40 layers of hot, itchy clothing everytime I leave the house, I look and feel less like Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago and more like the Michelin Man. I've had enough! Bring on summer!
The best place to be when it's miserable and wet outside is tucked up in the cinema with a jumbo carton of popcorn. So far though, I've only made it to see three films this year. I started off my cinema going this year with Sweeney Todd, which I liked apart from the singing and the gore, which pretty much sums up everything about the film. Then I caught The Other Boleyn Girl and I loved it, mostly because I never thought I'd fall in lust with Henry VIII - until I saw him being played on the big screen by Eric Bana! Most recently, I saw 27 Dresses, a total chick flick with a predictable story line, but filmed with wit and style, and a huge wardrobe budget! Of course, the film I can’t wait to see is the Sex And The City movie. I was given the DVD box set for Christmas and I've been working my way through all the episodes since then (even though I saw them all the first time around), so I'll have got myself up-to-date again by the time the film opens in May. Who cares what the script is like? It's set to have everything a movie should have - shoes, clothes, cocktails, a fabulous New York setting and yet more shoes and clothes! I've got a date with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha and I can't wait.
With my outings to the cinema being few and far between, I've been glued to the small screen, mostly watching Ashes To Ashes, the follow up to Life on Mars, on BBC1. Sadly, the series has now finished, so my Thursday night dates with DCI Gene Hunt (actor Philip Glenister) have come to an end. Set in 1981, the music and fashion is fabulous and, even though I'd hate to live with the sexist, rude, racist, bullying cop in real life, on TV he's my absolute hero. The weird thing is, I'm not the only woman who thinks so. At a recent party a group of us 'Gene genies' confessed that there's something about the big Neanderthal brute that we just love! It seems we've all been imagining ourselves careering around corners and doing high-speed handbrake turns in Hunt's Audi Quattro with him. Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?

One thing I must do soon is go up on the Big Wheel at Belfast's City Hall, or the Belfast Aye as it's been dubbed. One of the many things I love about Belfast is the irrepressible humour of us locals and our ability to bestow a nickname on just about anything. In addition to the Belfast Aye, I've also heard it called the 'Ball at the Hall', the 'polo mint' and 'the big ring thing'. They're all definitely much funnier than just calling it the Belfast Wheel. I love the way you can see it peeking above the skyline when you're driving around the city and I hope they keep it there permanently. It's great for tourists and great for the people of Northern Ireland. I've been on the London Eye and the big wheel in Manchester city centre but, naturally, once there's one on my very doorstep, I somehow don’t get around to going. People tell me the best way to try it is to go at night so you can see the city all lit up. If I could get Gene Hunt in one with me I'd be there like a shot!

ITALY UNCOVERED

2008-03-26T09:22:00.001-07:00

In a first of a two part series frank McGreevey investigates the wealth of wines available in italy.

After years in the doldrums, Italy as a supplier of tasty wines seems to have turned the corner. Italy as a holiday destination is a very attractive proposition.

From Sorrento and the off-shore Capri in the south, to Rome and its historic sites in the middle and then Tuscany on the knee and on to Piemonte in the North West and Veneto in the North East. Include a benevolent climate and all the attractions and Italy is a holidaymaker’s paradise and a virtual vineyard from end to end.

With its sexy leg and high heeled boot Italy must be the best known map outline in the world, so I am attempting to use that outline (from toe to thigh) or South to North for the purpose of illustrating Italy’s lesser known wines and where they originate.

Sicily
Sicily is not one of Italy’s quallity wine regions but is nevertheless a large producer and exporter of tasty reds and whites, to cities like London and New York, where there are large populations of Italian ex-pats. Possibly Sicily’s best known wine product is Marsala (a fortified wine) much loved by chefs as a base for sauces.

In my young days (just a few years ago) Pork Marsala would have featured on every hotel menu in the country.

Puglia (on the heel). This is hot Italy, home of grape varieties Negromara and Primitivo, also known as Zinfandel in California where it is currently all the rage. Primitivo, or Zinfandel, produces a huge full bodied high alchohol red wine but, because of the heat and very ripe fruit, it can produce tasty wines similar to high quality Shiraz from South Australia. Winemark, our local off-licence chain, have these two Puglia grapes in a very tasty blend

Canti- Negroamaro/Zinfandel IGT Alc 12.5% £3.99.

Lazio
Lazio (with Rome as its centre). Back in the 60/70s this region was supplier of bland Frascati to the Trattorie of Rome, but is now on the up again with fresh clean Trebbiano/Malvasia blends.

Abruzzo
This is the region behind the knee of Italy - home of the grape variety Montepulciano, which produces a soft easy drinking red wine. Montepulciano is also a town in Tuscany but there the grape variety would be Sangiovese.

Saint Orsolo Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo DOC is currently on offer at Winemark for £4.59.

Marche. If you like your white wine in fancy bottles this is the region to look out for. Verdicchiodei Castelli di Jesi is the most famous wine of this region. Produced in the attractive green amphora shaped bottle, it is a dry white wine well worth seeking out.

Tuscany
Tuscany, the best known region for holidays and wine - Chianti. Now readily accessable from Ireland by Ryanair- Dublin /Pisa in just a couple of hours. Chianti is probably Italy’s best known (least loved) wine.

Everybody of pre 70s vintage will have had at some stage a Chianti wicker flask bottle as a decoration or doubling as a home made light holder. Present day Chianti is a modern red wine -grape variety Sangiovese.

The heart of the region is Chianti Classico, between the cities of Sienna and Florence. Medium bodied red wines with good tannins are the trademark of the Classico centre.

Winemark- Chianti Classico Castelani 2005 £7.99

See our May issue for part two of this feature.

Go West

2008-03-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ulster Tatler’s Catherine Corr dines at the Quaywest Wine Bar & Restaurant in Londonderry.

Quaywest Bar & Restaurant is situated alongside the river offering panoramic views (if you get a seat beside the window) of the Foyle and the east bank of the river. As my companion and I hadn’t been to Derry for a few years we decided to stay the night in a hotel just around the corner from the restaurant. I was amazed at how many other eateries have sprung up in this part of the town centre - a real sign of a city on the rise. The waterfront walk is a real asset to the maiden city - although it was a little cold in early March!

On our arrival in Quaywest we were warmly greeted and offered the option to sit in the bar area and enjoy a pre-dinner drink or go straight to our pre-booked table. We decided on the latter and were escorted up the stairs and handed over to the waiting staff for the evening. The interior of the restaurant had a warm and welcoming feel and the presence of a mirrored wall behind the bar gave a feeling of vastness and allowed us to keep an eye on everything that was happening in the restaurant!

As it was a Friday night the restaurant attracted couples, families and groups of people who all seemed to be having a great time and preparing for the weekend. The atmosphere was warm and friendly with the staff doing there upmost to make customers relax and enjoy their dining experience.

When the menus were delivered, we were informed of the specials that evening and left to peruse at our leisure. A short time later our waitress returned and asked for the drinks choice. Myself, being a big fan of the red wine, was delighted to see a vast choice and after some time and advice I settled on the Casa Silva Reserva Shiraz from Chile, this choice was packed full of spice and black pepper flavours and accompanied by soft sweet tannins offering a beautifully balanced wine.

One thing that did preturb me about The Quaywest menu was the limited choice of starters on offer (but after asking I believe that is about to change in the next few weeks, with more choice being offered).

The three choices were soup, garlic bread or the Quaywest platter to start. We opted for one platter and one soup. The platter offered a choice of garlic mushrooms, chicken drumsticks, nachos and king prawns. This proved a good choice to nibble on with the prawns coming out on top closely followed by the garlic mushrooms. The soup was very tasty also and the accompanying fresh bread was a great compliment.
Onto mains, the selection here is quite vast offering a great choice of chicken, fish, steak and vegetarian choices. My partner opted for the Quaywest 12oz Sirloin Steak with choice of sauce and the chunky fries. The steak was a little tough and lacked in flavour. It was requested well done but my friend felt it may have been over-cooked slightly, although the fries and the peppered sauce were excellent. I decided on the Crispy Half Roasted Duck with caramelized orange sauce along with champ. What a good choice, the duck was succulent and fell off the bone, the sauce was most enjoyable and the champ was soft and fluffy. A delightful main course and a great combination!

Other main courses to choose from were marinated lamb with mustard seed, saute potatoes, mint pesto and roast gravy, the Quaywest Thai Chicken Curry with coconut milk & basmati boiled rice or Seabass with roast garlic and sweet pea cream sauce.

The dessert menu was a little too much for me after my main but my partner was tempted by several of them; the Classic Italian Tiramisu served with Espresso Syrup, the locally made Profiteroles with chocolate and anglaise sauces or the Vanilla Ice Cream served in a tuille basket with fresh fruit coulis and chocolate stick. After much deliberation he finally settled on the classic Banoffee Pie served with fresh cream, which he described as beautiful. The consistency of the dessert suited his palate very well and that was testament to the little left on his plate!

All in all our visit to Quaywest was very enjoyable. It has something for everyone including coeliac and vegetarian options. The ambience created led to a very comfortable relaxed dining in the heart of an exciting up and coming city. The staff were excellent and had great knowledge of the menu. If you’re in the north-west see what this great eatery has to offer.

Our meal of two starters, two mains, one dessert and wine came to £54.35.

Fact File
Quaywest Restaurant & Wine Bar
Boating Club Lane
Londonderry
Tel: 028 7137 0977

4 star rating

Unparalleled beauty and performance

2008-03-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Bob Hume reviews the Maserati Quattroporte executive.

Maserati has a strong tradition of sports car building and has fused their technology and sporting pedigree into a luxury saloon. The Executive GT Automatic is the flagship variant of the luxury four-door five-seater Quattroporte.

Styled by the famous Italian automotive designer Pininfarina, this car takes design cues from the ‘70s. There is a retrospective and nostalgic look to the rear quarter of the Quattroporte; the ‘C’ pillars and boot area are reminiscent of some of the sports saloons of thirty years ago. The front end and grille are aggressively styled and the combination of all of the curves and muscular lines, combine to make the entire car a boldly styled and achingly handsome form; this was further accentuated by the dark grey metallic finish of the Maserati press car.

Austere
The photo shoot took place in the austere setting of Newbridge Demesne, County Dublin with kind permission from the Dublin City Council’s Michael Ryan; a location which truly befitted such a beautiful and luxurious marque. During my stay in Dublin, the big Maserati drew admiring stares from pedestrians and fellow road users alike; one wide-eyed taxi driver even drew me into a conversation about the Quattroporte when I stopped beside him at a set of ‘lights – even jokingly offering me a swap!

The Maserati was astonishingly quick from standstill and through the automatic gears, especially on the tighter-geared and more throttle-sensitive ‘sport’ mode, roaring to the national speed limit with incredible urgency accompanied by a spine-tingling roar. On back roads, the car belied its size and seemed to be ‘on its toes’ and quick to react; this is mostly thanks to a remarkably good multi-link ‘Skyhook’ suspension set-up and highly developed geometry.

Fantastic
The 4244cc V8 multi-valve engine will propel almost two tonnes of Italian luxury from rest to 60 MPH in 5.6 seconds, beating several of its direct rivals. Keep you right foot down and the Quattroporte will reach a maximum speed of 167 MPH. Under heavy acceleration there is a spine-tingling symphony from the big V8, it’s almost a melodic sound to car fanatics like me. Whilst other luxury saloon manufacturers seem to have tried their best to hide the sound of the big, high-performance ‘V’ format engines, Maserati seem to celebrate and accentuate this inspiring sound.

This is a luxury car from a famous super-car car manufacturer; a beautifully finished, comfortable and beautiful luxury saloon. It will deliver you to your destination deftly and quietly but if you choose to you can make the Quattroporte bark and roar and it will cover a lot of ground with all the drama and excitement of a super-car.

The new luxury car market in Northern Ireland has developed dynamically in the last few years and demand for the luxury car segment has grown disproportionately to the rest of the market. This is an obvious indicator of the growing economy, however one effect is that certain luxury cars have become more common than you would imagine - to the extent that hardly any of them fail to turn heads any more. For the same money, or even slightly less, you can get yourself something very different and something that shows you’ve actually put a bit of thought into your choice.

Fact File

Sole Maserati dealership in Ireland:
Ian Sinnamon
Charles Hurst Specialist Cars
Boucher Road
BELFAST

Tel: 028 9038 3511

MAKING THE NEWS

2008-03-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Walter Love talks to radio and television journalist, mark carruthers.

Where did your interest in politics come from?

“I suppose I’ve always been interested in politics. I studied politics for A-level when I was at Coleraine Inst and I was always interested in Irish history. So I ended up studying politics at Queen’s. I suppose that whole current affairs thing was something I was always aware of. It was always there and I suppose too that my family was always aware of what was happening in the world and that it rubbed off. I was certainly aware of what was happening in Northern Ireland when I was growing up.

“When I started studying the subject then I became much more aware of British politics and I was particularly interested in American politics as well. That curiosity has always stayed with me and I’m very fortunate that I earn a living from something that I probably would have as a hobby anyway.”

At any point at school had you ever considered anything else as
a career?

“I really did want to be an actor. I was very enthusiastic and successful up to a point. I did a lot of drama at the Riverside Theatre in Coleraine and at school. My dad did a lot of directing as well so I’ve been involved in his shows. I really did want to do that but I suppose I was advised by my careers teachers and my father that I should probably get a proper job. But I also quite fancied the idea of becoming a barrister and that didn’t quite happen. So I suppose I kind of fell in this direction and it seemed a very obvious thing to do.

“My primary degree was in politics at Queen’s and then I decided that I did want to go into journalism and I stayed on to do a Masters in Irish Politics for two years and really when I was finishing that off in my second year I started to do some work with the BBC. I had been very much involved in the Politics Society at Queens’ and we would bring in guest speakers, which gave me the chance to chair discussions and debates and I suppose that I started to do free gratis what I’m now doing professionally. So it just evolved over the years. I suppose I was quite persistent and determined. I was keen to do it but you have to be lucky as well.”
You’ve covered quite a lot of the output of the BBC here in both radio and television. What have been the key areas to date?

“People always ask me if I prefer radio or television. There is no answer to that question because I feel really at home on the radio. I love radio, I love the depth of radio and the fact that it’s quite a small team and as a presenter you’re a very big part in that team. I quite like that and I also like the fact that in radio you can speak to anybody straight away, instantly. If something happens in America you can phone them and you’re speaking about the incident. It’s much more difficult to do that in television. But television I’m very lucky with as well because I get to do Newsline, of course, Let’s Talk which is one of those big programmes that’s enjoyable to do, and, as we speak, this week when Paisley announced his resignation, it fell with Spotlight’s time.

“I got an e mail at six o’clock when I was sitting on air for Evening Extra telling me that we were doing a Spotlight programme on that story and asking if I was OK for that. So bang went my tea with the kids and I had to stay on to do that. But again you wouldn’t want to be off on a day like that.”

It’s a very fast moving
business, isn’t it?

“It is. There are quiet days but on a busy day it’s fantastic. On that occasion we took the decision to extend Evening Extra while we were on air and we did that with a huge effort, but seamlessly. It’s fast moving. It’s a test and I suppose I like the challenge. I don’t so much enjoy the days where everything is pre-prepared and you know what’s coming. It’s in the diary and it’s planned with everything perfectly scripted, the interviews prepared. I really think I thrive on the seat of the pants stuff where there is no running order and there are no scripts. In fact last Tuesday there was no guest. There was an empty chair. I think that’s great, that’s a real challenge. And if you come through that you have a tremendous sense of satisfaction.”

Is it, in a sense, a bit like being in theatre where you need to have a good supply of adrenalin?
“Yes it kicks in. I think that’s exactly what has happened. I am able to fulfil all of the things I wanted out of being an actor in doing what I’m doing. Maybe with a little bit more as well and without having to learn the lines as well because that was the thing I was always uncomfortable about. It is a performance and particularly when you’re in a television studio because of the cameras and the lights. There is that element of the spectacle with television particularly with a programme like Let’s Talk.”

What for you is the importance of a programme like Let’s Talk?

“Well I think it’s important because it’s the only programme in Northern Ireland where members of the public get an opportunity to hold their elected representatives to account. There are lots of other ways in which we can question MLAs and there are lots of other programmes where members of the public can give their opinions. But Let’s Talk is the only programme where, on a regular basis, we would have at least two members of the Executive facing members of the public directly, asking their questions, giving their opinions and sharing in the debate. I think that’s very important and very healthy for a democracy.

“It’s important for those politicians to be questioned by professional broadcasters, but it’s also important that voters get a chance to have their say and sometimes that can be quite revealing. Sometimes people say what you don’t expect them to say and where perhaps a politician might duck a question from me, it’s much more difficult to duck a question from a voter. There are certainly incidents where I can recall politicians who have been under an awful lot of pressure finding it hard to deal with an eighteen year old A-level student who just keeps asking the same question over and over again, or keeps coming back. Because they can’t lose their temper with them as they would with another politician, or get smart alecky as they would with me. They have to treat that voter with respect. So it can be quite an interesting exercise.”

We don’t have a hugely close contact with the audience on Evening Extra because it’s one of those very fast paced drive time programmes where there’s not a lot of interaction through phone-ins, but people do text Evening Extra. On Newsline we do have a viewers panel and we would certainly make an effort to go out as we did to Ballymena for the Paisley story, to hear what people there thought about Ian Paisley’s decision to resign. I think it’s very important that access to the media isn’t controlled entirely by the media and by those of us who are professionals. We have to facilitate as broad a debate as possible. I suppose it’s about a balance. I think that the BBC is very fortunate because of its range in that it can allow people to do that. Our on-line services too have a role. If you look at the Let’s Talk website, people are encouraged after the programme to begin a debate. It’s fascinating a couple of days after the programme to go in and see people on the message board talking to each other about what some politicians have said. I wouldn’t want to over play the importance of what we do, but it’s nonetheless valuable.”

Everything’s changing very fast in broadcasting, isn’t it? Is it easy to keep up with the changes in technology?

“I’m a bit of a technophobe to be absolutely honest. I still struggle with the remote at home. I started here something like 19 years ago when it was the typewriter and the multi-copy yellow paper. You’ll remember the auto-cue when it was bits of paper stuck together with cellotape. We’ve come an awfully long way from that and certainly we have to be very computer literate, but some of the younger members of staff coming in now are incredibly good at the new technology. We’ve now become digitalised in editing for radio and very soon we’ll be editing digitally on our desktops in Newsline as well. That’s a remarkable change. I couldn’t tell you in all honesty that I’m up to speed on some of those things but increasingly journalists and reporters have to cut their own stories and they have to be able to edit sound and pictures.”

There’s another side to you, away from hard news, and that’s in the arts world. You’ve written on the subject and you are actively involved in the running of the Lyric Theatre. Tell me something about that side of things.

“I edited a book on the arts called Stepping Stones with one of my colleagues here at the BBC. It looked at the arts right across the board between 1971 and 2001 and then I edited another publication of essays after Belfast failed to be short-listed for the Capital of Culture bid a few years ago.”

What are your views on the
Belfast bid?

“It didn’t have a chance. It was too soon, and that’s not to say for a moment that it wasn’t right to have big ideas and that the people involved didn’t do their very best. Jeremy Isaacs chaired the panel and he said afterwards in his feedback that the cultural infrastructure simply wasn’t in place. And he’s right. We were kidding ourselves I think that the cultural infrastructure could be in place for 2008. The interesting thing about that is that it started a debate and our publication Re-imagining Belfast also kicked into that debate. I think that the cultural infrastructure is changing and that’s part of my passion at the moment with the Lyric. We’ve got to get our buildings in place and we have to get the companies in place. And we’ve got to fund them properly. I think government has now realised that. Not enough money is in the arts but more money is definitely being put into the arts.”

If you didn’t become an actor professionally, you did have your interest in theatre. Is the Lyric a good example of that?

“Really at the moment it is not overstating the case to say that I am double jobbing. One as a broadcaster and the other as chairman of the board of the Lyric. And that is virtually a full time job which I do in my spare time. But it takes up a lot of time and we’ve just moved out of Ridgeway street and we’re setting the day for the Minister to come along with the wrecking ball to knock it down. That will happen in May.

“I received my formal letters from the Arts Council yesterday confirming the amount of money we are going to get, nine and a quarter million pounds, please sign on the dotted line. And a further two million from the Lottery. That money has all been very hard earned and it’s taken a huge effort to persuade government that this was a project that could happen. But not just government, the wider community as well – trusts, foundations, philanthropists and high net worth individuals as they are called, successful members of the business community who in some cases have pledged huge sums of money to help that to happen.”

How do you feel about the Lyric’s part in the history of the city from it’s small beginnings thanks to Mary O’Malley?

“She was a remarkable woman. I never met her but I know her sons and they still take a keen interest in the Lyric. She was a visionary who had an idea of what she wanted to do and nobody was going to stop her from doing it. She operated a hugely successful theatre company from her own house and the she was instrumental in getting the new Lyric built on the Ridgeway street site which opened in 1969. The difficulty is that that building is now obsolete. It’s not fit for purpose and what we’ve got to do is share her vision, and what we will have in 2010 is a theatre that will be a proper iconic landmark building twice the size of the old Lyric and the facilities will be state-of-the-art. It will be spectacular and we’ve got the best architects, the best construction company building it.”

In terms of your cultural interests, what about your involvement with Romania?

“Romania is a country which has gone through huge change and I found myself travelling to Romania with an odd group of individuals shortly after the revolution at Christmas 1989. In January 1990 I travelled there with a group of individuals from Northern Ireland which included Jennifer Johnston the novelist, some people from art galleries and I went out to make a documentary. I travelled with a friend of mine, John Fairleigh, who was then a lecturer at Queen’s and John was very friendly with a Romanian actor called Ion Caramitru who was the kind of Olivier of Romania with superstar status. When we arrived at the airport we discovered than Ion had been made Vice-President. Suddenly he arrived with his Presidential entourage and said: ‘I forgot to mention that I am the Vice President actually!’

“So we had the most remarkable week of our lives and Romania had just got rid of Ceausescu. The writers, the actors, the poets had been part of that process. We were watching during the day Caramitru appearing in the Assembly discussing and debating the future of the country and then at night time we were going to his flat for dinner. On one occasion we went into Bucharest because the miners from the north came in because they were concerned that the old guard were going to fight back. The centre of Bucharest was overwhelmed with thousands and thousands of black-faced miners with their pit helmets and the lamps on. It was like the parting of the Red Sea as Caramitru walked through the sea of miners and they were so reverential in their dealings with him. He was trying to persuade them that the revolution had happened, that it was safe and that the country was goping to have a better future. It was spine-tingling stuff to be there in the middle of this. Out of that came the Ireland Romania Cultural Foundation which I was involved with for some time.

“The links between Ireland and Romania culturally are very very strong. Seamus Heaney has worked quite closely with the poets in Romania translating their work, and they have translated his. There is an awful lot of work between the universities as well. It’s all quite quiet low grade stuff but very important. Theatre companies from Northern Ireland and Dublin have travelled out to perform their work at various festivals.”

Street Smart

2008-03-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ulster Tatler hits Belfast city centre to check out what we’re wearing on the street.

Name:
Iain Neill, Newtownards

Occupation:
Support worker

Where did you get the outfit you’re wearing today?
My jacket (£60) is from Zara and jeans (£30) are from Topman. I picked up my sweater (£10) in M&S, trainers (£60) in Schuh and Beatles t-shirt (£10) on eBay.

How much would you spend on clothes each month?
Between £50 and £60.

Who are the
best and worst
dressed celebrities?
I’m quite a fan of Jarvis Cocker’s retro style. Jodie Marsh is definitely worst!

What are your favourite high street shops and designers?
My favourites are Topman and Cult. Designer-wise, Paul Smith is at the top of my list.

How would you describe your style?
Retro chic, both day and evening. Trainers are my ‘can’t-live-without’ accessory.

What has been
your worst ever
fashion mistake?
A green shell suit!

What has been your
best bargain?
A velvet jacket, which I found in Belfast’s Best Vintage for an amazing £10!

Street Smart

2008-03-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ulster Tatler hits Belfast city centre to check out what we’re wearing on the street.

Name:
Sara Matchett, Belfast

Occupation:
A-level student, Victoria College

Where did you get
the outfit you’re
wearing today?
I bought my jacket (£25) and skinny jeans (£20) from a|wear and my blouse ($15 in sale) from American Eagle whilst in America. I picked up my shoes (£6) in Primark and my Aldo bag and scarf were both presents.

How much would
you spend on
clothes each month?
Around £50. It depends if I’m going out a lot that month.

Who are the best
and worst dressed
celebrities?
I love Mischa Barton’s bohemian look. Worst? Amy Winehouse is just too much - her style is so messy.

What are your
favourite high street
shops and designers?
On the high street, it would have to be Topshop, Primark or anywhere I can bag a bargain. I would love a pair of Jimmy Choo’s.

How would you describe
your style?
Relaxed although I’m quite girly.

What has been your worst ever fashion mistake?
A pair of huge clumpy Skecher trainers from years ago.

What has been your
best bargain?
A quirky yellow t-shirt I bought when I was in Spain featuring Latin dancers.

The Right Cut

2008-03-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

THIS MONTH Andrew Mulvenna explains how to cut it this spring.

Trends always come in waves and like waves you will get some that look ever so promising from afar but as they reach the shore they mysteriously wither into nothing more than a splish at your toes.

Other waves however can be rogue waves, a freakish culmination of two or more small ones that meet from nowhere, join forces and become something greater than the sum of itself– these are the ones that will leave you washed up the beach.

You might be thinking I need a holiday by my analogy and you might be right but fashion and hair can best be described by this. Hair-stylists, make-up artists and fashion designers all push forward with a tidal force of new ideas and concepts that are designed to excite us and satisfy their creative minds; some end up nothing more than a splish - yesterday’s “not such a good idea” yet some trends can arise out of pure accident and end up saturating our very being.

Here are some definite ‘Tsunamis’ I’ve put together for Spring/Summer - they are a result of working [as a salon] on; London Fashion Week, L’Oreal spring/summer collections for men and women, Cosmopolitan and Vogue plus our own salon collections.

Men
Groomed hair with a flick of the sensitive rebel is a great new change - think early John Lennon, Morrissey and James Dean. Keep it tight at the sides, quiffed and messy on top - no more straightening irons and keep it manly. Great for nearly all face shapes except longer ones. It’s like a mini face lift for the over 30’s guys.

Shaggy rock hair is confined to skate boarders and under 18s. It’s still cool but if you are outside the age bracket just give it up along with the combats and flipflops.
The 60’s Presidential cut that has been about for a year or so can look a bit too controlled and up-tight, so be careful that you don’t end up looking 10 years older. George Clooney is the only man to consistently pull this off. Here’s a hint – loosen the tie and your forelock.

The Ron - named after the smooth re-mixer (of Amy Winehouse) Mark Ronson and flavour of the moment. Taper cut the sides and wear the fringe down, then sweep over to achieve that Beatnik cool. It looks great with wrap-around shades.

Top Male Hair Icon - Mark Ronson

Women
Short cuts – This one will grow and grow (pardon the pun) as a trend. Agnes D the über London model is a prime example of how short hair can be sexy and feminine on a woman. She is worth all the attention. There is no excuse not to go shorter.

Very long hair – only on the under 21s. This is gorgeous “Girlie chic” and only looks great on super healthy young hair so a lot of preening is necessary. Think prom queen meets Fame the movie.

Fringes – Kate Moss gave every girl who tried it bad eyesight with her “Kringe” so be careful you don’t trip up. Give the whole cut more layers and wear the fringe shorter. Don’t straighten, wear it sexy and fluffy.

The Kitchen Sink Do – Influenced by the gritty British 50’s films this up-style can be made to look sexy and glam as well as looking urban and edgy. Try giving it a little “bouffing” at the crown then pull back at the sides with a tight and low pony tail. Smokey eyes and nude lip colour finish it off to perfection.

Top Female Hair Icon – Agnes Dean

Andrew Mulvenna
16-18 Montgomery Street, Belfast. Tel: 028 9024 9191

Giving it 100%

2008-03-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

deaglan O’Hagan, general manager, edenmore golf & country club

What is your job title?
General Manager

What time does your typical
day begin?
I like to think 9.00 a.m. It just depends on
the business.

Provide a break-down of a
typical working day? How
would you spend the morning, afternoon and evenings? Does this vary greatly?
Generally when I get into work, I walk round each department to ensure cleanliness and to check that all our conference users are happy. I then click on the dreaded ‘send receive’ button to tackle a few emails.

Each day I have advertising work pending; may it be next month’s radio ad, a new flier or Tatler ad. As the day progresses, I’m usually faced with some HR and management issues from the departmental managers. The afternoon and early evenings are usually jam packed with appointments for new business, golf membership or sales people trying to eat into the advertising budget. But once again the day can vary so much.

What are your typical working hours, 9-5 or do they vary daily?
Typical hours would be 9.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m. Monday - Friday then possibly a few late shifts thrown in to keep in touch with the hospitality end of the business.

How to you feel about your ‘job’?
Most of the time I enjoy what I do… I enjoy generating new business, increasing sales, developing new corporate relationships, dreaming up the next successful offer etc. Like any job there are more stressful periods but I feel through good management and a great team around me we can get through anything!

Do you work as part of a team, or mainly on your own?
I work on my own for the majority of the role. There are parts of the job that require team work and organisation precision; for that I have an excellent management team.

How do you prepare for your working day?
More recently I have had to really prioritise my time due to the amount of projects on the go. So the night before, I try to write down a few bullet points that have to be achieved for the following day. If those points are achieved I feel like I’ve covered ground.

Do you work to tight deadlines?
With the speed that Edenmore is growing it is hard to keep all the balls juggling at the one time but with a bit of delegation and extra effort I always deliver on time.

How did you get to where you
are now?
I started my career at Gleneagles in Scotland and I think it gave me a real eye opener as to what is expected in order to be successful. I always give 100% to everything I put my hand to and I feel my time there put me a few years ahead of my peers. I had the good fortune to assist in managing the Belfast based Arena Yorkgate Fitness Club. My time in Arena was quite brief until I met one of the Edenmore directors at a corporate event.
I was persuaded to come down and see Edenmore and well that was it. I was totally taken by the warmth and prosperity of the company and haven’t looked back since.

How do your relax in your
spare time?
By the time this goes to print I will be a happily married man so maybe I’ll answer this question in a few month’s time

Interview with Felicity Jordon

2008-03-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

Felicity Jordon
Home and Children’s
Floor Manager
House of Fraser, Belfast

My perfect restaurant...
Any Italian. Villa Italia is a beautiful restaurant but my husband’s braised Italian meatballs are hard to beat.

My perfect cd...
Robbie Williams: Swing When You’re Winning.

My perfect book...
Jane Eyre - The first book to make me cry!

My perfect movie...
Definitely Dirty Dancing. I’ve watched it over and over and never tire of it!

MY PERFECT quotation...
‘If you always do what you’ve always done - you always get what you’ve always got!’

My perfect play...
Billy Elliot in London. It made me laugh and cry at the same time!

MY PERFECT NIGHT OUT...
Drinks with friends followed by a
good boogie!

MY PERFECT celebrity to date...
Strangely, Jack Nicholson. There’s something attractive about his voice.
MY PERFECT item of jewellery...
My six stone ring given to me by a special friend on a special birthday!

MY PERFECT beauty treatment...
I’ve promised myself a Turkish bath on holiday this year. Rumour has it, it really boosts your tan.

MY PERFECT accessory...
My watch. I’m useless without it!

MY PERFECT outfit...
Anything black! It hides a multitude!

MY PERFECT holiday...
I’m planning to travel to Turkey by motorbike in a couple of years’ time with my husband.

MY PERFECT weekend break...
A group of friends and I spent a weekend in Edinburgh - great craic!

MY PERFECT car...
Anything is better than my beat-up Fiesta!

MY PERFECT Shopping Destination...
House of Fraser with its perfect mix of designer labels and own brands - it has something for everyone!

Interview with Wendy McWilliams

2008-03-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

Wendy McWilliams
Media Targeting Manager
LyleBailie International

My perfect restaurant...
The Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris, Las Vegas. Total luxury, fantastic views and very romantic.

My perfect cd...
I’m torn between Forever Faithless: The Greatest Hits and Beyoncé’s Dangerously in Love.

My perfect book...
Serial Killers (The Methods and Madness of Monsters). I love this kind of stuff, very creepy but fascinating.

My perfect movie...
The Silence of the Lambs or Red Dragon - yes, my psycho tendencies take
over again!

MY PERFECT quotation...
“What goes around comes around.”

My perfect play...
The Phantom of the Opera. Totally dramatic, quite eerie, very sad...

MY PERFECT NIGHT OUT...
Dancing with my buddies. I still like to go to Lush but I think I’m getting too old for it now, best to stick to the Kremlin – best music in town!

MY PERFECT celebrity to date...
Matthew McConaughey (hey-hey-hey!), Daniel Meade from Ugly Betty or
David Beckham.

MY PERFECT item of jewellery...
My fabulous new engagement ring.

MY PERFECT beauty treatment...
The De-Stress Muscle Release body massage at Aura Day Spa. I feel like a new woman afterwards.

MY PERFECT outfit...
Abercrombie & Fitch track bottoms and hoodie, comfort wins everytime.

MY PERFECT holiday...
I’m actually in the process of booking my honeymoon so at the moment a two centre break to Jamaica and Miami is on the cards.

MY PERFECT weekend break...
Every February I go to Galway with Ballyclare Badminton Club to play in the Junior Cup. It’s always great craic.

MY PERFECT car...
Aston Martin DBS.

MY PERFECT Shopping Destination...
Viva Las Vegas! The Forum Shops and Fashion Show Mall are fantastic.

Interview with Geoff Wilson

2008-03-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

Geoff Wilson, Head of Marketing and Communication at the IFA.

My perfect restaurant...
Viscounts, Dungannon, because it has nice surroundings and the steak is fabulous.

My perfect cd...
Anything that’s easy listening like The Eagles. I saw them in concert and they were brilliant.

My perfect book...
Historical books because I love anything from the past.

My perfect movie...
Anything action like Braveheart.

MY PERFECT quotation...
‘Make hay while the sun shines.’

MY PERFECT PLAY...
Cats on Broadway.

MY PERFECT NIGHT OUT...
A night in with my friends with board games because it’s great craic.

MY PERFECT celebrity to date...
Fearne Cotton.

MY PERFECT item of jewellery...
A neck chain.

MY PERFECT ACCESSORY...
A pen and yellow stickies as I’m always writing stuff down.

MY PERFECT outfit...
Jeans and a t-shirt as it’s casual. Because I have to wear a shirt and tie to work everyday, it’s nice to relax.

MY PERFECT beauty treatment...
A massage.

MY PERFECT Holiday...
New York or Florida because they’re both fabulous locations and the weather is good.

MY PERFECT weekend break...
Donegal because there’s this lovely hotel called ‘Holiday’s Point’ and the scenery is beautiful.

MY PERFECT CAR...
An Audi A8.

Put your best foot forward

2008-03-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

From cute pumps to sky-high heels, the Ulster Tatler reveals what is hot in footwear this spring.

It is that time of year when the warm boots are to be put back in the wardrobe and the flip flops and pumps are to come out.

This season, stores throughout the province have a range of cute and stylish shoes that will make any shoe lover’s dreams become reality.

From classic kitten heels and funky wedges to cute pumps and fashionable platforms, shoes really are a girl’s best friend.

However, shoes are not just for the women. With a range of footwear from leather to suede, the male of the species can look suave and sophisticated, and get excited about shoes.

When it comes to choosing footwear, it is important to keep in mind that the shoe is a good fit. No matter how much you fall in love with a pair of shoes there is nothing worse than your night being ruined by sore feet. You must ensure the shoes conform to the shape of your feet, otherwise blisters, soreness and callouses could ensue.

If your shoes offer a comfortable fit you will not only look good but you will feel great. Here are some tops tips for finding the right shoe for you.

• Your feet size may vary depending on the shop. Ask the sales assistant to measure the length and width of your feet to ensure a perfect fit.

• Stand whilst your feet are being sized as this will ensure the most accurate foot measurements.

• Have your feet measured at the end of the day as feet have a tendency to swell during the day.

• Remember to try before you buy with shoes. Have a walk around in the shoes whilst in the shop to ensure your toes do not slide about into the toe box or your heel slips out. If this is the case try a different size until you find a pair that offer a good fit and are comfortable.

• A very important point to take note of is that a size in one brand or style may be smaller or larger than the same size in another brand or style. Don’t buy by size alone!

• It is important to select a shoe that conforms as closely as possible to the shape of your foot. If the shoes feel too tight, don’t buy them as they will rub and cause blisters.

By following these tips your feet will thank you for being comfy in even the most fashionable shoes.

For some of the province’s best footwear collections, why not read on as the Ulster Tatler provides the ultimate shoe guide for spring.

Spectacular Strangford and Luminous Lecale

2008-03-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

Paul Harron discovers two recently published
books featuring County Down’s natural and historical treasures.

Travel east, travel west … County Down can be as magical and beautiful as anywhere on the planet, and you don’t need to get on a budget airline to go there. Now, thanks to the Ulster Tatler’s own arts contributor, well-known journalist and broadcaster Ian Hill, not just one but two excellent new publications have arrived to help persuade both Ulster residents and visitors alike of this truth.

Well informed

When abroad, it’s always a pleasure to discover a locally written and well informed guidebook of an area beyond the kind of standard tourist offering with its hyperbole and superlative language. These alternative publications usually follow a pattern of a personally guided, enthusiastic tour of significant places – usually going well beyond the main tourist spots – by a person with a real passion for and connection with the place; they are usually liberally sprinkled with idiosyncratic observation and snippets of local myth and legend. The tour guide can’t help themselves from sharing their favourite places and stories with you. They lend a richer experience to the visitor who goes on a journey round the place in question.

Hill knows all about the romance, mystery and heritage of both Strangford Lough and its hinterland and the Lecale area, which takes in Downpatrick, Greyabbey, Killinchy. Ardglass and Strangford Village among other places all close to the story of Ireland’s patron saint, Patrick. The writer is a resident of picturesque Strangford (indeed, he can be seen in one of the photographs enjoying a lazy morning reading the papers overlooking Horseferry Slip in the Strangford book) and his maternal and paternal ancestors hale from the Lecale. His text in both books provides exactly the kind of enthusiastic insight only found in those good local guidebooks usually found elsewhere.

For instance, in the Strangford book, Hill gives us this on the well-know landmark that is Scrabo Tower: ‘Her English coal mines, plus lands inherited from her mother the Countess of Antrim, were amongst bounties brought by Frances Anne Vane-Tempest to her marriage with a Londonderry. She protested but a chaste intimacy with Tsar Alexander of Russia and was a confidante of Prime Minister Disraeli. She funded schools and raised follies, including Scrabo Tower – built in 1858 over what was locally called the house of “the king of the fairies”, with its silver Viking hoard, and designed by Sir Charles Lanyon – to her spouse Frederick, the third Marquess. Their son, named “Young Rapid” for his antics, went mad. Below, downhill, from the ancient earthworks, in the sandstone which yielded the friable Scrabo building stone, were the footprints of reptiles from Triassic times, 200 million years ago, who walked the earth long before the Jurassic dinosaurs.’
Built and natural heritage

As evident from this extract, Strangford: Portrait of an Irish Lough not only reveals the stories and anecdotes connected with the place but is rich in its coverage of both the built and natural environments. The author – a longstanding member of the Historic Buildings and Historic Monuments Councils – is knowledgeable on the historic built environment, so he is a good guide in this regard and includes notable structures such as Mount Stewart, Grey Abbey, Nendrum, Killyleagh Castle, Inch Abbey, Down Cathedral, Castle Ward and perhaps slightly less well appreciated Kilclief Castle and Newtownards’ Dominican Priory; but on the natural environment front it is the co-creator of the book, photographer Alain Le Garsmeur, that we owe special thanks. His photographs of the natural world reproduced here are truly delightful. From seals at Bar Hall Bay to pale-bellied brent geese on the lough to a mass of golden plovers on the sand to an exquisite mass of frost-covered bladder-wrack in winter, the beauty of Strangford’s shoreline, landscape and animal life is fittingly served. Le Garsmeur – a resident of Portaferry who won a World Press Award for his photographs – is clearly both talented and just as passionate about Strangford Lough as his writer colleague.

Outstanding Beauty
The collaboration by the two has brought about a superlative publication. Praise must also be given to the Environment & Heritage Service for its support in realising such an informative and attractive publication on the area (there is a foreword by Environment Minister Arlene Foster MLA which outlines its status as both an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Special Area of Conservation, fitting for the largest Marine Nature Reserve in the UK) and to the publishers, Blackstaff, which has done a nice job on the design and print (and it’s great to have such a good index and bibliography included too). It is, as its back cover strapline – set across a photograph of the lush grounds of Castle Ward with the famous Portaferry boat in the foreground – says, a glorious celebration of one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland.

In Patrick’s footsteps

Lecale: St Patrick’s County Down, meanwhile, is a collaboration between Hill and Minerstown-based artist, storyteller and singer/songwriter James G. Miles, whose colourful paintings in a charming, somewhat naïf style complement the text and bring picturesque places such as Saul church, Struell Wells, Down Cathedral, Ballyduggan Mill and Ardglass’s harbour and castle to life. The book is one of Cottage Publications’ enjoyable series of local books, which have included, for example, South Belfast and East Belfast and Omagh, Cookstown and Fermanagh.

This is a bit of a dander around the Lecale area, in the footsteps of St. Patrick and perhaps a few of Van Morrison’s too, Coney Island getting a special feature spread. The text is jaunty and anecdotal, good on both information on the natural world and wildlife and the people of the area, especially the cultural luminaries over the years who are listed on the spread about Downpatrick’s distinctive Venetian Gothic-style Arts Centre dating from 1882 originally and rebuilt in the 1990s with the patronage of Henry, Lord Dunleath. We learn that painter Colin Middleton lived in Ardglass and that Leslie Montgomery came from the area – that’s Leslie Montgomery who took the pen name Lynne C. Doyle … ‘from the successful cricket club where linseed oils the bats’.

Lecale is a nice and worthy addition to this series of books and it will especially appeal to people from around County Down for whom it would make a welcome gift. Even better than that, though, the quality of information and the lively way it is presented in both word and image (and, again, congratulations to the publishers for including a useful bibliography) means that, as with Strangford, it offers visitors a guidebook to a rich and beautiful part of Ireland that is well worth having and, even better, keeping.

Strangford: Portrait of an Irish Lough is published in association with the Environment and Heritage Service by Blackstaff Press. Available in hardback it is priced at £20, and is available from all major bookshops (ISBN 978-0-85640-805-2) www.blackstaffpress.com

Lecale: St Patrick’s County Down is published by Cottage Publications and is available from all major bookshops (ISBN 978 1900935 58 6)
www.cottage-publications.com.

Rising Star

2008-03-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

Mary Johnston chats to coleraine actress jayne wisener, who had a starring role in the recent hollywood blockbuster sweeney todd.

Jayne Wisener’s parents Margaret and John could bottle and sell the formula they used for producing such a delightful daughter, they’d make a fortune. The twenty year old actress from Coleraine, who recently had a starring role in Sweeney Todd, is quite simply a reassuring and shining example of how wonderful young people today can be. Blonde, green-eyed Jayne was plucked almost from obscurity to play the part of Johanna, the ingénue daughter of Johnny Depp’s gruesome character in the Warner Brothers multi-million pound blockbuster movie and it couldn’t have come at a better time for her. A hectic round of press interviews followed four world-wide premieres where young Jayne attracted her fair share of the spotlight. ‘Surreal’ is how the former Coleraine schoolgirl and former Antrim Rose of Tralee, describes what it’s been like. Currently based in London, she’s doing the rounds of auditions there, loving every minute of it and is grounded enough to realise that in her chosen career, rejection is part of the job. “You just have to get on with it and accept that when you don’t land a part, maybe it’s not meant to be. I hope and pray that if it’s for me, it won’t go past me.”

Receiving a standing ovation for her London stage debut in Parade, must go some way towards reassuring her; particularly when acclaimed American actor Kevin Spacey was in the audience, up on his feet and clapping. Jayne had just flown back from Dublin when I caught up with her for Ulster Tatler.

I bet your feet haven’t touched the ground since the movie was released. What’s it been like?
Surreal is the only word to describe it. I can’t believe it at times that all this is happening to me. I was invited to the Irish Film & Television Awards and that too was great fun. I was chatting away to the taxi man on the way to the airport and we were just saying that Irish people from the north and the south really are very level-headed and friendly. But, I have to say that I’ve also found the people here (in London) very nice too.

Where was Sweeney Todd filmed and how long did it take?
It was at Pinewood Studios and lasted from February until May last year.

Describe your first day on the set?
Omigod. It was amazing. I arrived there at ridiculous o’clock and was taken into make-up where they did my hair and put on my face for the period and I loved that, seeing myself change into this other girl. Then came trying on the big dress, so all in all we spent the whole day doing all that. The director, Tim Burton came to my dressing room and said, “You’re gonna be fine Jayne. You’ll be great. Don’t worry if we have to shoot some things several times. It could be for any number of reasons, like sound, light etc; but it won’t be because you’re doing anything wrong, so don’t worry.” He was so gentle and so nice and just called there to reassure me.

I realise you’ve been asked a thousand times already, but what was it like acting with the magnificent Johnny Depp?
I can’t describe it. Again, it was unbelievable. I always was a big fan and here was me actually working with the guy. He has it all. He’s so good looking and he can sing and is the most amazing actor. He was friendly enough but you’re not together that much. I had a couple of days working alongside.

Was he helpful?
In so far as watching him work and observing; that was beneficial. Honestly, the cast were all nice.

You’ve a lot to be thankful to Jenny Cooke, Executive Director and Founder of Musical Theatre 4 Uth. for, haven’t you?
I certainly have and I can’t repeat enough, how useful and beneficial my time with MT4Uth was. It gave me enormous experience and the confidence I needed and I enjoyed every minute of it. It was through Jenny inviting the casting scout for the film over to Ireland, that I got this fantastic opportunity.

Explain what happened.
I was appearing in West Side Story in the Millennium Forum in Londonderry and Jenny invited Jeremy James Taylor over and as a result, I was asked to audition for the part of Johanna.

Is it true that at first they thought that at 19, you might be too old to play a fifteen year old?
Yes, but once they saw the photos of me without any make-up, they were
happy enough.

You also played a thirteen-year-old in your UK stage debut in Parade in London’s West End. What was that?
It’s a musical. It played on Broadway in 1998 but this was done in a different way here by director Rob Ashford. This production was in a more intimate space at the Donmar Warehouse. It went down very well. It was very strong. It was about the trial of Leo Frank accused of rape and I played his thirteen-year-old victim. A lot of people came to see it and one night Kevin Spacey was in the audience and I saw him up on his feet afterwards. Imagine.

Have you any brothers or sisters Jayne? What do they make of your new- found fame?
One brother John who’s 18 and one sister Gillian who’s 17. Parade was their favourite. We’re very close and I love them. They think it’s a bit strange but they take it in their stride.

Were you always interested
in acting?
Yes. When I was at school, D.H. Memorial Primary, I was in all the plays and after, when I was at Coleraine High, I took part in all the musical productions. I was both influenced and helped very much by my great-aunt Heather Wisener. I later studied for my Diploma in Music Theatre with my singing coach Peter Wilson.

How did you enjoy your time at the Royal Scottish Academy?
My first year was brilliant. It was great fun. The facilities were fantastic. They had a whole library full of accent tapes alone and two great studios. I loved it. Loads of good actors came out of it including James McAvoy. I liked the students and the teachers. I enjoyed Glasgow too, but in my second year, I somehow lost confidence. I don’t know why. It was a real crisis for me. I was the youngest student in my year. I wanted to come home. Mum made me watch tapes of myself as a kid, all smiling and happy and I started questioning myself. To tell you the truth, Sweeney Todd was a real blessing for me. It happened at the right time. It allowed me to find myself.

How do you like London?
I love it. It’s great. I was a wee bit intimidated at first and I’d phone home at least twice a day. I’m looking for a flat in the city ‘cos I’m living in the outskirts at the minute. It’s very exciting.

Do you ever feel frightened? There was a lot in the news recently about women being afraid to walk alone on the streets there.
No, not really. I think you have to be sensible and aware. I had my purse stolen already. It was taken from my bag in Starbucks. A guy spilled his coffee and I was worried in case he’d burned himself and while I was checking if he was OK, he was removing my purse!
Have you been recognised in
the streets?
No, not yet, but I was buying myself a ring when I was in Dublin and the girl asked if I was that girl from the movie. I said yes and we both just started laughing. It was weird.

Which designer did you wear to the movie premieres?
I wore Armani to the New York one and a different Armani to the London screening. The NY one was green and a fifties style and the second one was next season’s in lilac, sequinned and very fashionable. Not that I know anything about Armani, but they lent them to me. I’d be more of a Top Shop girl or River Island or Warehouse. I bought my own shoes for the premieres. Mum and I had the best time shopping in Macey’s in New York It was magical. The guy, Douglas was so helpful. I’m hard to find shoes for as I’m only a size 3, but he managed and the prices were great. For the London premiere, I was told to get something sparkly to wear, so I went to Accessorise.

Which actors do you admire?
There are so many…….Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, Emma Thompson, Nicole Kidman, Jake Gyllenhaal and of course Kevin Spacey and loads of others.

Is there a particular role you’d love to play?
Not really. I like to show versatility and I like a challenge. I’m young. I love period dramas. I was raging when Sense & Sensibility ended.

With what’s been in the press about stars and the temptations they’re faced
with, does that concern you?
I’m talking about drugs.
No. I don’t know anybody who takes drugs. They don’t interest me in any way. Life’s so good. It’s full of natural highs as far as I’m concerned.

Finally Jayne, do you have a boyfriend and what would be your ideal night out?
Yes I do. He’s English and he’s called Fergus and he graduates from Drama School this year. He’s lovely. My ideal night out is probably having a nice meal in a restaurant with him or else maybe with friends or family and I love the Ramore Wine Bar in Portrush.

MT4Uth was established by its founder and Executive Director Jenny Cooke to give young people from across Ireland access to the very best quality musical theatre tuition, along with the chance to perform on the stages of various regional theatre venues across the country.

MT4Uth Contact: Tel: 028 93 340871 Mob: 07879 077 800
website: www.mt4uth.com

This time it’s for you

2008-03-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ulster Tatler in association with Carolans Irish Cream focuses on our local ‘Yummy Mummies’ who bring pure style to the art of balancing family life and career! This month we chat to karen marshall and rachael harriott.

Karen Marshall is Manager of Bangor’s Flagship Centre on Main Street. Karen, who is 37, lives in Newtownabbey and is married to Stuart. They have two beautiful children, Claudia (aged 8) and Jack (aged 4).

How do you feel about being chosen as Carolans Yummy Mummy of the month?
I was thrilled at being chosen for this, it’s a little bit embarrassing but you can’t help but feel a tiny bit chuffed too. My husband and brother found it quite amusing.

Describe a typical day at the office -
if that’s possible!
Every day at the Flagship is different, which is why I enjoy my work so much. It usually starts off with a ‘to do’ list, and by the time lunchtime comes the list is pushed aside because there are always so many different people and issues to deal with. The days’ activities can include marketing and promotional activities, personnel issues, cleaning, security and maintenance issues, organising events and on-mall activities and also a lot of administrative work. We aim to please so it is vital that the centre and car park are presented to the highest standards at all times.

As a Yummy Mummy, what’s your daily
routine at home?
It is more like daily chaos! The routine starts the night before with getting uniforms ready, making packed lunches, sorting out what is needed for any after-school and homework club activities and then packing a bag with a change of clothes for when they get home from school. Getting the kids out of bed is getting to be a daily struggle as they love their sleep. I am very lucky that my mother and mother-in-law both help out with the childcare, so depending on what day it is I either drop them off to my mum or my mother-in-law comes to our house to collect them.

Balancing your career with family life must sometimes be quite a challenge! Any tips on the art of multi-tasking?
For me getting the balance right is all about pre-planning, making lists, setting reminders on my phone and computer calendars (and synchronizing them daily!) and getting as much help as possible from family or friends. Another important thing is to make time for yourself, which I do once a week on a Tuesday night with the girls.

Do you have a well-favoured beauty routine you’d like to share with other mums?
I used to sell cosmetics as a hobby and that was when I got into a cleanse-tone-moisturise routine, but I have to say that my real secret to staying young (apart from good genes – thanks gran!) is a good night’s sleep – eight hours if I can manage it.

Dining out! What’s your favourite restaurant?
This varies between Barnaby’s in Ballyrobert for a nice family meal and for a special occasion it would be either Cayenne or Aldens – delicious!

Describe your fashion style. Where do you like to shop?

I normally wear suits to work so when I am not at work I like to dress down in nice comfy jeans and a casual top. My style is very much high street fashion, which I am surrounded by daily in the shopping centre, but my favourite shops at present are Jane Norman and Principles.

How would you spend a yummy weekend?
This may sound strange but for me it is all about staying well away from shops (after having spent all week in a shopping centre) and having a family night every weekend where we all do something together like minigolf or ten-pin bowling and then have a nice meal. I also love to try out some of my favourite cooking recipes from one of my many cookery books.

How do you like to spend your time with the girls?
Myself and a few girlfriends have what we call the ‘Tuesday Club’ so every Tuesday night is our time. We usually go to see a good movie, or out for a bite to eat and a few drinks and a good catch up.

Taking time out, how would you spend a yummy ‘me-time’ session?
Towards the end of last summer myself and my girlfriends took a few golf lessons so I hope to spend some time golfing this year if I can squeeze it in.

Finally, as a yummy mummy, where’s planned for holidays this year?
This year we will be spending 2 weeks in Lanzarote in August. I am also hoping to squeeze in a girlie trip to France.

Rachael Harriott from Belfast has been with partner Craig Bishop for eight years. They have been married for 2 years. Rachael is Account Director at Juice Consumer PR and mum to Jake (5) and Evvie (6 months).

How do you feel about being chosen as Carolans Yummy Mummy of the month?
Extremely flattered. I remember reading about the other yummy mummys in Ulster Tatler and thinking how amazing they all were – I never imagined that anybody would consider me to be like them and it’s lovely.

Describe a typical day at the office -
if that’s possible!
I have just returned to work after maternity leave, I had my daughter Evvie in August, and I have also started a new job as Account Director with Juice Consumer PR, which is a division of MX Brandcom. It’s been very busy and as you can imagine I am also going through a settling in period - meeting clients, planning campaigns, training staff and getting to grips with new systems.

As a Yummy Mummy, what’s your daily routine at home?
It’s really manic in our house weekday mornings. My husband Craig gets off to work around 5 a.m. I am up around 6.30 a.m. and have a few minutes to myself to catch up on the morning news with a bowl of porridge, then I have to try and get Jake out of bed – he loves his bed and it’s hard to get him out of it. Once Jake is eating breakfast it’s time to wake Evvie, we have been blessed with a baby that sleeps! Then everyone is washed and ready and then packed into the car. Evvie is dropped at nursery and Jake at school and then last but not least I get myself to work

Balancing your career with family life must sometimes be quite a challenge! Any tips on the art of multi-tasking?
That’s a good question! Perhaps the best thing is to think calm thoughts and don’t try to do everything at once– break it down into manageable pieces and don’t panic, it all works itself out.

Do you have a well-favoured beauty routine you’d like to share with other mums?
I found that each pregnancy brought its own set of skin problems and the way I look after my skin has had to change each time. My skin became really bad while I was pregnant with Evvie it seemed like everything I used irritated it and still does. At the moment it’s just very basic cleanse and moisturise.

Dining out! What’s your favourite restaurant?
That’s a hard one… if it’s just myself and Craig we love to go to Clenaghans on the old Soldiertown Road, Moira – cosy wee pub with a gorgeous restaurant attached. Steeped in history and you learn a lot about Sir John Lavery.

How would you spend a yummy weekend?
I just had a yummy weekend. It was just the four of us. Bowling, dinner and cinema – yes, we took Evvie to the cinema and she slept while Jake cried because he thought the hero of the film had been killed – it was a PG so he wasn’t and he sailed into the sunset.

Describe your fashion style. Where do you like to shop?
To be honest my style mantra is wear what suits your body, your colouring and, most importantly, wear what makes you feel good. I tend to shop at all the most popular high street stores including Oasis, Warehouse and Topshop.

How do you like to spend your time with the girls?
Just getting time to spend time with the girls is great – it would be mainly catching up, so a lot of talking and if it’s not talking it’s eating or drinking… a bit of wine.

Taking time out, how would you spend a yummy ‘me-time’ session?
Being the centre of some fantastic pampering attention, which takes all day – things like massages, facials, hair and nail treatments – pure indulgence.

Finally, as a yummy mummy, where’s planned for holidays this year?
My grandfather lives in Brighton and he has not seen the kids yet so we might visit there first and then perhaps hire out a cottage near the Cotswolds and spend a lot of time doing things as a family.

circus circus

2008-03-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Emma-Louise Johnston takes up the challenge of being bridesmaid and gets back into tie-dye.

Oooh I am seriously excited about Cirque du Soleil coming to Belfast this month. Founded in Quebec almost 25 years ago, the Cirque du Soleil, French for the “Circus of the Sun,” is a travelling circus that mixes circus arts, street theatre and features amazing special effects, music and spectacular costumes while incorporating metaphors, social and political themes, acrobatics and aquatic! Phewww-that’s all a mouthful! Whilst I always had this vision of seeing them in the glamorous setting of the Bellagio in Las Vegas, I reckon the Odyssey in Belfast will do rightly.

I spent a really pleasant evening in the new restaurant 27, Talbot Street. Friends recently got engaged, so we took them there for dinner. I’ve even been asked to be bridesmaid and the dresses, much to my delight are gorgeous. How often do you see bridesmaids looking really uncomfortable in some disgusting colour that happens to match the flowers the bride’s mother wanted! I should count myself lucky that my friend’s not asking us to sign a prenup. A recent survey shows that brides-to-be are becoming much more businesslike about picking their wedding day companions-more than one in five women planning their wedding would ask their bridesmaid to sign a written pre-nuptial agreement. Get pregnant, put on weight or even change your hairdo and you could be sacked!

I suppose I’m actually not a bridesmaid. I’m a matron of honour - blurghhh! I always get visions of the big matron from Carry On films when I hear the term ‘Matron of Honour’. Although, my friend Debbie (the bride) says we’re neither bridesmaids nor matrons of honour-we are actually bride-slaves! Long live the ‘Brivas’ (Bride/Divas)!

I read a scathing attack on Botox recently in one of the broadsheets. Describing it as, “the kind of procedure which carries no benefit and would never attract the most rigorous medics.” I beg to differ, in fact the latter, is absolute nonsense. Some of you may know that I had several beauty treatments in the run up to my wedding. Well, is there ever a better time? These included Botox with the brilliant, Ashok Songra at Cosmetech in Holywood. Ashok is one of Northern Ireland’s leading surgeons, specialising in facial aesthetic treatments. He’s also a consultant in head and neck reconstructive surgery and facial plastic surgery at the Regional Plastic and Maxillofacial Unit, Ulster Hospital.
He’s a pioneer in establishing training standards and injection techniques for aesthetic companies and he is ‘calm’ personified and the letters after his name read like the alphabet! It was relatively painless and the result was extremely natural looking and will reduce deep-seated lines from forming. So there!

It’s official - ‘It’ handbags are so out now that only those who feel the real need to try to impress, spend silly money on an ‘It’ bag. Phew! Thank heavens I didn't send away for that must-have £13,000 Burberry number (seriously £13,000 for the Burberry Warrior-made from, wait for it, Alligator skin!) The most I’ve ever spent on a bag is £250! 4 figures is ludicrous and 5 figures - potential owners should be certified!
I first wore Burberry when I was about 4 years old and starting Prep. Probably like many of you, I had a little Burberry coat for school. Well actually mine wasn’t so little-my mum wanted to see if she could get me one to do me until P.4 so mine dragged along in the puddles!

Apparently tie-dye’s back. Not only do I remember spending Saturday afternoons in Fresh Garbage, searching through the rails with painstaking precision for just the right tie-dye hippy top but I also did a tie-dye Batik piece for my GCSE art. Whilst clearing out cupboards last week I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. Thank goodness - my ‘work’ could now be worth something….if I can handle lobbing off one of my ears I could strike gold!

Chic boutique, Atelier, hosted its fantastic spring fashion show in Queen’s Arcade – it’s tipped for the top this year by fashion journalists across Ireland. Boasting such labels as the multi award winning, Gorgeous Couture (much coveted by loads of celebrities) there’s also Goldie and Ducie – two designers recently featured in Vogue, and as seen in the new West Coast Cooler Belfast Fashion Week campaign. Also, Millau, Pink Soda Boutique and the ultimate denim brand – Paige Premium Denim. Another exciting exclusive in Atelier is the full spring/summer collection of Minette Shoes.

As a real ‘foody’ I await with anticipation the opening of ‘Made in Belfast’ this month. The brainchild of Emma Bricknell who is an interior designer and her brother, who’s a chef. I hear it’s very SoHo House with a mix of contemporary and classic furniture and a menu which uses the best of local produce including organic vegetables grown within a low carbon mileage from the city.

Lastly, I just want to say Good Luck and Bon Voyage to Debby and Gerry Armstrong who head off to start a new life abroad this month. Their leaving bash is in Bourbon where Linda Coulter will doubtless lay on one fantastic spread.

The shape of things to come

2008-03-03T07:54:00.001-08:00

Andrew Mulvenna explains the importance of where we get our hair cut, the service we receive and the price.

Hair is first and foremost what this article is all about but I’d like to go on a wee bit of a tangent for a change. I would like to dip into the world of the interior; that is the space in which our much valued locks are snipped and shaped.

I’d like to touch on a great professional change that we are all witnessing across our land -from the rural salons to city ones. I’d also like to throw open for discussion the level of friendliness and service we expect to get and indeed are given and dare I say it, oh to heck with it I will, pricing.

In the next few months I will be moving my salon around the corner to a fantastic new site, so it has given me an opportunity to reassess a lot of things that are going on in the industry. All this relates directly to you because we, as hairdressers and business owners, must keep one step ahead of the rest to ensure our very survival.

You only have to look upon any commercial street and you’ll no doubt see “a shop here one minute then gone the next”. It’s a scary thing and as anyone who owns their own business knows, a tragedy for all the effort, passion and not to mention money put in. Then again, when we are in an establishment and are given bad service or poor professionalism or both, we wonder how some have survived at all.

Let me just say, a visit to the salon should be much, much more than just a hurried, confusing and sometimes disappointing experience. It should be friendly yet professional, relaxing and comforting, stimulating and believe it or not, educational. Times have changed within the industry and salons across the UK and beyond realise they must also give the same training in customer service as any department store or restaurant. There is no excuse for rudeness or snootiness in any salon or business and I think we, the Northern Irish, are pretty reluctant to complain but it is changing.

Excellent customer service requires training and this is on top of the fundamental and creative training needed to be given to each person. Any salon that doesn’t take this seriously will not survive, not in the long term that’s for sure.

Salons now also understand that time is the most valuable thing and we cannot waste it. It doesn’t matter if you are in the country or in the city it is all the same, we need more of it! Many salons are picking up on this and are incorporating other services such as; beauty, male grooming, spa, café area and so on. Earlier opening times and later finishing times are beginning to be offered to accommodate our busy lives. “Xpress services” (fast tracking at an extra cost) are definitely beginning to catch on too. As a result staffing and training in any salon is now where the cost is mostly (and unfortunately) transferred on to you, next to location, services and then fit-out. Can I say fitting out any salon today will cost the earth, especially as we all are now used to a much higher standard of design, just look at any restaurant, bar, supermarket or clothes shop? This is what we now demand and rightly so!

Once again, all of this boils down to you the customer and what it is you really want, or are prepared to pay for and as my granny used to say in her Ulster Scots accent, “tis’all hurses for ceurses” or is that the other way around but you get my drift. Like most things in life you do get what you pay for but also there can be good and bad exceptions so always keep your eyes open.

16-18 Montgomery Street, Belfast. Tel: 028 9024 9191

The Mill at Pale

2008-03-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

POEM By Chris Agee

His industrial stuff was prodigious, from Hungary and Serbia,
Italy, Germany and Switzerland, though not a lick in sight
of the Anglo-Saxon: chutes, vacuums, pumps,
filters, crushers, grinders, sorters, sifters, baggers.
It ranged from concrete pharaonic storerooms
to silken micron-meshes, like pinhead souls, within

immense wooden Swiss sieve-machines
that one push-of-the-hand could rock
buoyant as a cradle or boat suspended on itself
by its sidebar stabilizers, for which (he said)
only bamboo would do. The premises had been renovated
and downstairs was like a fairytale prison

of low arches and stuccoed vaults. Everything was heavy,
big, organized, dynamic, post-communist – a monster network
spanning three floors and onto the bays outside where
the trucks arrived with their orient wheat. Then the kitchens:
tiles, ovens, tray-racks, bread-moulds, woodpiles
for the stone-baked doughs. In total, forty employees;

but it was all for little or naught since no one now
wanted his bread in Sarajevo, and no one in Bosnia
thought of flour, or basic production, in a land
overrun by imports. Next door was his orchard
of new apple trees, their bright red fruit scarred
by worm-marks of no pesticides. The house itself was pure

wood beauty, with a wrap-around veranda and a stream behindgurgling pristine from the pine-clad hills. At the crossroads nearby, one of Tito’s ruined guesthouses, all turrets and follies, seemed an Austrian fantasia set down in the Balkans: each arched window a different size;
each framing arch, a window’s self-conscious perspectives.

Pale: a village near Sarajevo, where Radovan Karadzic had his headquarters during the Bosnian War.

AMAZING GRACE

2008-03-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

short story
By Nuala Ni Chonchuir

Early McIntyre had a badger-stripe of silver flashing through her hair from root to tip. My mother said she should dye it black, to give herself a more youthful appearance. She only said that to us, though, not to Early herself. They had been at school together but were never friends. My mother told us that people said old Mr McIntyre had built a circular house – a place without angles – so that the Devil couldn’t lurk in the corners and tempt his daughter.
‘The Devil can hide as easily in the human heart as in a corner,’ my father said.
My mother humphed. ‘Shut bloody up. What do you know about the human heart?’
My father disappeared back into watching the television.
‘She looks like a witch,’ my brother Ian said.
‘Turn your gossipy mind to higher things, Ian, and stop making assumptions,’ I said.
He kicked the leg of my chair. ‘Get a life, Grace. You’re a gock.’
She’d left our village before I was born but, when old Mr McIntyre died, Early turned up and moved back into her childhood home. When I saw her, my skin spurred with excitement. Early was scarily magnificent: she had a silent face, waist-length hair, and a black bike that she teetered around on. Anytime I saw her in the greengrocer’s or Horgan’s bakery, I took in all about her. I was fascinated by the poppy-seed loaves and garlic bulbs she bought, as much as by her flowing clothes, and the head-up way she carried herself. I was sure she never saw me – a gangly eejit with frizzy hair – hovering. And what I wanted most in those weeks was for Early McIntyre to notice me.
My fourteenth birthday came that August. We had a sponge-cake for tea. Ian crowed, ‘You look like a monkey and you are one too’, when they sang Happy Birthday. I spent those end-of-summer days on the tyre-swing in our garden, holding my face up to the clouds. I squinted through the tree-branches, imagining a far-off version of myself, where I was comfortable in my own skin and famous for doing something-or-other. It made my gut warm. When I wasn’t dreaming on the swing, I cycled in front of the round, limed house on the rise, hoping to find Early on her way in or out.
The road cleaved, poker-straight, from the McIntyre house to the church at the bottom of the village. I would cruise down to the church-gates on my bike and pump back up the hill, my thighs screaming, trying to look like I was just passing by. Early never seemed to be around and I thought that she must have gone away again. One afternoon, I lifted the gate-latch and walked up to her front window. As I hooshed myself forward to look inside, the window opened and Early’s face loomed in front of mine.
‘Can I help you?’ she whispered, her nose almost touching mine. I jumped.
‘Oh, I…I was looking…’
‘Would you like to step inside?’ I wasn’t sure if it was an invitation or a summons.
‘Yes. Please.’
She opened the front door; the whole of the downstairs was one circular, many-windowed room. I smelt a peppery smell, like orchids; it was overlaid with the warm musk of spices. Early took my sweaty hand between her large fingers.
‘You’re welcome here,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen you about.’
I nodded, feeling suddenly small and protected. Up close, I saw that Early’s face was raddled but fresh; her cheeks as firm-looking as unripe tomatoes. She had a caramel tan and moved her voluptuous, animal body easily; Early was more beautiful than she’d seemed at a distance.
‘What’s your name?’ she said.
‘Grace.’
‘Ah, a beautiful name. One to live up to. I’m Early McIntyre.’ Her voice came slow, like warm honey.
‘I know.’
She pointed to a sofa and I sat. The room was marked out into territories: the kitchen had units curved to fit the walls; the dining-room was bright with road-kill-red wallpaper; her sitting-room took up the central floor space. A scatter of marble elephants pointed their up-turned trunks at the door and a huge, age-pocked mirror stood against one wall.
‘I like to collect things,’ Early said, handing me a mug of tea. ‘What do you like to do, Grace?’
My tongue felt tangled; I couldn’t think of one thing that sounded interesting enough to say to her.
‘I love my bike,’ I said, eventually. ‘Cycling.’
‘We’ll have to take a bicycle ride together sometime soon, while this warm weather lasts.’
‘Cool.’

My mother prepared the picnic; she seemed to want to impress Early.
‘Early’s been around,’ she said. ‘Been all over, I mean. What sort of food does she have in that house of hers?’
‘Spicy food, curries, that sort of thing. But, you know, a few sandwiches will do fine.’
‘Sandwiches? Have a bit of imagination, Gracie, for pity’s sake.’ My mother hung in front of the fridge, frowning.
I left the house the next morning, lugging enough food for seven people. My mother shouted after me that I was to send her best regards to Miz McIntyre. Ian shadowed her in the doorway, sniggering. Wishing they’d go back inside, I heaved the food-bag into the basket on my bike. It was one of those fresh, not-too-sunny days. We took the main road out of the village; the ditches overflowed with montbretia and red haws. Cycling side-by-side along Icehouse Lane, Early told me she used to play there as a girl with the green slabs of ice. She told me things and asked my opinion, as if what I thought mattered. I watched Early cycle ahead of me, her hair a winding helix down her back, her bum cushioning both sides of the saddle like an overstuffed pillow. She kept herself erect and sang strings of tuneless gobbledy-gook; it was hard to believe she was the same age as my mother.
We stopped under a sycamore; I was sweaty all over and threw myself onto the blanket that Early spread out. She lay beside me and I listened to our breathing become less of a fight.
‘Beautiful,’ Early said.
‘What is?’ I propped on one elbow to look at her.
‘This. Here. Home. The air is so clear, so breathable.’ She flicked a daddy-long-legs from her nose. ‘India was smothering at times.’
‘What were you doing there?’
‘This and that. Travelling. Working mostly.’
‘Did you like it?’ I looked at the band of silver that flowed from her crown through her thick plait. She sat up.
‘Yes. The people are warm, inquisitive, generous. Despite their poverty. The women are kept down, though, even the wealthier ones.’ Early frowned. ‘My friend Sabitha, who was married to a politician, didn’t wear lipstick because her husband didn’t like it.’ She shrugged and started to unpack the picnic. ‘Do you plan to travel, Grace?’ I had never thought about it but, wanting to please her, I said that I did. ‘Travel broadens the heart as much as the mind. It should be de rigueur for every young person.’
Early opened the food-packets delicately and made a mini-buffet. We ate my mother’s egg and parsley rolls, heavy slices of date loaf, mandarin oranges; we drank apple juice from cartons. Early consumed everything robustly and said to thank my mother very much. She broke dark chocolate into a silver dish and sucked on the pieces, the chocolate browning her lips. Swinging two wet-beaded bottles from her bag, she snapped off the caps with her fingers.
‘Kingfisher beer. It’s Indian.’ She handed a bottle to me. ‘Most thrilling chilled!’ she read from the label and laughed.
The hoppy beer warmed my throat; after a few gulps, my stomach felt hot. I grinned at Early and she clinked her bottle to mine and said, ‘Chin-chin’. I lay back, puckering my mouth over the neck of the bottle to take awkward swigs. Listening to Early sipping hers, I imagined her mouth wet. She half-sat and leaned over me; I scrunched my eyes to focus on her – she seemed to be swaying.
‘I love these little kiss-curls you have, Grace.’ She wrapped her finger into the hair over my forehead. ‘You look like Goya’s Maja, lying back like that – the clothed version. Do you know the painting?’ I shook my head. ‘Goya was Spanish. He painted two portraits of the same girl: in one she’s nude; in the other she’s dressed. They are absolute masterpieces. The maja has tendrils around her face. Like yours.’
I smiled and my eyes fixed on the plumpness of Early’s lips; I could smell the sweet fug of her breath and see her small teeth, perfect inside her mouth. Leaning up, I closed my eyes and let my lips touch hers. She flicked the tip of her tongue between my teeth, pressed her mouth to mine, then drew away. We stared at each other, then Early lay back and I flumped alongside her.
‘Have I told you how I got my name?’ she said, after a
few minutes.
‘No.’
‘It’s kind of obvious really.’ She giggled. ‘I was born seven months after my parents’ wedding: I was a strapping bouncer – hitting ten pounds.’ She paused and my ears filled with countryside sounds: a far-off tractor-whirr, clicking insects, the tussle of leaves. ‘My mother insisted that I was premature and, to reinforce the point, she christened me “Early”.’
‘I love your name.’
‘Thank you, Grace.’
She touched my hand; I wound my fingers into hers, listened to the soft buzz of insects and closed my eyes. I fell into a light sleep, still holding on to her.

My parents huddled on the end of my bed; she poked him, trying to get him to speak but all that came out of his mouth were small grunts. I sat with my arms tucked around my knees, staring at my father’s nostrils, the bend of his ears. My mother’s breasts were low and lumpy under a T-shirt and her mouth was tugged sideways from the constant scowl she wore. I picked sleep-grit from my eyes, wanting and not-wanting them to get on with what they’d come
to say.
‘What?’ I said.
My father fiddled with the eiderdown.
‘Well, Grace, the thing is, your mother feels,’ – prod-poke with one finger from her – ‘that is, we feel that you’re spending too much time with Ms McIntyre. With Early. She’s a grown woman and you’re probably bothering her. I’m sure she has things to do.’ He looked at my mother. ‘We’re sure.’
I stuck out my bottom lip, rolled it back and forth – it was something Early did when she was thinking about what she wanted to say next.
‘Early likes my company.’ I eye-balled them. ‘She says that I’m refreshing.’
‘Pfffff.’ My mother shook her head.
‘What?’ I said.
‘Refreshing,’ she sneered.
‘And what would you know about it?’ I poked her shoulder to emphasise my words: ‘You. Stupid. Old. Bag.’
I saw my father’s hand and twisted away but his palm slammed into my jaw; I careened backwards, knocking my head off the wall.
‘Jesus,’ my mother yelped, jumping up. My father’s breath puffed through his nose in short spurts, like a horse. I crouched on the bed and they stood for a few moments before backing out of the room.

‘It smells like dung.’
I was sitting on Early’s sofa; she was holding a poultice to my face: muslin packed with a mish-mash of who-knew-what.
‘It smells perfectly fine.’
She lifted it away, looked, winced, then replaced it. My jaw felt puffed out and sore.
‘I suppose I look like a toad.’
‘Yes, you do, Miss Toad of Toad Hall.’
The length of her thigh was pressed to mine; I looked up at her face, the steep arch of her eyebrows, her thin lashes. She flashed a grin at me.
‘Thanks,’ I muttered, and she nodded, pouting her lip.
‘So, are you going to tell me why he hit you?’
‘Oh, bless me Father for I have sinned, I called my mother a bad name…’
‘You didn’t, did you?’ Early lifted the poultice away. ‘I’m surprised, Grace. Why did you do that?’
I pussed, but she urged me on, so I told her they’d said I was to keep away from her. Early plopped the sopping muslin into a bowl. She sighed and said maybe they were right; maybe it wasn’t OK for us to be together so much.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You have your school work to think of now, with the new term starting. It’s probably time to concentrate on that.’
‘But Early, I –’
‘No buts, Grace. How can I go against your parents?’
She slid off the sofa and went to the sink. I watched while she cleaned out the bowl with a spray of water: I could see her bra-strap through the material of her blouse, the violin-curve of her waist and hips. Going to where she stood, I slid my arms around her from behind.
‘Have I ever told you how I got my name?’ I whispered into her shoulder, starting to cry. She turned and took me in her arms, wiping at my tears and snots with her sleeve.
‘No, you haven’t.’
I dropped my head onto her chest and she twisted one hand through my hair and rubbed the small of my back with the other.
‘Ian is six years older than me. My mother always wanted lots of kids so, after him, she kept trying for another baby, but nothing happened. She had tests done but they didn’t find anything. Three years after having Ian, she got pregnant again and was thrilled. But after four months, she lost the baby. She had three more miscarriages after that, one on top of another. My father didn’t want to try anymore – my mother was so sad each time another baby didn’t live. Her doctor said to stop too.’ Early took my hand and led me back to the sofa. ‘My mother knew she could have a baby, so she just kept on trying. When everyone else had given up, she got pregnant with me. And I stuck.’ I squeezed Early’s hand. ‘If I was a girl and if I lived, my mother swore she’d call me Grace: Latin for ‘the loved’, ‘the favoured’, ‘the honoured’. So she did.’
‘That’s a beautiful story,’ Early said. ‘And I adore your name. Grace, the loved. Grace, the favoured. Grace, the honoured.’ She bent low, took my face in her hands and kissed my nose. ‘Amazing Grace.’
I put my arms around her neck. Early hugged me tight and we held each other, both sobbing, until the round room grew dusk-dark and all I could see were shadows fingering towards the ceiling. I breathed in the yeasty smell of her hair and felt the slack heat of her weight against me; my eyes were heavy from crying. When she fell asleep, I pulled myself from her arms and made my way home.

Don’t know what to read?

2008-03-03T07:47:00.000-08:00

By Ian Sansom

Ian Sansom recommends books on a theme.

This month: 10 Books To Get You Through The Rest Of Your Life
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (1855)
I quote therefore I am: in quoting we reach out for a moment towards the Other, the inestimable, and the true. Also, quoting makes you sound really clever (cf. Stephen Fry).

The Bible
Of course, everyone in Northern Ireland has already read the Bible, so this recommendation is entirely superfluous. But might I recommend rereading? In the original Hebrew?

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1870)
In the late nineteenth-century the publisher John Cassell recognised the need for a reference book designed for the growing number of readers who did not have the benefits of a classical education – the so-called ‘common reader’. Dear and Gentle Reader, are you a common reader? I most certainly am, and every day I thank G_d for Dr. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897) and his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

Chambers Book of Days (1864)
After thanking G-d for Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, I get up, get dressed, make a cup of tea and read Chambers – how else would I know that today, 11th February, the day of writing, is Kenkoku kinen-no-hi (Japanese National Foundation Day, which celebrates the founding of the Japanese Empire in 660 BC)?

The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book (1998)
If you read no other cookery book, this should be it: clear, comprehensive, utterly indispensable. From African sweet potato and spinach stew to zabaglione. All it lacks is wipe-clean pages.

H.W. Fowler’s , The Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1924)
The Pocket Oxford English Dictionary was compiled by the fitness fanatic Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933) whilst staying with his tomato-growing brother Frank in Guernsey in the 1920s. I am not making this up.

Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Oxford Book of English Verse (1900)
Outdated, poorly-edited, fusty anthology of poems that rhyme, and scan, and are written in traditional forms. A must-read.

Roget’s Thesaurus (1852)
One of the world’s most famous and widely-used works of reference, and none the worse for that. Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) studied medicine at Edinburgh University, went on to become Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution, Secretary of the Royal Society, and was an original member of the Senate of London. (And note, bored and feckless retirees: Roget wrote the Thesaurus in his retirement).

William Shakespeare , Complete Works
‘The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good – in spite of all the people who say he is very good’ (Robert Graves).

Tolstoy , War and Peace (1865-69)
Quick, quick! If you start reading it now, you may finish it before you die.

Poems By Chris Agee

2008-03-03T07:33:00.001-08:00

Poem By Chris Agee

Summer Plums

In the valley before Srebrenica the corn was the tallest
I’ve ever seen. Someone was reaping by sickle
what looked like lavender. Another was scything silage.
Several places, women in kerchiefs and pantaloons
were sat on grass before their houses, looking out.
Low steep hills ringed the valley

with thick woods. There were domed Bosnian
haystacks pinnacled with poles and shells of ruined houses colonized by undergrowth. It seemed right to return to renew fields and gardens amid beckoning ghosts of family and neighbours. A cow was led
on a rope by an old woman in the same dress
and a girl in shorts walked the road
to Potocari. A windfall of apples was
down in an orchard and silken plums scattered
on a forested lane. Two headstones stood
in a cornfield like a summer host
of thousands of splendid ears.

Poem by Chris Agee

Dalmatian Light

Under the bench
now weathered with the last
vestiges of varnish
like fresh grief seared to permanent bone:

three cracks on a limesstone flag,
tufts of dried grass, an ant scampering on its own
shadow, silence cupped
from soughs of sea-wind gusting-

and the same late light
stilled and honeyed
in a corner of the coffin-room
on the afternoon of your wake-night.

A Tiny Stage

2008-03-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

Short story
By Shane Connaughton

Iraq was a disaster; news a blood count; reality TV further from reality than fantasy; films - inner-city scumbags trying to make a coup on dope.
There was another life. I never believed there was such a thing as an ordinary person or an ordinary place. Above the car mirror were lines from Louis MacNeice -
“Do local work which is not at the world's mercy
And that on this tiny stage with luck
Might see the end of one particular action.”
They were a totem. A holy icon. I didn't often have to look at them.
The border country beat away like a secret heart. No one owned it. I walked to Florence Court, climbed Cuilcagh, sat on Wattlebridge looking at the Finn.
Just this rainy summer I wandered into a turf bog. In the distance were ghostly gigantic windmills. A low geography had saved the bog. Lakes, rivers, flooded bottoms kept builder-barons at bay.
A rutted lane gave access from a narrow road. A machine had just about made it in. No young man would any longer cut turf with a winged spade. The machine had spread the wet turf out in rows fifty yards long. As the turf emerged a wheel nicked it into sods. The springy ground looked as if it was covered with a massive bar of chocolate.
The bog wasn't on a map. It was known as the Red bog. The owner, a tall man, wiry, weather-worn, in his late fifties, told me so. With his wellingtons turned down, and thick crinkly fair hair sweeping back from his forehead he looked out of date. He wore a string vest. He wasn't married. His parents were recently dead. A house, a bog and some meadows were his inheritance. You had to come past the house on the way in. It was a big stone house with stone outhouses and a yard. A flock of Rhode Island Reds pecked about and a collie lay in under a dead tractor. The house had seen better days. In a shed doorway was a rusty bucket and old whitewash brushes. A spick and span era ended with the parents' death.
Ben was his name. I helped him foot the turf. It was backbreaking. His back curved and seemed hardy as the length of bog oak lying by a drain. He had a quiet way of speaking, calm, as if nothing much happened round there that was important. It was like the way he walked - an amble. In the distance I could see the white gable-end of a cottage. I asked him who lived in it?
He looked towards the cottage and was silent before he replied. He told me a man had lived there, a "bachelor man". This man went into Lisnaskea one day to buy a new plough but he came back with a woman. They got married.
“They shouldn't have got married. That man beyant there, he shouldn't have done it. Because he and the wife couldn't agree. And were always fighting. He was a fighter and she was too. You marry to have a partner, a friend, to do everything together and not hide anything. The wife began to study the law books. She had a car. The boot was full of big books. There's a lane up to the house, you can't see it from here. He pulled his tractor across the lane so she couldn't get out in her car. But anyway she took him to the law and he lost half his land.”
His pale eyes looked into the distance. The sun was shining, dragon flies helicoptered about, a lark soared up the sky. You wouldn't have imagined such an idyllic spot could harbour such passions. He looked warily towards the house. He was a bachelor man himself. It held a warning for him, or an excuse maybe. He had strong arms, a strong frame, a turf bog, land, cattle, a big stone house, hens, an old dog and he was on his own. The place was called Drumlaney. I asked him why it was called that?
“Why? Someone named it that and that's all about it. We should have had the Irish language sorted out at the beginning.”
“Why?”
“Sure having signposts in Irish only - how is a foreign man going to find his way around and him lost? The Normans come in here first and the English come after. That's how the English come here.”
I asked him did he ever go into Lisnaskea himself?
“Only now and again.”
He asked me was my father alive.
“When he starts wandering, you'll know his end is near hand. They do that. My father, I had to shave him, like. He'd give me the odd punch. I couldn't touch him, like. He was very frail. He could bully to the last. He thought he was still boss-man. One day I caught him with one a them magazines. Nude women showing all their private places. Spread as wide as that gap there. He must have hid it in the hay shed. They think they are still the men they were in their youth. They want it again. But they can't have it. One day I come across him wandering about in the field. He stumbled about. He looked shocking wild. He was trying to live the past. Counting all the cattle he owned one time. He looked up at the sky, his eyes real wild, his hair standing. Then he come back into the house. He died that night. When they go wandering it's a sure sign. When they look at the clouds, it's the end. That's how you can tell. Round here that's the way it happens.”
He walked out to the lane, taking big steps across the rows of turf.
I was on my own now. The day was warm, soft, the air pure. Away across the bog, miles away, I could see smoke rising high from the cement factory in Derrylin.
A car came bumping along the lane. A man got out. When he shut the car door it was the only noise that day. Straightaway he started working. Bending to the turf, raising most of them off the ground by resting two sods across the two on the ground, then two on top of those two and so on until there were twelves sods in each.
And maybe one across the top. They'd dry that way, the sun on them, the wind going through them. Once they developed a skin rain couldn't ruin them.
I ambled over. This man was in his seventies, small and very sturdy. A stout leather belt held up his trousers. His hair was grey and black. His head was a solid block. His features were strong and country as a potato. Neatly rolled up shirt sleeves revealed very strong arms. His hands were big and brown. He saved the turf for old times sake. His wife had loved turf. She had died ten years before.
“I took her on a holiday to places round about she'd never seen. And all the time we never knew she had a brain tumour. We never had one row in all the years we were married. Not a serious one anyways. We had nine children and no money. She never minded when I had to sign on the dole. The happiest times were when we never had a penny. She was too nice. Too easy. Thank God I never lifted a hand to her.”
When he said this, there were tears in his eyes and he lifted his strong brown right arm and slapped it hard with his left hand. As if punishing the very thought. It was a strange moment.
“I went down after she died. Very down. I'm still down. I pray to God. It doesn't matter if you're Roman Catholic, Protestant, anything, the man above is there for everyone.”
From the age of fifteen, he said, he'd played football as a “tramp” player, that's what he called it, going from club to club in Monaghan, Cavan, Fermanagh.
“I knew Willie Doonan. He was a Half Acre man from Cavan town. He joined the British Army. I played against the Gunner Brady. The Gunner put me in hospital with four busted ribs. They put a bellows yoke over me to stop the ribs puncturing me lungs. The Gunner was the best. In the pub if you met him, he'd be delighted to see you. It was an honour to get busted be the Gunner. Ah now, Ireland is not the same. She's gone.”
He told me he “bruk” with his family when he was fourteen and a half. He took to the roads on his bicycle. He rode all around the Ulster coast -
“From Dundalk to Belfast, the Glens through Antrim, Donegal”.
He worked for farmers. They paid him two shillings or half a crown a day.
“Me bike was good. And I had a good tent.”
I hadn't been able to work out his accent. It was neither Cavan nor Fermanagh. But when he said tent, I knew. He was from a tinker background. He was an easy man to listen to. He told me one day he'd met a man in Shercock called Chambers. He was offered the task of cleaning a foot high of dung from an outhouse. There was a small window in the outhouse and he had to shovel the dung out through that window into the yard. Chambers left him to get on with the job and when he returned and saw the job he'd done, he couldn't believe it.
“You could have ate your breakfast off the floor it was that clane.”
He told Chambers he wanted two shillings.
“Some men give me half a crown.”
Chambers offered him a pound.
“A whole pound.” He wouldn't take it.
“That's too much money for me. I'm an aisy man.”
Chambers gave the pound anyway. As he was walking away from the house, wheeling his bike down the drive, Chambers called him back.
“Will you work here with us full time?”
“No, Sir. I like the road. The freedom.”
“Will you not try it for a week? What's your name?”
“Tom. “
A little girl came out the front door. He decided to stay for a week.
Mr. Chambers was a Protestant. A preaching man. He told Tom he'd drop him off at the Catholic chapel every Sunday and pick him up on the way home from his preaching.
“Mr. Chambers was the best man I ever worked for. I was there six months. One evening having the dinner, Mrs. Chambers says to me -
‘What's wrong,Tom? You're not eating.’
‘I'm leaving tomorrow, Missus.’
With that, Nancy, the daughter, the young wee girl, I took her everywhere on the bar of me bike, carried her on me back round the yard, took her in the horse and cart, doing the milking she'd sit on a stool beside me ... Nancy ... she jumped up from the table and leapt on me, holding me, then ran upstairs bawling her eyes out. Mrs. Chambers says to me, no Tom, you can't go, Tom, and Nancy in that state. So I told her, tell you what I'll do, says I, I'd stay another week and then I'd disappear without letting on. Just go without saying goodbye.”
He paused and bent to the turf again. He had rhythm and strength. It was as near poetry as labour could get. He straightened up and looked at me. As if judging me.
"Thirty years after leaving Mr. Chambers, I was in a pub in Fivemiletown. A woman came up to me.
'Do you know me?' she says.
I studied her.
Be God,' says I, 'I've seen them green eyes somewhere before. Nancy. Nancy Chambers.'"
Had I not wandered into the back-of-beyond, that tiny stage, I would not have heard that story. With it's amazing Hollywood moment. I helped him foot his turf then walked out with him to his car.
A herron sailed down the sky, banked lower and lower, then disappeared behind a hazel scrub.
Tom, just before he drove off, told me about his father-in-law who took part in the battle of Clonfin during the War of Independence against the Black and Tans. The IRA laid an ambush. Men were shot dead and some were left for dead. His father-in-law went to England years later when it was all over. To Birmingham. He went to a pub one evening for a drink. A man stared at him. Every time he went to the pub this man was there, staring at him. An Englishman. Quietly, one evening, the Englishman came over and spoke to him.
“Don't worry, mate, don't worry about me, it's all over now, but were you ever in the IRA?”
“I was.”
“Were you at Clonfin?”
“I was. Why?”
“I thought so. How could I ever forget the face of the man who gave me a drink when I was left on the road for dead?”
The man had been a Black and Tan and had been shot in an ambush. Tom's father-in-law taking pity, gave him a drink of water. Whenever he went into that pub in Birmingham, the former Tan always came over to him with a pint.
Again the turf bog, this tiny stage, had come up with something special.
He turned his engine off when I asked him about his wife. He’d met her locally and settled down not far from the turf bog.
“We met and married in two months and walked to the chapel the morning we got wed. And walked back home and had a cup of tea. The same as an ordinary day. We didn't have a penny to our names. My father-in-law liked me. Because I was good to his daughter. Nine children we had. When he lay dying, he was blind. But when I walked into the room, he says, ‘Tom is here anyways.’ He felt me in the room.”
When I was going home I went out past Ben's house. The stone house and stone sheds and big yard. And the rusty bucket with the whitewash brushes.
Ben was sitting on the dead tractor, staring into space. The collie dog was in the middle of the yard barking at him. Maybe he was waiting for the luck that might see the end of one particular action.

Dressed to impress

2008-03-03T07:01:00.001-08:00

UT’s Lara Salmon talks to the personal shopping team at house of fraser, belfast about creating ‘wow’ in the wardrobe.

Why has personal shopping become such a popular choice today?
Many people think having a stylist means they have no style, which is incorrect. Some people don’t have the time to keep up with changing fashions; especially in today’s 24:7 culture. There are many ways of dressing to look good and House of Fraser personal shoppers can help someone develop confidence in their wardrobe.

Why should I enlist the help of a personal shopper?
When selecting clothes and accessories there are literally thousands of combinations available. House of Fraser personal shoppers can offer expert advice on what best suits the client’s needs; with their experience and knowledge they are able to conduct in-depth discussions on styles, trends and cuts of clothing that will work best for each individual client. After enlisting the services of a House of Fraser personal shopper you will look and feel great and feel confident in the clothes you select.

What has made personal shopping such an integral part of House of Fraser Customer Service?
When visiting House of Fraser Belfast, you will experience a totally new level of customer service; world-class customer service. Part of the world-class experience is offering the customer the services they desire. Personal shopping for ladies and men is a complimentary service that includes an analysis of lifestyle to ensure the client looks and feels comfortable and confident both in the workplace and at social events. At House of Fraser we aim to provide every customer with world class service, in a world-class store delivered by a world-class team- personal shopping is one of the many services House of Fraser will offer from 6th March.

What is unique to the House of Fraser personal shopping experience?
Well, not only will House of Fraser offer personal shopping for ladies, but for men as well. Incorporated within the store are shopping suites where the client is welcomed with a glass of champagne, tea or coffee before an in-depth discussion on styles, trends and cuts of clothing that will work best for them. The session includes an analysis on lifestyle, so that the customer can maximise their existing wardrobe whilst learning how to create a look that will develop confidence in their wardrobe. Following this, collections of clothes are prepared for the client to try on in the comfort of the personal shopping suite.

Of course House of Fraser offers the same service to its male customers. How would you encourage any hesitant man out there to make an appointment?
Personal shopping can make shopping a stress-free, enjoyable experience for any man. The service is complimentary, and the customer will be talked through the looks that will suit their body best. The sessions are fun and educational as well as completely private, so the shoppers can offer advice on shopping or dressing concerns, as well as bring the clothes that suit you best directly to you to try on whilst you sip your champagne!

What are the skills and training involved in becoming a personal shopper?
House of Fraser trains all personal shoppers in colour, shape, style and fit. The shoppers are up-to-date with catwalk shows and designer launches and have extreme passion for fashion. Each individual’s relationship with fashion and colour is complex and far reaching; House of Fraser personal shoppers have developed the skills and have been through the training required to be able to advise on each client’s individual requirements- taking the stress out of shopping and creating a wow factor in your wardrobe!

So how do I book a personal shopper at House of Fraser?
The personal shoppers work on an appointment basis, to book an appointment simply call 028 9088 3700. Alternatively from Thursday 6th March you can book appointments in store- simply ask for personal shopping and Rachel, Gemma, Conor, Ashley or Samantha will meet you and book you in for an appointment at a time that best suits your lifestyle.

House of Fraser at Victoria Square, Belfast.

BLOG By Andrea McVeigh

2008-02-25T08:37:00.001-08:00

IT'S official. I hate winter. On my reckoning, it has already lasted for around 36 months this year, and I've had enough. I hate everything about it. I hate the rain and the cold weather, the rain, feeling cold, the grey skies, dark nights and the rain. I really, really hate the rain. What's worse, I hate it when people say they love winter. As soon as August eases into September, they start rhapsodising about wrapping up warm in woolly jumpers, knitted scarves, hats, boots and proper coats. Smothered in around 40 layers of hot, itchy clothing everytime I leave the house, I look and feel less like Julie Christie in Doctor Zhivago and more like the Michelin Man. Roll on summer!

The only good(ish) thing about dark nights is going to the cinema. There's something very weird about going to the flicks in summer, then, after a couple of hours of being thrilled in the dark, emerging into bright sunshine. It's just wrong. People should pour out of the cinema only in darkness. So far though, I've only managed to catch Sweeney Todd, which I liked apart from the singing and the gore, which pretty much sums up everything about the film. It was only around half-an-hour into it before I remembered that I don't like gory things or Steven Sondheim's music. I just never 'got' his dramatic, overblown style. I mean, imagine singing Sondheim-style in everyday life. "Have you put the bin out tonight?" "Yes, I have, yes I have, yes I have. I have, I have. The bin, the dark and terrible bin. Oh the bin. It is out."
So I sat with my hands over my eyes for most of it. Apart from that I thought it was really good, in a dark, almost cartoonish, way. Almost as cartoonish as Johnny Depp's singing style, which bears an uncanny similarity to David Bowie. I was waiting for him to break into The Laughing Gnome at any second.
With my outing to the pictures not exactly a huge success, I really looked forward to Ashes To Ashes, the follow up to Life on Mars, starting on BBC1. I loved DCI Gene Hunt (actor Philip Glenister) on Life on Mars and Ashes To Ashes didn’t disappoint. Set in 1981, the music and fashion was fabulous and, even though I'd hate to live with the sexist, racist, bullying cop in real life, on TV he's my new hero. I'm not answering the phone, replying to texts or even talking to the hubby when next week's episode is on. During the opening show I sat glued to the screen, dreaming of careering around corners and doing high-speed handbrake turns in Hunt's Audi Quattro with him. A girl can dream, can’t she?

One thing I must do before the winter is out is go up on the Big Wheel at Belfast's City Hall, or the Belfast Aye as it's been dubbed. One of the many things I love about Belfast is the irrepressible humour of us locals and our ability to bestow a nickname on just about anything. In addition to the Belfast Aye, I've also heard it called the 'Ball at the Hall', the 'polo mint' and 'the big ring thing'. They're all definitely much funnier than just calling it the Belfast Wheel. I love the way you can see it peeking above the skyline when you're driving around the city and I hope they keep it there permanently. It's great for tourists and great for the people of Northern Ireland. I've been on the London Eye and the big wheel in Manchester city centre but, naturally, once there's one on my very doorstep, I put off going. People tell me the best way to try it is to go at night so you can see the city all lit up. If I could get Gene Hunt in one with me I'd be there like a shot!

Changing all the time

2008-02-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Walter Love talks to journalist and broadcaster Sarah Travers.

When did the idea of a career in journalism first occur to you?

“I think probably back in secondary school. I’d always fancied being a journalist. I’d chosen subjects which would take me either to a legal career or a journalism one. They were the two things I thought I’d try out. Then when I was in Lower Sixth I was looking through prospectuses for various universities and I came across one for the Nottingham Trent University which at the time was the Nottingham Polytechnic. They had this course on broadcast journalism and I’d never seen anything as specific before. I thought that it was what I’d wanted to do. I didn’t particularly want to go into print, I was more interested in radio and television. I couldn’t believe that this was a course for me so I applied, got the grades and that was it.”

Going back a little bit, you were a pupil of Dominican College in Portstewart. Did you enjoy your schooldays?

“I had my happiest times there and I know they always say that, but they really were for me. I was back there again just recently because my son was doing his 11 plus and we were looking at various schools in the area. I went round again and saw some of my old teachers who are still there. I had a wonderful time and it hasn’t changed apart from a few more modern twists.”

Did your schooling give you a lot of confidence in yourself?

“I think it did. The school had a lovely ethos. There was a real sense of togetherness and being a team. So they maybe didn’t encourage individual strengths. Yes you were encouraged but it was always for the good of the school and what you could bring to a group of people. And you were very much allowed to just be yourself and there was a lovely relaxed atmosphere with the teachers and the pupils. So I do think it did give me confidence and I did a lot of music and drama and that kind of thing. Getting up there on stage kind of prepared me for what I do now.”

Is the north coast your home territory, is that where you’re from?

“It is indeed. My father’s actually English originally and my mother’s from Cork. My grandfather moved over from England to set up a textiles factory in Coleraine so that’s how my father ended up being on the north coast. He brought my mother up and they settled very happily there. It’s where my sister and I were brought up and now I’m bringing my family up there. I do feel really blessed. Having had three years going to university in England in the most land-locked part of the UK in Nottingham, I really did miss the sea so much. I hadn’t realised what it meant having the sea always there – the smell, the noise and all that scenery along the north Antrim coast. You just can’t beat it. Watching the sunset you can see why Jimmy Kennedy penned the famous Red Sails in the Sunset just looking out there. It can be pretty wild in the winter months but even that has an attraction.”

So going to Nottingham was quite a different experience, but what was the course like? What did it focus on?

“It was pretty unique at that stage. It was very much in its infancy. We were the first years and I think they were trying to make it academic enough so that it would be an Honours degree but would also deliver the practical side that would enable you to become a journalist as you left. So it was very much a practical course with placements in the local media. You would be two months at a time in places like the BBC’s Midlands Today or the local commercial radio station. We were really lucky to have John Snow as our honorary lecturer so he would come from Channel 4 News a couple of times a year and we would all get very excited. We also had to do media law and writing. I actually specialised in radio at that time when offered the choice of that or television.”

In broadcast journalism everything moves at a very quick pace. Was it easy to step into that on those attachments?
“I think because my course prepared me for that, I never had the shock of moving from print journalism to dealing with cameras and recording equipment and the like. That’s what we were trained to do. I wouldn’t say I was particularly good at it but you try your best. It’s changing all the time still. We’re looking at more new equipment for the newsroom. Gone are the days when you were a one trick pony. You need to be able to do lots of different things, to use lots of different editing equipment. Eventually we will all be able to go out, film our own stuff, bring it back to a central server where everybody will be able to access bits from their desktop. The future is technology.”

When you complete your course and have your degree, how easy is it to get your foot in the first door?

“I think I was particularly lucky and I think that’s often the case with so many in this business. There’s no hard rule about how you get in. I hadn’t quite finished my course, I hadn’t graduated. I was in the process of doing my final exams. But I was also in the process of spending a lot of money while I was away! My mother was asking me what I was going to do, and she was on the lookout all the time, going through all the newspapers looking for jobs in journalism back in Northern Ireland for me. So she came across an advert for BBC Radio Foyle for their freelance journalism register. Initially I though I didn’t want to do that, but she told me that I would and that I would come back as she had applied for me.

“So I flew back just on the off chance and thinking that it would be something to fall back on, to keep me going if I was called and that I could gain a bit of experience. I was just so lucky. I went in and did the interview. I don’t think I particularly shone but that night I had a call from the station manager to say that they had a round table discussion programme starting up in a couple of weeks over the summer months. Their presenter had dropped out and had I ever considered presenting? The next week I had my bags packed and I was home sitting in Derry. When I think about that now I just wouldn’t have the confidence, that would really frighten me, but back then when you’re young, at 21, thought ‘great, fantastic.’ And it was a great experience at Radio Foyle.
In local radio you have to go out and gather your own material. With the small work force you were doing everything. You could be presenting one minute and then you were out with the radio car learning how to work the equipment. And that was in the days of tape recording, editing with a razor blade. You might be working in the newsroom or on the general programmes side of things. I answered Gerry Anderson’s phones. It was a very exciting team and great fun, and when I came back and moved to Derry I just felt that I was coming home.”

How did the move to Belfast come about?

“It was probably about a year or a year and a half down the line. I was just freelancing on Radio Foyle and the then news editor Tony Maddox had visited Foyle and suggested I do a bit of freelancing in Belfast. So I did and found a much bigger operation, a much more frightening operation than the nice little staff in Foyle where we all had our lunch together in the kitchen and washed the dishes together. In Belfast there was this huge, busy 24 hour newsroom. It was the time News 24 was starting, bi-media radio and television, the development of the web. It really was a daunting place to come into but very soon, like anything else, you settle in.”

What gave you your entry into television?

“That again was just one of those things. I didn’t go looking for it. I’d been doing the radio news for about a year, Radio Ulster bulletins, through the busy times of the nineties. One of the television presenters was going off on maternity leave and my boss asked me if I’d like to have a go. So you get one trial and you’re on! And that was very scary – very different from radio, having to have your hair nice and makeup done and your clothes. All these things to think about.”

Does doing the early morning news make you hate your alarm clock?

“No because I’m a naturally early riser which I suppose is very good, and I tend not to sleep very well before my early shift. Then my day starts at about a quarter past four in the morning when the alarm goes off but I’ve usually woken up a bit before it anyway. A quick get ready. I don’t even have a cup of tea any more so that I can stay in bed as long as possible. I’ve left everything out the night before so I have little or nothing to do in the morning. Tiptoe so as not to wake Stephen or the children, drive from Portstewart to Belfast in all sorts of weather. In the winter months you’re overtaking the gritter, and you’d be surprised at the amount of traffic there is at that time of the morning. It takes me just over an hour to get in just before six o’clock. You’re there on your own, turning the lights on, there’s no glamour. People think it’s lovely to get your makeup and your hair done but you have to do it all yourself.

“Then the first bulletin is about twenty five past six. It’s a quick turn around. The news has been left for you the night before. I work with a journalist who updates the stories. He or she would have been in before me and then we just do the bulletins throughout the morning until 9 o’clock. Then I would stay on and do the lunchtime news at half past one.”

You do a lot of other things like Family Focus, haven’t you?
“Well Family Focus is a regular slot and has been for almost four years now on BBC Newsline every Thursday. It stated of as just a week long series of reports that I would be fronting to do with family issues, all ages. It was felt that so many family issues crop up on a daily basis but we never get time to explore them further within the news programme. So this little slot was created, four and a half minutes every Thursday, and I produce and deliver that every week.”

From the outside I’m sure some people think that four and a half minutes isn’t very much, that it must be very easy to do. But I imagine there’s a lot involved?

“You know you’ve a half hour news programme and you’ve maybe got about six or seven minutes of sport, a couple of minutes of weather. The average news report would be about two or two and a half minutes, so four and a half would usually involve a lot of filming and setting up through the week. Wednesday would be my day to go out reporting, gathering my material and then editing it. Then we might have a live guest or I might go out live on location wrapping around the report. Yes a lot goes into it and it’s over in a flash.”

How easy is it to manage the home and work balance?

“It’s getting easier now. My daughter, my youngest, is almost five now so we’ve moved out of the sleepless nights. That was quite a difficult time especially doing early shifts. It was all a bit hectic. Nowadays it’s great. Stephen, my partner, is a teacher so he finishes about 3.00 p.m. or 3.30 p.m. and can do a lot of the child minding. My mother’s there. She’s great, fantastic, and my dad I have to say, but mum would really help me out and she’s a great child minder too. So there’s a lot of people I have around to allow me to do this and I’m grateful to them.”

How do you like to relax?

“With the family, on the north coast, getting out for walks. Summer months packing a picnic. Friday is my day off and all my free time is spent with the kids, I keep my weekends for them.”

Do you enjoy music?

“Yes I do, I enjoy all kinds of music. I actually studied music for A level. I used to play piano and sing, but I don’t do anything now except sing nursery rhymes or the latest pop songs when we’re having a mini disco with the kids in the kitchen. The piano just sits there and looks at me forlornly some days and I think I must start again because it’s terrible to let it slip. I wasn’t very good but I think it’s a nice thing to do and to pass on.”

State Side

2008-02-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

Walter Love talks to SUSAN M. ELLIOTT, UNITED STATES CONSUL GENERAL in BELFAST.

Susan Elliott took up her appointment here last September having just
completed a Washington assignment as Deputy Executive Secretary, with main areas of responsibility including Europe, and South and Central Asia. We met at the United States Consulate in Belfast to discuss aspects of her role in Northern Ireland. I asked her first to define the role of the Consul General.

“I think the role of the Consul General in Northern Ireland is probably a little different than in our other Consulates around the world. I say that because usually there’s a Consulate established because there’s either a large number of American citizens present or we do a lot of consular visa work. So, if you think about a large country like Mexico, if I were a Consul General in Monterey, Mexico, my main focus would be consular work.

“In Northern Ireland, while our top priority anywhere is to serve US citizens, one of my main focuses is to be the US government’s representative here. In the past it’s been in helping move forward on the peace process because we’ve been so interested in that. Now, while we still want to maintain the peace process, it’s helping the current government and the people of Northern Ireland to take the next step in whatever it is that they want to do. I think the focus of the government, of course, has been on economic development. So I see my role as supplementing the ambassador in London as someone who can be a conduit to the people here. And then, because we have a special envoy, we are a little bit different. I report directly to Washington as well.”

Do you have contacts with the Embassy in Dublin too?

“I do have contacts with them. If you recall Ambassador Foley has come up here several times. He’s been here once since I arrived and brought a delegation of US businessmen who are doing business in the Republic of Ireland to look at business opportunities here, and at the same time in October, Ambassador Tuttle from London brought US companies here and they met with the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister, Minister Dodds and others from Invest Northern Ireland to look at Northern Ireland as a place to do business.”

So in a sense it’s a two-way process?

“Yes it is. While I report to London I do have a lot of contact with Dublin. We keep in close contact not only with the ambassador but with others in the embassy there. I’ve been to Dublin once since I’ve been here at the invitation of the ambassador to go to an event that he had.

“We have very strong presidential links with America here in Northern Ireland. So many of the former presidents had roots here. I didn’t realise until President Clinton started to come here that he had even traced his roots back to Northern Ireland, and has come here several times since he’s been president. The first time I ever came to Northern Ireland was in 1995 and I was part of the advance team preparing for President Clinton’s visit.”

You have been in a very interesting position witnessing all the changes which have happened in the last few years.

“The Northern Ireland of 1995 is completely different from the Northern Ireland that I see today. When I first came and stayed at the Europa hotel I didn’t venture far from the hotel especially by myself. You really had the feeling that this was kind of a conflict zone. And then I came back in 2000 and found a completely different feeling, more of a feeling of hope, of moving forward even though there wasn’t a government formed. And now I’ve just seen further progress. It’s incredible what change has happened here in the last fifteen years.”

There are still a few problems to be ironed out obviously, but there’s a much more positive feeling. You would share that, would you?

“I definitely would share that and I’ve met since I’ve been here with Minister Paisley and Minister McGuinness together and I felt a positive atmosphere from them. But also from others in the government that I’ve met. I think it’s a remarkable move forward that the people of Northern Ireland should be very proud of. And as I talk with you, the meeting of the First and Deputy First Ministers with President Bush is about to take place.

“I think that this is also a historic event because while President Bush and President Clinton have visited here, both of the ministers while they’ve been to Washington or elsewhere in the United States separately, they’ve never been together as part of a shared government of Northern Ireland. I think their focus is going to be on economic development, but I also think they’re going to meet with people in the Congess, with the President and the Secretary of Commerce. They’re going to have a very full schedule and I think it will be a very productive visit for them and for us as well.”

Many American people, including all those presidents I referred to, have Irish connections. Do you have any Irish blood in you?

“I don’t think so although I think that what I need to do is to try to trace my roots because my predecessor Dean Pitman wasn’t aware of all the Irish roots he had until he came here. But I don’t think that I do. I think that on my father’s side I have actually English and Scottish roots, and on my mother’s side as well. But I’m going to look into it while I’m here.

“There are certainly plenty of Elliotts here. I have already met some and we’ve tried to decide if we’re related, but so far I haven’t met any relatives. That’s one thing on my agenda to look into.”

What was it that led you into the work that you do?

“I came into the diplomatic service in a circuitous route. My husband’s also in the foreign service. He joined first. I don’t have a foreign affairs background to be honest. I was a professor in a school of nursing so I was a college professor and taught nursing until my husband joined the foreign service. Once I began to see the job and see the kinds of things we could do as diplomats overseas, I decided to join as well. So I don’t have your typical diplomatic background although I think the educational background and the things that I learned in my previous profession have really helped me because I think that diplomacy is all about trying to understand other people’s points of view. And I think I’m pretty good at that.”

I’d be interested to hear about some of the other countries in which you’ve served your country.
“My last overseas posting was in Greece where I was stationed for four years. I did some economic and consular work there. In fact we were there in the run up to the Olympics and I was involved in helping get prepared for that. Prior to that overseas posting I served in Moscow right after the fall of the Soviet Union, and I’ve served in Honduras and in Lima, Peru. I’ve been in the foreign service about seventeen years and in between times I’ve had Washington postings.”

The world changes very fast nowadays and you’ve been in a position to witness that increasing rate of change.

“Probably the biggest change that I have seen since I’ve been in the foreign service is the fall of the Soviet Union, and having served in Moscow just after the fall, and seeing the changes that have happened there over the last fifteen years, has been very interesting for me. When I went back to Washington when I left Moscow I worked on regional conflict within the Soviet Union. That was my portfolio. I’ve been very interested in seeing the progress of the former republics of the Soviet Union and seeing the different things that have happened whether it’s Central Asia, the Caucusus or the Baltic countries.”

And having seen all the changes in Northern Ireland, would you say that it’s a good place to be posted?

“I’d say it’s a phenomenal place to be posted. There was a lot of competition to get the job and, as I mentioned before, it’s just a very interesting place because people in Washington care about what goes on here. They’re interested in political and economic issues. We also have American citizen’s service and visa issues and I’ve been very well received by the people of Northern Ireland. More well received than any other posting I’ve had overseas.”

Are you an optimist about the future here?

“I’d say I am an optimist and some of my optimism comes from what I’m hearing from the people that I meet with because I not only meet with people from the government. I’ve met with people who are working in the community and I’ve been amazed at how much is going on behind the scenes which, I think has contributed to the overall peace process. People trying to bring those of different backgrounds together at the community level.

“When I was in the former Soviet Union sometimes you would hear people talking about a longing to go back to the old days, but I haven’t heard anyone with a longing to go back to the way things were here. People are looking forward and asking how can we make Northern Ireland a better place to live.”

This is particularly true for younger people here. Have you had much contact with younger people in Northern Ireland?

“We work with Boston College on their exchange programmes and I’ve been to an integrated school and I’d like to visit more. I do think that there is an optimism and in talking with students at Queen’s University and the University of Ulster I find that instead of looking outward to leave to find gainful employment and a career, people are looking to stay here and seeing bright opportunities for the future.”

You’ve travelled a lot in the world, but if I ask you where you regard as home, where would that be?

“I would say that my home is probably now in Northern Virginia in the suburbs of Washington DC because I’ve lived there on and off for the last twenty years. I grew up in upstate New York outside of the capital Albany, but I was born in Pennsylvania. We moved two or three times for my father’s work when I was young, but more recently I’d say it’s Northern Virginia. It’s where I own a home and it’s where I talked my parents into moving there so that they would be there when we were there as well.”

And there are strong links with Northern Ireland in that part of the United States and elsewhere aren’t there?

“Definitely. I’ve been amazed at how many links there are to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the US. People usually think of Boston, New York and Chicago possibly as where people of Irish descent live. But really in the Washington DC area and all over the US there are strong links to Ireland.”
Your job would create many pressures on you, so how do you relax when off duty?

“Well I would say that my staff here haven’t allowed me to have much time to relax. There are so many interesting invitations to visit places. I enjoy exercising and hiking. I haven’t had a lot of time to do fun things, but I do try to keep fit while I’m here because the food is good and people invite me out. So I try to keep in shape.”

When you are overseas do you still feel it important to celebrate Thanksgiving each year?

“I’d say it’s extremely important. And for me last November I was here without my sons and my husband, so I had a Thanksgiving dinner at my home and invited people that I’d met from Northern Ireland most of whom had never had a Thanksgiving dinner before, although our Thanksgiving dinner is similar to what Christmas dinner is here. But it’s very important and on almost every posting that I’ve had overseas, even if I had my family with me, we always would invite people from the country to come and celebrate a holiday that’s truly American.

Angela Mullan

2008-02-22T04:33:00.000-08:00

Professional Make-Up Artist
Clarins NI

My perfect restaurant...
I haven't got a particular one - anything oriental but I do enjoy Zen and Indian Ocean.

My perfect cd...
Anything that has soul. I really like Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.

My perfect book...
The Wasted Years by Mary Larkin.

My perfect movie...
I enjoy thrillers with a great twist in the story but one of my favourite films would be The Shawshank Redemption.

My perfect quotation...
“To do more, to do better and to enjoy what you do.”

My perfect play...
A trip to London to see Phantom of the Opera is on the agenda for 2008.

My perfect night out...
Relaxing in good company over a bottle of wine.

My perfect celebrity to date...
Matthew McConaughey.

My perfect item of jewellery...
My engagement ring and now my matching wedding ring!

My perfect beauty treatment...
An Indian head massage is great for relieving tension.

My perfect accessory...
A good stylish coat.

My perfect outfit...
Every season I will invest in a well fitted, tailored black suit. A different outfit can be created with funky accessories.

My perfect holiday...
I will have to say my recent honeymoon to Florida and Clearwater.

My perfect weekend break...
I was at Galgorm Manor recently so my perfect weekend would be keeping it local - somewhere that you can relax with good food, an open fire and fine wine.

My perfect car...
A Mercedes-Benz Sports Coupé.

My perfect Shopping Destination...
It would have to be New York - although I still have to squeeze in a visit to Galeries Lafayette the next time I am in Paris at Clarins Headquarters.

Joanne Graham

2008-02-22T04:31:00.000-08:00

Area Manager
Benetton, Hobbs and Murphy & Nye.

My perfect restaurant...
Le Baioli, Cannes. The atmosphere
is amazing.

My perfect cd...
Budda Bar Remix.

My perfect book...
I always make time every month for a flick through Vogue.

My perfect movie...
I love the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Michael Kors designed the outfits when he was creative director for Celine. Rene Russo epitomises glamour in that film.

My perfect quotation...
Contrary to popular opinion, when
it comes to fashion my motto is 'More
is more.'

My perfect night out...
A lovely meal out with my husband and friends. Food needs to come into the occasion in order for me to really enjoy a night out. I am a real foodie.

My perfect celebrity to date...
Front row of a Chanel fashion show at Paris fashion week and afterwards a tour of the Chanel headquarters with Karl himself. I have a weird notion of Bradley Walsh that played Danny Baldwin in Coronation Street. I have a weakness for cheeky men in suits.

My perfect item of jewellery...
My wedding ring. The most important piece of jewellery that I will ever own. I also have a weakness for David Yurman.

My perfect accessory...
A good bag and high heels.

My perfect outfit...
I always love quirky Sisley dresses.

My perfect beauty treatment...
I DIY my St. Tropez at home - even my friends and family wouldn't recognise me without a few layers!
MY PERFECT Holiday...
The best holiday I've ever had was Las Vegas where I got married at the Bellagio hotel in 2004.

My perfect weekend break...
Needs to include good shops, restaurants, coffee shops and buzz.

My perfect car...
My silver VW beetle. It is fun to drive around in the bug.

My perfect shopping destination...
The market in Puerto Banus to source all my beads and bangles. I store them for years.

Ryan Hoy

2008-02-22T04:27:00.001-08:00

Media Planner/Buyer
LyleBailie International

My perfect restaurant...
Unsicht-Bar, Berlin – eating a 3 course meal completely in the dark with amazingly friendly, blind and partially sighted staff. A real experience for the senses and lots of fun too!

My perfect cd...
Anything from the Ministry of Sound label. There’s nothing better to get you in the mood for a great night out.

My perfect book...
The hilarious and quirky E by Matt Beaumont. Written completely as a series of emails between staff in a London ad agency. It’s a real change from the norm.

My perfect movie...
The darker the better! Frailty starring Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. Gripping stuff.

My perfect quotation...
“A hug is the perfect gift; one size fits all, and nobody minds if you exchange it.”

My perfect play...
Rocky Horror Picture Show – what’s not to like? Audience participation and there’s the Time Warp too!

My perfect Night out...
One of the best nights out ever has to be G-A-Y in London with the lovely Victeea (and Gareth Gates).

My perfect celebrity to date...
The one and only, pint-size princess of pop of course. Ms Kylie Minogue.

My perfect item of jewellery...
My Diesel watch. Practical and stylish.

My perfect beauty treatment...
A full body tension massage at Jason Shankey, Ballyhackamore. A great way to de-stress after a busy week.

My perfect accessory...
My iPod – music and style to go with everything!

My perfect outfit...
My D&G jeans and an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt.

My perfect holiday...
A “big old American adventure”! Travelling across the USA with no itinerary and cramming in as many sights as possible.

My perfect weekend break...
A trip to Manchester with friends. Loads of shops, great restaurants, and not to forget the abundance of bars, pubs and clubs.

My perfect car...
The super-sleek Audi R8.

My perfect Shopping Destination...
London baby! – Such a great variety of shops and I really love Covent Garden and Camden Market.

The Singing Politician

2008-02-22T03:55:00.000-08:00

Kellie Chambers reviews All Kinds of Everything, the newly published book, which recounts the life of Eurovision winner and political figure, Dana.

Who is Dana? If Eurovision song-winner immediately springs to mind, you are partly right. However, All Kinds of Everything, an autobiography of her life, illustrates that there are so many aspects to Rosemary ‘Dana’ Scallon. Her career began as a singer but overtime she evolved into the first woman elected to represent the constituency of Connaught/Ulster in the European Parliament.

LITTLE GIRL, BIG VOICE

Dana, which means ‘bold in Irish’, had a rich musical ancestry. Her grandfather played bass drum and euphonium in the local brass band, whilst it was music, which brought her parents together. From the age of six, Dana too was exhibiting her own musical talents when she began to learn piano, violin and the art of ballet. Alongside her sisters, Dana made quite a name for herself in the various Feiseanna, with competitions in Irish dancing, singing and music. Whilst studying for her O-Levels, Dana began studying singing under the tutelage of local teacher Tony Johnston. Before long demo tapes she had made caught the attention of Michael Geoghegan, head of Rex Records in Dublin.

In 1968 Dana’s name was put forward for the Eurovision song contest, for which she was placed runner-up. After great persuasion she entered the competition again in 1970, and won with her song All Kinds of Everything. Consequently she enjoyed a singing career, which featured several highlights, such as setting up her own record label, as well as co-writing the anthem for the Northern Ireland football team after they qualified for the 1982 World Cup finals. During her career she also recorded a range of Christian material and in 1987 she sang before Pope John Paul II.

A COUNTRY IN TURMOIL

Though born in London, Dana was raised in the Creggan estate in Londonderry. After the North’s first civil right’s march passed off peacefully on the 24 August, another one had been planned to take place in Dana’s hometown of Derry on 5 October. The outcome was to be very different. William Craig banned the march on 3 October as an Apprentice Boys march had been scheduled for that date. Though some feared that to continue would be inflammatory, the organisers decided direct action was needed and the march went ahead. As a result a bloody riot broke out in the Bogside area, which resulted in petrol bombs being thrown. The unease in Derry raged into the New Year culminating with the Battle of the Bogside on 12 August 1969.

MAKING HISTORY

Although enjoying great success in show business across the world as well as making a name for herself in America with the Christian recordings she made during her stay in Alabama in the early ‘90s, it is possible the memories of the troubles, that haunted the Province throughout her childhood convinced her to run in the Irish Presidential elections. Although missing out on the Presidency, Dana decided to put her name forward to become a member of the European Parliament. After a tense campaign, where Dana received a great deal of contempt from her contemporaries, she made history by being the first woman elected to represent the constituency of Connaught/Ulster.

During her time as an MEP she targeted many areas of improvement for the Connaught/Ulster region, including economic security, greater investment in the area and the development of better road networks and airports Although her time as an MEP allowed her to make certain advancements for the area her experience was not all positive. Dana experienced several conflicts with her peers, particularly the European Women’s Lobby, who felt Dana was trying to undermine them, as well as with her own Government when it came to the negotiations over the Nice Treaty. One other argument, which over-shadowed Dana’s time in Parliament was the abortion debate, which culminated in an Irish referendum in March 2002. This was a topic which Dana felt very passionately about, however her views were not always favourably looked upon by her fellow members of Parliament or indeed the Irish public.

Throughout All Kinds of Everything, one thing that is extremely evident is that Dana is unashamed of the decisions she made in both her singing and political career. She details the harsh criticism she received and how it made her more determined in her political battles and against all odds she polled well in her battle for Irish President and succeeded all expectations when she was voted an MEP. What is also apparent throughout the book, is that regardless of pressure from those around her, Dana refused to compromise on her morals and beliefs, which although making her journey into politics more difficult, is something, she looks proudly upon.

THE EVOLUTION OF WOMEN

During her memoirs, Dana openly discusses how her ambition meant that she could not spend as much time with her family as she would have liked. In the height of her show business career, she was often on the road, and when she was elected an MEP, a lot of her time was spent in Brussels. However she also reflects how she had a strong network of support, which greatly assisted her in raising her children whilst pursuing a career in the public eye. Dana illustrates how the opinion towards working women has evolved. Once a working mother was frowned upon, but Dana successfully balanced being a mother and a wife with a demanding career.

Whilst revealing how the attitude to women has been turned on its head, so much so that they are openly elected into Government now, the book also shows how Northern Ireland has changed during this period. When only a schoolgirl, Dana’s home town of Derry was blighted with The Battle of the Bogside in the ‘70s. The rest of the Province fared no better and was equally hit by Troubles. However when Dana returned from America, she returned to a much more stable country and by the time the book ends, the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly has opened in Stormont and Dana remarks that 2007 was “an historic year, because we have, at last, a real opportunity for enduring peace in the North.”

With a colourful past, including winning the hotly contested Eurovision, performing on Top of the Pops with the likes of David Bowie, befriending Daniel O’Donnell, emigrating to America, becoming a household name in Christian music, singing before the Pope, hosting her own TV series, making history in Irish politics, as well as being a wife and mother, it is safe to say Dana is more than a one-hit wonder. The story of her life combined with her frank and candid tone, makes All Kind of Everything both an interesting and inspirational read.

All Kinds of Everything by Dana Rosemary Scallon is published by Gill & Macmillan and is available from a range of bookshops.
www.gillmacmillan.ie

Brain or Brawn

2008-02-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

Emma-Louise Johnston decides against a trip to the slopes this year and indulges in a different sweet easter treat.

Easter seems to be upon us so quickly this year - I know it is an important time in the Christian calendar, so I don’t mean to sound flippant but I always remember as a kid getting a new dress or new outfit for Easter Sunday, so not to break with tradition, I’ve opted for a fabulous pair of Anita Flavin shoes. Anita, who’s based in Garvagh has attracted a huge amount of interest recently and will be a popular guest during Belfast Fashion Week.
Normally, I’d be forking out for ski-wear this time of year but alas, no - not after a traumatic time in Courcheval 1850 last year. Steep icy slope, end of the day and not being as experienced or as skilled as my friends thought, I ended up with tears, snot and a very wet behind, from having to take my skis off and go down on my butt. The humiliation, not to mention being gripped by total and utter fear, was enough to put me off ‘going on the piste’ this year. My husband however, will be grabbing his board and hitting the slopes in Switzerland. He is sickeningly good at snowboarding and makes it look completely effortless. I know I should be proud and yet I feel jealous and slightly bitter and twisted when I watch him jump and twist and skim at high speeds down the mountains, laughing all the while, while I on the other hand, am struggling with my stupid skis and poles, eyes streaming, nose too, with a grimace more than a grin. Even though it’s my choice, not going skiing rather enrages me - I don’t like being one of those women who can’t do things. I’m normally pretty capable. I can bleed a boiler, change a tyre and re-wire a plug! Anyway, to counteract these feelings of utter uselessness, I am going on a bit of a literary tour round Ireland with some acclaimed American women writers - friends of my relatives out there. Maybe I’ll just pretend to be the brain in our house and he can be the brawn!

Speaking of houses, we’re currently building a house in the country. It’s the whole rage in England at the moment, I’ve been informed. An exciting and overwhelming task. So far my input has been limited. “What slates do we want?” “Dunno”, “What fascia and soffetts do we want?”, “Don't care”, “Where do we want our U.S.B. ports?”, “I’m hungry”. I hate to bring those age-old, outdated ‘difference of the sexes’ arguments out, but if you ask most men, “should I wear sheer tights or opaque, kitten heel or block boots, shoes or shoe-boots?” Most are not going to have a clue and will be totally uninterested. Naturally, I am interested in our house. I just don’t think I can contribute in a useful fashion at this stage. Now, when it gets to the interior, I will be in my element. Gosh that will be fun. In fact ‘Gosh’ Belfast is where I’ve spent a lot of time recently, sorting out our ‘tunnel’ fire for the house. I don’t like to boast…ok, maybe just a little, but these fires make you feel like you’re on the set of a James Bond movie - very cool…well, hot actually!
I don’t often treat myself to massages or spa breaks unless I’m on holiday but when I heard that holistic therapist Elizabeth Murray, formerly of Framar on the Ormeau Road, had set up on her own, I wanted to check her out. I’d never had an Indian head massage before, but I’d been experiencing a few stress headaches, possibly from my short lived detox plan and thought this might help. It is absolutely brilliant - a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable treat and all for the price of a couple of large Easter eggs!

In another effort to slow down the wheels of time in our ‘youth obsessed’ culture, I invested in my first ever expensive eye-cream! I know that healthy diet, exercise, not smoking and staying out of the sun, all help towards reducing the formation of lines round the eyes and those rotten black circles, but as a chronic insomniac, sometimes I need a bit of extra help. I was getting my spray-tan done with the lovely Claire McIntyre in Stranmillis and asked her advice. She recommended Carita, an effective, if fairly expensive line of Parisian beauty products. I invested in their ‘perle de jeunesse yeux’ firming micro-gel and have received quite a few compliments since using it.

Cinemagic’s mega success here, has led Chief Executive Joan Burney-Keating to launch the award winning charity down South. An organisation, with M/S Burney’s contacts, that educates and inspires young people will surely be equally successful in Dublin.

Congrats to Paddy Kielty on his nomination for best Solo Performer in the What’s On Stage West End theatre awards. He had a triumphant return to the Grand Opera House and was brilliant in Marie Jones’ smash hit comedy, A Night in November. That woman is a national treasure!

It's All In The Game

2008-02-11T06:18:00.000-08:00

Andrea McVeigh finds some of her favourite food in Hillsborough

While driving along the motorway towards Hillsborough one cold, dark Tuesday night in January, I was beginning to have reservations about our reservation at Bar Retro Bistro.

"You realise that we'll probably be the only people there?" I said to my husband Patric. "Who's going to be going for a meal in the middle of nowhere on a night like this?"

Happily I was wrong on both counts - Hillsborough is probably one of the prettiest towns in Ulster, even on a winter's night and, given that it's only twenty minutes from Belfast, it's certainly not the middle of nowhere!

We got a warm welcome, both from the staff and from the cosiness of the surroundings when we arrived at The Bistro, which is accessed by stairs at the back of the Plough Inn, located on the town's main square.

There were plenty of diners already tucking in just after 7pm, and we were shown to a table for two in the middle of the large L-shaped dining room.

Sitting by the window, I looked out over the magnificent Georgian terraces and dreamed of the day when I could afford to buy one and pop over to Bar Retro and eat good food every night for the rest of my life - oh well, back to reality, I suppose!

The decor is a clever blend of traditional and ultra modern, with wooden panelling complemented by some particularly space-age-looking lighting and there is a nice mix of open tables and more private dining booths in the room.

It wasn't long before the restaurant was almost at capacity, with a real mix of customers ranging from the obviously well-heeled locals of all ages to glamorous young couples and several 'girly' groups.

The menus appeared and our drinks order was taken almost immediately and to say I was pleasantly surprised by the food selection would be something of an under-statement.

'Pheasantly' surprised would be more appropriate, as my favourite food at the moment is game, which, apart from the obligatory duck and occasional venison dishes, I find is something of a rarity on many menus nowadays.

I was actually spoilt for choice for a starter, with Tempura of Tayto Castle Pheasant, a Three-way Game Skewer or Japanese Marinated Venison all featured as first course options.

I eventually selected the skewer, which turned out to be a grilled kebab of pigeon, partridge and duck meat, served with an oriental chilli dip.

Delicious, of course, and my husband had a less-exotic, but no less appetising, dish of melted brie on a slice of lightly toasted bread, served with roasted beetroot and a salad of rocket, walnut and sunflower seeds.

Another dilemma with the main course selection awaited - in addition to the many game dishes, there were plenty of delicious-sounding steaks, fish dishes and vegetarian options, such as Thai Veggie Curry, Spanish Omelette and Tempura of Vegetables.

I almost chose the Fresh Fish Parcel, salmon and sea bream with Asian-style veg and steamed coconut rice, but no - it was either going to be the Venison Cutlet, Larchfield Pheasant or the house special, Chinese Red Duck.

Finally, the decision was made - I had the pheasant, which was plump and very tasty and came served with tender root vegetables and a delicious jus made from cranberry and redcurrants, and my glass of Merlot proved to be an ideal accompaniment to it.

Luckily, my other half chose the duck, which he pronounced to be amongst the best he had eaten for quite some time and I, after having several mouthfuls, was in full agreement.

Two succulent legs were served on a bed of noodles and he reckoned the skin, which he usually discards as it can be flabby and fatty, was divine - crispy and flavoured with honey, ginger and mandarin syrup.

The portions were such that the side order of garlic fries remained almost untouched and the selection of breads, which I always insist on in case I still feel like a nibble after my plate has been cleared, were certainly not required, although the tapanade dip which accompanied them was superb.

There was a short break in proceedings while the dessert menu was produced - true to form, I could barely even look at it but hubby was eager to fill his stomach to the brim.

He's not a fan of chocolate puddings, of which there were several to choose from, but a Trio Of Asian Brulees - mango and ginger, passion fruit and lychee and pear and cardamom and a Warm, Forced-Rhubarb Crumble emerged as front runners.

He decided that something warm was required to set him up for the homeward journey and the crumble, served with a sweet dollop of custard was just the ticket.

THE LOWDOWN
Our meal, with soft drinks and a glass of wine, came to £59.90

FACT FILE
Bar Retro at The Plough Inn
3 The Square
Hillsborough
Co. Down
028 9268 0939

Website: www.barretro.com

RATING
4 out of 5

Restaurant Review

2008-01-09T02:17:00.000-08:00

Kellie Chambers experiences the delights on offer at Belfast’s Two Rooms restaurant.

Two for One

On a cold Wednesday night, my partner and I braved the bitter winds and icy roads to make our way to Two Rooms. The restaurant, which has replaced Zio in the trendy university area, has created much curiosity amongst the general public. Its predecessor offered a vast variety of Italian dishes and I was intrigued to see what Two Room’s menu would be like.
When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by the waiting staff. As we were shown to our seats, we soaked up the atmosphere of the dining area. The newly revamped space brings the restaurant right up-to-date. Consisting of two floors, the décor is modern yet intimate. Bare brick walls add a minimalist feel, while floor to roof glass windows provide a unique view of the bustling streets of Belfast. We were seated in the lower floor, which contained a rich wooden bar area complemented by the quirky addition of a gorgeous piano and guitar nestled in the rear corner.

As we browsed the menu, we ordered a bottle of wine from the extensive wine list. After much deliberation we opted for the Penfolds; Private Release Chardonnay from Australia. The light and fruity aroma was the perfect tonic to banish those winter chills. We were also offered a complimentary selection of breads for us to nibble on, while we made our decision.
The menu offered a variety of dishes and I was in particularly impressed with the vast array of seafood options; chilli prawns, mussels, seafood chowder, salmon and seabass were all on offer. Two Rooms also offered a variety of specials. During our visit I was tempted by the banger and mash option as well as the rich venison casserole. However, I eventually settled for the brushcetta of tomato, goat’s cheese, oregano and sweet balsamic vinegar for my starter. The bruschetta was expertly prepared with the tomatoes being sweet, without being overpowering. The goat’s cheese was rich and creamy, without being too heavy. The dish worked well together, whetting my appetite for my main course. My partner however did not have such a difficult time making his selection for starter, immediately focusing on a firm favourite, vegetable broth. The Two Rooms veg broth, which was accompanied by wheaten bread, was a rich, creamy texture, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

While we waited for our main courses, we listened to the pleasant backdrop of music which ranged from Rhian Grundy to lively jazz tunes, the haunting Eva Cassidy and the always enjoyable melodic rock; a real mix which would appeal to a crowd of all ages and musical persuasions.After an ideal length of time our main courses arrived. I often opt for the duck, when it is available, however I thought I would expand my palette and opt for the lamb shank. After my first bite I knew I had not made a mistake. The lamb was accompanied by delicious parsnip puree and mouth-watering buttered spinach. The meat was tender and just fell off the bone. My partner however chose the ribeye of beef, with hand-cut chips and peppered sauce. The steak was requested to be cooked medium and when it arrived it was succulent and just oozed with taste.

After such a filling dish I had to pass on a dessert, opting for an Irish coffee to complete my meal. When it arrived, it was expertly presented and did not disappoint. My partner however could not resist the ice cream and cookies, which he assured me were the perfect conclusion to his dining experience.
When we left Two Rooms, we were both glad we had ventured out in the cold, as the exceptional meal we experienced was more than worth it. The fresh, superbly prepared food, more than reasonable prices and attentive service from the staff ensure that a visit is both pleasurable and memorable. Two Rooms’ enviable location ensures they attract a wide variety of customers, ranging from students and couples to young families. And I must say they might find themselves with two new regulars as well!