AT THIS time of year I like to look back at some of the people I’ve met and their stories. In May I found myself in Forkhill in the cosy kitchen of Christine and Pat Toner. I was there to talk about Christine’s book A Different South Armagh.
Over delicious sandwiches and cream cakes she told me about her growing up in Crossmaglen, the eldest of 12 children, and about a conversation she remembers in the local butcher’s shop.
“Daz washing powder had just been introduced and the advertising slogan, ‘It’s new, it’s blue and it does wonder for you’, and how when a newly married young man came into the shop he was quizzed about how he and his wife were finding married life. He announced that she was pregnant, adding, ‘She’s doing well, she washed her knickers in Daz and it’s done wonders for her.’
She writes about meeting Pat when she was 15, eventually marrying and coming to live in the house where he was born.
Christine’s first book takes us through The Troubles, the border campaign, the helicopters skimming the washing line as they swooped down into the British army barracks. Mortar bombs and bullets.
This couple worked hard through the years to bring up their family but also to bring peace and understanding to the area. Certainly today this is a different south Armagh thanks to the dedication of people like the Toners.
It was also May when I visited Queen’s University Belfast Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology on Lisburn Road. There I met Matthew Alderdice, a young Belfast PhD student working on ‘personalised medicine’, which means tailoring therapy to the individual patient rather than a scattergun approach.
“Some people will respond to a particular drug where others are unable to.” he explained. “Our research will help establish who will be physically able to accept drug treatments like chemotherapy and who won’t; then its a case of looking for other ways of approaching the situation.”
In fact, just that happened to a friend of mine. Whereas she responded badly to one drug, another line of attack was worked out and today she is well.
I’m not the only one to think Matthew is special. Last month at the prestigious National Cancer Research Conference in Liverpool he received The Teenage Cancer Trust Stephen Sutton Prize, awarded to researchers who are judged to have submitted top-quality research in colorectal cancer and/or research in the field of teenagers and young adults.
There’s no holding this young man. Next month, he and his dad David Alderdice will set off for Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and together will scale this highest mountain in Africa, not only to raise funds for the Sean Cummey Memorial Cancer Fund, the fund that supports Matthew’s work, but for another good reason. “Just me and my dad and a special life experience.”
Then there was the sadness of a woman who lost her husband at an early age. “Don’t let anyone tell me they are sorry for my trouble or they know how I feel. Unless you go through this you’ll never know the pain and the isolation.
"Thank goodness for my close friends who kept me going although they didn’t know the number of times I lay lonely in bed and cried my heart out. Ken was special.”
On that day she had no expectation of a relationship in the future. Indeed she laughed at the idea. “No-one could ever compare; I’m not looking and never will.”
I saw her again a couple of weeks ago and 14 years after her bereavement she was looking stunning and in great form. “Yes, you’ve guessed, I’ve met someone!”
She was so excited. “I knew him years ago and suddenly we’ve got together and the important thing is I know Ken would approve.” It was a joy to see her so happy.
It was a year when the marvel of space travel hit the TV scenes again, of EastEnder’s undertaker Les Coker letting his back hair down and his wife still coming to terms with his cross dressing; the year of Fifty Shades of Grey, although 10.30 in the morning of the launch isn’t the ideal time for such an experience; also dreadful financial cuts to culture and essential services.
We have all lost people we love, public figures have passed on, playwrights, poets and painters have died and new artists' works have been born. Northern Ireland has hit the headlines for great reasons. Last week’s Sports Awards were a triumph, with the local audience surpassing themselves with their reaction, even magnanimous when Tyson Fury manned up and apologised for some of the opinions he has voiced.
And well done to Cinemagic and their first feature film, A Christmas Star and the fascinating UTV documentary about the making of the production, mainly staffed by enthusiastic young adults, many of whom have since gained employment thanks to the experience and training they have received from Cinemagic. It was thoughtful and so well acted. Talent is in abundance in this little part of the world.
And we’re a witty bunch. When I had a date to interview Glenn Carter who played the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar I asked a waiter in the Europa if I could have a quiet table in a corner. He looked at me suspiciously. Did he sense an assignation?
“I’m meeting Jesus Christ,” I explained under my breath. Quick as a flash, straight faced he asked, “Do you think he’d turn our water into wine?”
Well, so much for looking back. When you’re young this limbo time between Christmas and New Year is hopeful and exciting; as you get older it’s a time of thinking ahead to another year and what it might hold. For you my wish is it will hold happiness and peace. See you next year.
