TEENAGER concert pianist Rowel Elesio Friers Dip LTCL has a fan base to be envied and now he has added another award to his collection, the diploma Licentiate Trinity College London. No money, just more expenses travelling around the world to international competitions.
His dad Jeremy is realistic: “But in a couple of years he can do the international venues that give a cash prize rather than a pat on the back. Onwards and upwards!”
It’s certainly been a labour of love nurturing this young talent from the early age of four and, apart from his music, Rowel has ordinary school work to contend with as a pupil at Sullivan Upper School in Holywood.
And he’s very conscious of raising funds for a variety of charities, so on April 13 he will be in concert in St Philip and St James parish, Church Road, Holywood. He will be performing alongside harpist Ruth Corry and a variety of other artists. Their concert is to raise money to fix the parish pipe organ.
:: Tickets are available from pauline@holywoodparishchurch.co.uk
Proud as a peacock
THERE seems to be a state of madness about at the moment – some justified, most stupid, what with government sources warning us against eating meat to cut down on the number of livestock emitting methane from their rear ends.
I can’t see that influencing too many people here in Northern Ireland where a sirloin steak or a rib roast is standard practice. We’ve had salt scares, sugar warnings, we had the millennium bug, mad cow disease and Brexit takes the biscuit.
And another thing, with apologies to vegan friends, but this business about saving animals' embarrassment is just plain daft in my opinion. No longer able to make a beeline to the shops, no more horsing around and you’ll be smacked on the wrist for being stubborn as a mule.
Children won’t be able to pin the tail on the donkey at parties – remember that game? There won’t be anything fishy about dodgy reports, Mohommed Ali would have been scolded when he claimed to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee and my mum would have been drummed out of the Brownies for telling me she’d be finished my horrible plaits in the shake of a dead lamb’s tail!
Here’s a game for round the tea table – how often we use animal references in everyday conversation. You could have a whale of a time.
Dogs' life
I SPENT International Women’s Day in the little town of North Berwick on the Scottish east coast. There was no mention of Women’s Day – anyway, why do women need a special day? There’s a day for everything now except men.
But then some would say every day is a man’s day, certainly a man’s world, but what, as the song says, would they do without a woman or a girl?
This neat little seaside town is full of cafes and charity shops and a stroll down the main street is very pleasant, especially as the sun was warm that weekend. But there was one special thing that caught my attention – dogs. There most be hundreds of them racing up and down the beach having a ball, quite literally.
One collie was actually surfing – jumping the waves and coasting in on the swell. But what is really interesting is the fact they are welcome in many of the shops and cafes. Being dog friendly, big and small, is advertised on holiday brochures and there are notes up in windows welcoming them in.
In one shop two terriers came face to face and I held my breath but they just touched noses, smiled and went on their way. Can you imagine that happening anywhere here in Northern Ireland?
Another thing caught my eye passing through Edinburgh – Go As You Please Funeral Furnishers. Their raison d’être is to provide a funeral to celebrate life – a jazz band or fireworks, indeed anything you want for yourself or for a relative.
Their big selling point is coffins. They can do shapes like a wine bottle, a car, even a snooker table, although football motifs printed around the edges and on the lid are all the rage and tartan is very popular in Scotland. I notice they also have coffins adorned with flags so you can express your preference to the very end.
Comic Relief
THAT’S it for another year and there were examples of ‘celebrities’ travelling to areas of great need to raise money for Comic Relief.
Criticising them is dreadful, accusing them of having a ‘white saviour complex’ is rubbish – these people offer their time to bring the facts to the public in a country which is rich in so many ways. And it’s no picnic.
And why? Because people listen to celebrities and personalities who have been carefully chosen. Viewers pay attention to them when they ask you to think of those worse off, then help by contributing to this annual appeal with the promise that the money will be used wisely.
As a journalist I have been to Sudan, Bangladesh and Rwanda and I was shocked at the way people were living – the fighting, the flooding, the famine – heartened by the positives, with mothers bringing their tiny babies to feeding shelters where children were weighed, medical help was offered and food was given, volunteers working alongside the locals.
A long, low building where prostitutes as young as 13 were rescued from their life to be looked after and taught skills of needlework and cooking.
One island I went to was completely submerged a few weeks after I returned home; there was no hope for the villagers, they were drowned. Boats to take them to the mainland would have saved lives but there was no money to buy or build.
I believe those like Stacey Dooley who support Comic Relief do so because they care deeply.
