Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NEED TO TAKE THE HIGH ROAD AND INVEST BIG
Drama classes will aid our creative talent
What a week we’ve had on the All Star Irish Mexican Riviera Cruise 2020, gigging with the cream of country music including Daniel O’Donnell, Declan Nerney, Nathan Carter, Jimmy Buckley, Annette Griffin and John McNicholl to name but a few.
The magnificent cruise ship has a thousand-seater theatre where we perform as well as an enormous dance hall.
I performed two concerts and one dance and trust me gigging in the heat beats the snow that hit Ireland last time I played at home.
We departed from San Diego stopping off at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta Beach with two thousand passengers from all over the world.
As well as gigging we did get to disembark and experience some of the culture, scenery and activities in such a beautiful part of the world. It’s a tough life all right, but somebody has to do it.
I’m all in favour of the proposal to introduce drama and theatre studies as a Leaving Certificate subject, not everybody wants to join the race for 600 points.
Many schools are known for sport, particularly GAA and rugby, but there are few enough options for students who are neither academic nor sporty.
Introducing arts-related subjects will make schools more welcoming and less intimidating. Look at the amazing drama shows we have in Ireland such as Love/Hate, Taken Down, Fair City and Blood, as well as actors Saoirse Ronan, Brenda Fricker and Aidan Gillen, we are such a talented country.
Now drama on the Leaving Cert curriculum could create more employment in the long term as well boosting confidence in school.
THE proposed new Galway city ring road needs to happen – and sooner rather than later.
Those in charge need to take action to help the city because it is a bloody nightmare in and to get out off. It’s a complete bottleneck.
It is not just about new roads, there better should be public transport for those going to school, work and people wanting to go shopping.
We also need more frequent and consistent parkand-ride services.
It needs action to allow the city to thrive the powers and if that be want people to be more environmentally friendly, they have to produce real options.
Picking a name is the last thing Liz and I have to tick off the list before our big arrival next month.
Liz always has a new idea so nothing has been confirmed just yet as she wants to wait until the baby is in her arms until we make the final choice. Some people tend to panic over baby names but what’s the point, I’ve yet to meet an adult without a name. I know Liz will pick something beautiful for our baby and once she is happy then so am I.