Day: November 6, 2019
LITERARY AWARD FOR EDNA O’BRIEN
LITERARY PLAUDIT: Author Edna O’Brien after winning the Femina Foreign Literary Prize 2019 for her book Girl, in Paris, France. The Femina prize was founded in 1904 by the review Femina and is given annually for the best novel published in France. Photograph: Julien De Rosa/EPA

SMOKE’S UP AT SHEDDY’S
Bachelor farmers are a dying breed; men who were monastic without choice; condemned to it by the long life of a parent who wouldn’t hand over the land, the lack of social opportunities, or just simply the poverty that clung like a bad smell to their shiny suits, in every ballroom from Glenfarne to Drumlish.
AN EXCERPT FROM KENNETH ROY’S FINAL BOOK
I had another endoscopy at lunchtime. Two extremely jolly, talky nurses wheeled me down to the unit, in and out of lifts, along endless corridors, me in my pyjamas, a ludicrous spectacle, quite pitiable in its way, myself indifferent to the effect having quickly shed any residual inhibitions. The usual paperwork on arrival – my file is already competing with War and Peace – and the usual question about whether any member of my family has ever been considered at risk of catching mad cow disease.

EVEREST CLIMB FOR MARIE CURIE NURSES …
Local residents have made a fantastic effort to raise funds for Marie Curie over the years and the donations have helped with funding research as well as supplying high tech equipment for the hospices and employing more vital staff.”

SIR BOYD JOINS NAVY FOR A CUPPA AND A TUNNOCK’S CARAMEL WAFER
Commodore Bob Anstey with Sir Boyd Tunnock CBE as they sign the Armed Forces Covenant onboard an Astute Class Submarine at Faslane. Pictures by the