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Alliance Party - THE 40TH BIRTHDAY PARTY - 6TH JUNE 2010
I went to the Alliance Party 40th Birthday Celebration - attired in a new linen suit and a wearing a wine bow tie, because I refuse to dress as a penguin. Formality does not appeal to me, though there is a black & white symmetry about a number of men dressed exactly the same. Not for me though. Why should women have the privilege of expressing their individuality and poor men reduced to a uniform? Though I must admit the men looked quite splendid.
So
that was me, toasting the world, along with fellow guests John
& Anne Kane.
We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly even though we had not
met previously, John and Anne coming from around Coleraine (I think) and me
from around Belfast and South Down - though I've been thinking about this
since and I have a feeling that John and I did meet at some point, for he has
been an Alliance activist since the foundation of the party.
My memory is highly
defective, almost worn out after 77 years of trying to make sense of things.
By
the way. I forgot to bring my camera with me (see, that memory malfunction
again!) and I managed to grab hold of Paddy McGowan, passing by and
unknown to me up to that point, and
asked him to take a photo of our little group, so that I would have at least one
visual memory of the occasion.
Good man Padd. He readily obliged, and took
another couple of photographs during the night, which he emailed to me,
apologising for their quality. A modest man, he did not feel like taking shots
of the people at the top table, so the photos don't record people I would like
to have had on film, people that I
worked with 40 years ago.
There was Oliver Napier -
now Sir Oliver, because he led the Party for 13 years - a much deserved
tribute, along with the late Bob Cooper (also knighted). Oliver
has not been well recently, but he was able to make it to the 'do', sharing a
table with his wife, Briege, Naomi Long MP and her husband Michael, with Party Leader and NI Justice
Minister David Ford, and John (Lord) Alderdice, former
Party Leader and Speaker of the NI Assembly.
Friend and foundation Executive member Jim Hendron, who has
been working consistently in East Belfast for the past forty years,
masterminded the ceremonies, and there were many fine speeches. Oliver's was particularly
stirring. As he was one of the small group of people who initiated the very idea
of Alliance he was able to record it's foundation and development. He recalled
that the British Secretary of State at the time of the 1974 Assembly Election
had asked why Bob Cooper, a Protestant, was going to stand in the mainly
Catholic West Belfast, while he, Oliver, a Catholic, was going to stand in the
mainly Protestant East Belfast. Would it not have been more rational to have it
the other way about? "If that was the criterion, the sectarian way we were going to
play things, I would have given up there and then," said Oliver.
Sitting in and speaking from his dining table seat, because of
health problems, Oliver said that Alliance was not just a political party, it was a crusade -
for sanity and against sectarianism. All 300 guests roared approval.
Oliver has not lost the capacity to think. A really great
fellow, a grand leader, a man of integrity, and his
wife echoes these qualities.
She kindly led me to where Lady Cooper, Bob's
widow, was sitting. It was the first time I had met her, and was able to tell
her that shortly after Bob and she became engaged he used to wind me up, questioning my manhood,
asking,
"O'Shea! Are you not able to get a woman?" Cheeky bugger! He had to go
to St. Rose's Secondary School on the Falls Road to get a wife; a Catholic
teacher in a Catholic school. Not a bad catch for an eyebrow wiggling Presbyterian.
It was a
pleasure to meet Lady Cooper, after so many years of just knowing about her from
her husband. Sad that Bob was not
present, except in the spirit. He was an excellent man. Not a sectarian bone in
his body. A really good friend. A lovely fella. There were others like him I
mised, such as the late Phelim O'Neill, descendent of the 9th century Kings of Ireland
and a member of the House of Lords. For some odd reason he I became
great pals, despite the difference in our backgrounds. We always made a beeline
for each other and a gin and tonic at Party Conferences. I remember asking him
how much land he farmed and he looked slightly embarrassed and answered,
"Three thousand acres old boy." Nice man. I miss him and so many
people from all walks of life who joined Alliance.
Briege also introduced me to her eight children. A grand collection of young people, whose names I will not
be able to remember. She also pointed to where I might find my old friend
from West Belfast, Dan Magennis. Dan was a Law student at Queens' when the Party
was formed. He still lives in Moorland Park, a few hundred yards from my parents
family home in Andersonstown. We share memories of machinegun fire
outside St. Agnes' hall during the foundation meeting of the West Belfast
Alliance Party Association.
Probably it's only when you are in danger of death
that you become fully alive. This was certainly the case during the four years
that lead up to the first NI Assembly election, in 1974. Intense political
canvassing and public speaking about the aims of the newly established Party - to
unite the people of Northern Ireland, cut across the stupid sectarian divide.
These were the things hat kept me alive and hopeful. Without these positive
activities I would
have lapsed into despond as people killed and maimed each other: 3,500 dead,
150,000 maimed and injured. A dreadful indictment of Ulster society and the forces
that created such a sectarian State. It makes me almost weep as I type. Sad.
However,
the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Party was a joyful event, a
celebration of what we achieved. We were and are ordinary people who got
together to express our common humanity, our desire for peace and good
government. It will come, in due course, as people emerge fro their
sectarian dugouts, and Alliance will have shown the way: people such as those
who shared our table: Grace Wilson, first general Secretary of the
Party. What a
live force she was in those early days. Now age 91 she suffers from Alzheimer's
or senile Dementia, as her son told me - but still able to enjoy a wee drop of whiskey now and again,
he recounted - well, more than a wee drop, he said! A remarkable, independent lady - a great
lady.
Also across the table I spotted the rotund figure of David Cook, first
Alliance Party Lord Mayor of Belfast, and Fionnuala, his wife. I remember she
and I proposing the Motion that 'Alliance is the Answer' to the students of St. Joseph's College of Education, in those distant
days. Such a funny, hilarious
meeting, well attended too. Student humour can be so pointed and inspired -
flexible minds, thinking outside the box..
These
are a couple of Paddy's other photos.
Naomi,
our new MP (on the left), with Joe Condy, husband of the late
great Kate Condy, a leading Party member from day One, with Paddy's wife, Maureen.
(I used the occasion to slip my 'Brother Barney' book to Naomi, apologising for the fact that it was not in a plain brown wrapper.
She took the point immediately! Well, it
could pass the time during boring flights from Belfast to London.)
Jim Hendron, Denis Loretto and some old
guy (on the right.)
Jim is a major Party organiser in East Belfast and with Denis is a foundation
Executive Member from 1970. It was great to see him again, back from his home in
England for this special occasion.
The celebration dinner was well worth attending. I regretted that I had forgotten my camera. I could have made the picture collection more interesting. But old people with dementia cannot remember everything - or even most things - and I am grateful to Paddy for his immediate response to my plea. (He apologises for the graininess of his pictures.)
One thing the night taught me - I
don't like big hotels! They are so empty and impersonal - long corridors leading to
dozens of rooms.
The last time I was in the Stormont Hotel was when we were
planning the 1974 Assembly Election. I'm pretty proud of the fact I suggested
that a special edition of the Alliance newspaper, containing a photo and biog of
all the Alliance candidates should be distributed throughout the Province. It
made an impressive display.
The Stormont Hotel is typical of these grand edifices - and the price of everything!
My God! Sixty-five quid for a night's lodging! £14 for a simple ham sandwich before
going to bed, and a threatened £16 for a cooked breakfast (£13 for a
Continental style breakfast).
I fled after a morning cup of coffee and bought bacon, eggs,
Black Pudding, potato and soda bread - enough for a hearty breakfast for 4
or 5 people - for around £7.
No more big nights out for me. I
couldn't afford it. Along with the Celebration Dinner
cost of £40, and those listed above, the effective total for my evening meal
came to £120 . No more
of that! Even though I did enjoy it!
It was a very special moment in my personal
history, marking a historic moment in the history of Northern Ireland, which
people will only gradually begin to realise.
I am very proud of
being a foundation member of this Party. It's more than just a political party,
as Oliver said. It's a crusade against unthinking tribalism and for reason
and care of all people in our Northern Irish society.
I am so proud of being a member, of using my small design skills to establish
and edit the Party Newspaper in the early years, and help design of the basic Party emblem 
.
It means much to me.
I don't regret that I was not elected an Assembly candidate in the 1974 election. I was able to go on and make a mess of my life in other ways!