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Anne Hailes

Anne Hailes

The Irish News

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The art of bookbinding

Take the road up the hill out of Broughshane, along the coggly lane to the old farmhouse now converted into a cosy home. Here you’ll find Willow...

monday 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Reliving history and Ulster Television’s past through digital archive

Halloween took on a new meaning in 1959. It was the day Ulster Television opened its doors to the public, initially in the Belfast area but destined...

28.10.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Use your loaf and bake bread for peace

Imagine a stout wooden shed, cosy and warm, the smell of pancakes sizzling on the skillet, walls vibrating to the sound of fiddle music and singing. A...

22.10.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The life and times of Greg Cowan, front man of Belfast punk pioneers The Outcasts - and decorator of the Crown Bar

Meeting up with Greg Cowan is a treat. We’ve been friends since he appeared on an Ask Anne programmes where he was a hit with the viewers - but...

14.10.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Gaza one year on: Belfast Jewish and Palestinian voices appeal for prayer

07.10.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Belfast Song, a vivid picture of west Belfast family life in the early 1900s

“Could I have your attention, ladies.” Tuesday April 18 1911. Campbell is the foreman. Nan Rose, a child, is a doffer in the linen mill. With her...

30.09.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The BBC is tone deaf to the needs of viewers who rely on sign language

Newcastle Lions have mounted a vigorous campaign to reverse the BBC decision to axe the vital sign language provision on news programmes. Zone...

23.09.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Keeping the body pure is important but not easy

It’s really swings and roundabouts. First it was salt, then fat, now it’s sugar but when the late Dr Michael Mosley says “sugar”, I take...

16.09.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

God’s clowns are in sad decline

I will take this column out on a cold day next January and recall the last day of August in Donegal. The sky is blue, the lanes are flanked by...

09.09.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The X Factor has nothing on this

Fancy becoming a star of stage, screen and television? This just might be your chance, a stepping stone to success. I’ve always wanted to be a...

03.09.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Behind the scenes at Antrim and Newtownabbey Crematorium, providing care and compassion for those facing family sadness

I knew nothing about the Antrim and Newtownabbey Crematorium until 10 days ago when a funeral service opened my eyes to this state of the art...

26.08.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Tyrone tales and the Irish experience of life in 1970s London brought to life by Owen O’Neill

What do you do if you hate your life, your name, your family? Or most of them? Emmet McCrudden grew up in the small village of Carricktown surrounded...

19.08.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

A well planned wedding and a long marriage - but don’t forget to make your will

When I look back all those years, our wedding was a great day. The church service, the reception organised to perfection by my parents - Dad the...

29.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The ‘best in show’ Carrickfergus man and his ballet star-turned-doctor husband

When Maureen Martin asked me to accompany her to meet friends visiting from Ohio in the United States, I was happy to accept but didn’t expect to...

22.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Theatre that sets the stage for life

“You’re far too nice, you’ve got to be a diva, you must be a diva.” A director’s uncompromising note to actress Caroline McMichael who plays...

16.07.2024 20

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Young farmer Daniel’s remarkable message of mental health awareness - Anne Hailes

“NINETY-FIVE per cent of young farmers in the UK say poor mental health is the biggest hidden danger in the industry. If you agree, give me a hug or...

09.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Bra burning and the debate over separate or shared public toilets

Recently on BBC Radio 5 Live, Stephen Nolan covered the subject of toilets. Fair enough, important to us all. The debate was around the old fashioned...

01.07.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

There is such a thing as perfect fruit and veg - and you'll find it in Donegal

A gardener or a gigger? Or both? For Barrie Quinn they go hand-in-hand but whereas gardening is his passion and his pleasure, gigging is mainly to...

24.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Are you a ‘superwoman’ or ‘slackerwoman’?

Recently I was writing about woman’s suffrage and how those pioneers fought a brave fight for the vote, enduring torture and imprisonment and very...

10.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The broken vacuum handle and the Mayo woman who saved thousands of lives on D-Day

Don’t get irritated with someone at the end of the phone who works in a call centre or a customer service desk. You just never know who you are...

03.06.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

‘These women are modern day suffragettes making their protest with the pen’

“The doctor took the loose end of the sheet and began to bind me: he wrapped it round and round me, my arms tight to my sides, wrapped it up to my...

27.05.2024 40

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Have you ever done any modelling?

Gentlemen; if you were approached by an attractive woman asking you if you’d like to become a male model, what would you say? Not just any...

20.05.2024 60

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Celebrating Belfast Castle’s 90th birthday

“Hug the teapot” was Gerard’s advice. How right he was, on a cold and blustery day, what better way to warm yourself inside and out. Beside me a...

06.05.2024 50

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

From Royal Portrush to Dunluce Lodge, Open Championship ‘boss’ Wilma Erskine is a golf and tourism great

Many women working in a man’s world encounter difficulties, often facing intimidation and being badgered; to succeed they need to be strong, know...

29.04.2024 50

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

On the right track in Whitehead

For playwright Michael Cameron it began on a rail journey to Portrush. For me it began over lunch a couple of months ago. It was then that Michael...

22.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Just like granny used to make

Calling all grannies. Do you share your cooking and baking skills with your grandchildren? Calling all children. Do you share your granny’s cooking...

15.04.2024 7

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

‘My heart went out to Kate, I know what she has gone through’

This week 24 years ago I had a mastectomy. It came as a dreadful shock. I was leaving the screening service in Linenhall Street, stopped to speak to a...

08.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

North Street Arcade neglect highlights Tribeca failure

They promised a new destination for Belfast, bringing together a new way of working, living and shopping in the heart of the city centre. The...

01.04.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The hidden meanings behind Belfast’s street signs and a walk down memory lane

It used to be the case that a street directory was part and parcel of most households in Northern Ireland. I loved these bulky red books, telling the...

25.03.2024 9

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Specs, bikes, sewing machines and tools from Co Down get new life in Africa

Once upon a time in the days of Ulster Television’s Ask Anne, I worked with Deane Houston of the Belfast Blind Centre. When he mentioned that there...

18.03.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Why we should aim to follow the example set by social activist Mary Ann McCracken

Well, we seem to have moved on from mindfulness to kindness and what better move could there be? Nothing is new, all these thoughtful fashions we go...

09.03.2024 20

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Parallel Lives in the shadow of Benbulbin from the 18th century to the present day

Parallel Lives is intriguing - a ghost story and a love story - but the background to this book is a story in itself. Initially we are transported to...

04.03.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

The science of being a rainbow in someone’s cloud

Isn’t the world a wonderful place? Scary at the moment, fear coming at us from all sides, wars and political chaos, climate change and cost of...

17.02.2024 20

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Bringing Ireland’s historic links to America to life

Not too many people can claim a particular teacher inspired them to follow an amazing future - I know I can’t, but Anne Madden can. She was a pupil...

10.02.2024 40

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Remembering the tragedy of the sinking of the Princess Victoria

Last Wednesday was a date to remember because January 31, 71 years ago, was a day which brought sorrow to families in Northern Ireland and Scotland,...

03.02.2024 9

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Why you should take part in the Belfast-based Covid-19 cancer study

When I think of the coronavirus, I think of a slimy octopus with its tentacles stretching into every area of life. Over those three-plus years and...

29.01.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Sight loss shouldn’t be a barrier

Watching the Masters snooker and listening through ear buds was very satisfactory. At one point I left the room, and at first I was still able to...

20.01.2024 20

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Saying goodbye to Havelock House is era ending

I made a mistake. I thought Havelock House being razed to the ground last week wouldn’t concern me, despite the request by campaigners to have a few...

14.01.2024 20

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

Post Office computer story must be told

Over the last couple of weeks there hasn’t been a lot on television to choose from but two have really stood out to me: In The Name Of The Father...

07.01.2024 10

The Irish News

Anne Hailes

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