Sunday 18 May 2008

BILL CULLEN

Bill Cullen, the motivational speaker flew in to see the pupils at Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana recently. Bill is the author of the best selling - Six Steps to Success book - Golden Apples.

5 MINUTES WITH - AIDEEN DOHERTY


Aideen Doherty lives and works in Carndonagh. Her job as the Area Manager (Inishowen and Letterkenny) for Community and Enterprise with Donegal County Council brings many interesting projects to Inishowen, such as the making of the film Dead Long Enough, directed by Tom Collins. The film went on to win a prestigious award at the Cardiff Film Festival. More recently Aideen has been involved with bringing Diarmuid Gavin to the peninsula to work on the Barrack Hill Park project in Carndonagh and the filming at Malin Head of A Shine of Rainbows, a film by the Emmy award-winning director Vic Sarin's. Aideen is married to Joseph McDermott and they have two children.


What music do you like?
I am listening to classic 60’s 70’s and 80’s Mowtown at the moment. Al Green, Aretha Franklin and Barry White all produced fantastic summer sunshine music. I also listen to Bruce Springsteen; he is a great live performer. I am also a huge fan of Kylie - she has such spirit!

What would you never throw away?
I have a small collection of paintings that I adore. They are mostly by local artists and would be irreplaceable. I will try to recycle nearly everything else.

What book are you reading?
I am reading The Goddess Guide written by Dublin-based journalist Gisele Scanlon. She has spent years writing lifestyle, fashion and travel pieces, and has rounded up the information to produce a book full of tips from how to get biro marks off your bag to the chic places to eat in Paris, New York or London. It teaches you how to be a Goddess!

What was your favourite childhood game?
I was one of the Famous 5. The five were myself, my two sisters, Dervla and Nuala our friend Maeve Gillen and Toby the dog. We were given a packed lunch in the morning to take with us, and then headed off into the wilderness to have great adventures. We would make our way home when we heard the church bells ringing the Angelus?

Have you been to the cinema recently, what did you see and was it any good?
I went to see Maid of Honour recently, starring the fabulous Patrick Dempsey. The content of the film didn’t really matter as long as he was in the scene!

What section of the newspaper do you turn to first?
I usually turn to Current affairs, politics and local news.

What is your idea of a good night out?
I enjoy a dinner out then off to the pub with friends.

Have you a favourite TV programme?
I am not watching much television at the moment, there is too much to do on these light summer evenings. In winter I would make Greys Anatomy an essential part of the week. Mainly again because Patrick Dempsey is in it as a character called Dr Derek Shepherd!

How do you relax?
I do disco dancing in the garage. It’s great exercise!

Where would you like to go for your holidays?
I have enjoyed a lot of holidays in many parts of the world. Now we tend to go for holidays destinations that will suit both adults and children. This year we are going to Italy as the area is very child friendly. When the children are happy, so are we!

Your idea of heaven?
This shifts with my mood! I am tired at the moment, so a lie in on a Saturday morning would be heaven enough.

Your idea of hell?
I don’t like the idea of being closed in. We were stuck in a tunnel last week on the Stanstead Express train line. We were there for 45 minutes until we started moving again. It was nearly as bad as being stuck in a lift.

What famous people would you invite around for dinner and why?
What is Patrick doing this week?

Favourite animal?

I love horses. They are so majestic. They seem so liberated and riding gives you a real sense of freedom.

Biggest fear?
Frogs! Horrible slimy frogs. In fact anything that is slimy or scuttles around on the floor. I am not good with anything like that.

Biggest thrill?

The Shine of Rainbows locating to Inishowen. They came through a scout from the Irish Film board.

The world’s most irritating invention?

Large exhausts on cars. Try getting a baby settled with those things making a racket.

Personal philosophies?
Keep positive. Get your feet on the floor and keep dancing and - Get over it and get on with it!

Biggest disappointment?
These are only moments in time, so you can turn a disappointment into a challenge for something positive.

Which period in history would you most like to have lived through?
America in the 1940’s and 50’s. I love the big cars and flamboyant clothes.

World’s most useful invention?
The electric kettle, cups of tea made easy!

Any chance you would move from Inishowen?
I did think that I would like to retire to a city; there would be plenty of things to do! I am very happy where I am now though, it is important to have family close by.

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