1545 Some more now from our reporter Roger Boyes, who describes the significance of today’s events so far for many in Northern Ireland.
Sport is politics in Northern Ireland. For years, Gaelic football and hurling were seen as a purely Roman Catholic preserve while rugby, cricket and golf were Protestant, or at least Unionist, dominated activities. Enter the 100 per cent Protestant (statistical source: the local archdeacon) township of Glynn and you see the rugby posts, rather like a border control, even before you reach the stretch of road that has “1690” and “No Surrender” painted on it.
Times have changed a bit since 1972 when Cliftonville cricket ground in north Belfast was set ablaze or when the world class boxer Barry McGuigan was written off as “Barry the Brit”. There are still invisible dividing lines between the communities but new generations are getting more sensible about it.
Emma, part of the Cooks womens rugby team, tells me as she limbers up for the torch events in Stormont, that there are Catholics on the squad, that it is “integrated”. It has become irrelevant where your family go to church; the issue is whether you’re a good scrum half or whether you’re not. But there is nothing really spontaneous about “integration” in the province; it has to be engineered.
When Antony Brown gets the youths from his charity group together — ten of them Catholics, ten Protestant, ten from the Irish Republic — his icebreaking exercise is to have them play a variant of bingo. “The kids take their questionaire and try to find out who owns a dog,” he says. Or who paints, or who likes Bollywood movies.
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The children of Northern Ireland, or at least in the tangled, troubled hotspots, need to be taught that people are not just defined by religion. “We have to give them self-belief, that’s the key”, says the 35-year-old who lives in Londonderry. About 300 children a year have gone through his workshops for the past eight years. ”The Protestant children learn how to play Catholic sports and vice versa.
“And they are taught serious business skills. When they leave, they stay in touch,” he said with some real pride. Then he held the torch aloft and ran a three hundred yard stretch down the Clooney Road. He was cheered on, of course.
Next year, public funding will be withdrawn from his project.
1530 From dangling on the top of hills to clinging on as it travels down the river: clearly the planners of the torch route in Northern Ireland have been working mighty hard...
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Seamus Reynolds carries the flame on an eight-man coxed rowing boat down the River Bann... Keep a good grip, Seamus...
Lee Hamill passes the Flame to Jean Jones in front of Dunluce Castle
1510 A few more details now on the torch’s progress along its route in Northern Ireland. It all started at the Giant’s Causeway, where the torch was held aloft by Denis Broderick high above the Atlantic on Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
After the photo opportunities, the torch started its relay proper from Coleraine, Co Londonderry, and continues through villages and towns including Limavady to Londonderry city.
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It crossed the River Bann in a boat. Seamus Reynolds carried the torch with an eight-man rowing team. He was chosen because of his work in the community.
Londonderry, where this evening’s celebrations will be held, has had problems with dissident republican violence — an explosive was thrown at police in a murder attempt over the weekend — but it will be UK City of Culture next year.
A bridge has been built between a disused army base on the shores of River Foyle in a predominantly unionist part of the city and the other, nationalist, side.
Isobel Coote, 58, from Ballygawley, who was nominated for being an inspirational mother and grandmother, employer, community organiser and friend, will carry the flame to the middle of the Peace Bridge, where she will hand it to Meabh Fisher, 13, from Londonderry.
Meabh was nominated for her bravery in battling a permanent health condition. She was born prematurely and developed necrotising enterocolitis resulting in her needing a resection of the bowel. She suffered infantile spasms and her parents’ early expectations for life was one of not being able to walk or talk, with poor vision. She also has moderate learning difficulties.
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Despite this she has attended mainstream primary school at Oakgrove Integrated Primary School in Londonderry where the torch will visit.
Kieran McLaughlin, 13, who also suffers health problems, carries the torch this afternoon in Bellarena, an area of sandy beaches with dramatic views of the Atlantic. His mother Mairead said: “The whole family has come to support him. There is so much excitement, we cannot believe it is here.”
She added: “He was scared of dropping it but we said it has been well-tested so we are OK.”
1335 So we’re under way for the day, and James Glossop, our photographer, is in his element. Here he captures the moment the Torch sets off on today’s journey — and few journeys around the UK will be as breathtaking as this:
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Carrying the torch over the Giant’s Causeway...
And the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge...
Doesn’t get more picturesque than this...
Yes, that’s right - keep looking straight ahead and don’t look down...
1247 Roger has been talking to the locals over how they feel about the Torch Relay — and getting the sort of responses you might not get anywhere else in the United Kingdom.
Catholic flame fan Coleraine: I would shun the Torch Relay if “protestant” sports (golf, cricket, rugby) were part of the Olympics
1240 James Glossop has just filed this beautiful shot from the Giant’s Causeway. The relay begins at the (relaxed) Bank Holiday time of 1.23pm.
1210 A few thoughts to start the day’s action from Roger Boyes, The Times Diplomatic Editor, who is spending a day with the Torch:
The Torch Relay is many things: an expression of national solidarity, a celebration of volunteer culture, an honourable if probably doomed attempt to make the British more sporty, a reaching out to people with disabilities, the creation of local heroes.
That’s why it’s good and why it doesn’t matter so much that the Olympic flame caravan is preceded by a red Coca-Cola truck handing out free bottles of sugary fizz.
It’s something else too, though: an explicit marketing device for regional tourist boards. Look at our strip of land! the spectators seem to be saying as the runners pass. Isn’t it special?
We knew, of course, that Cornwall had coastal gems, and in truth no one was surprised that the view from the summit of Snowdon was spectacular.
But Northern Ireland, still associated with the Troubles from a generation ago, still turns off the English. The torch relay should help to change that. On Sunday we wound our way along the bays of the eastern coast, up to Portrush when the sun finally came out and turned the sea a burnished silver.
Today, though, promises to be breathtaking. Check back later for exclusive pictures by James Glossop of the Torch making its way through Giant’s Causeway and other landmarks.
1150 Our photographer James Glossop is gearing up for the start of today’s relay, which takes in some spectacular views — including the slightly terrifying-looking Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge...
1030 The torch will cross the Peace Bridge in Londonderry today in a symbol of cross-community reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
The link was opened relatively recently between a disused army barracks in a mainly unionist part of the city and its largely nationalist centre. The threat from dissident republicans in the area remains high, with police reiterating the need for public vigilance across Northern Ireland at the weekend and describing an attack on officers in Londonderry on Saturday as attempted murder.
Londonderry will be the UK City of Culture in 2013 and has recovered from years of high unemployment to build itself as the regional centre for arts in the North West. It will host tonight’s evening celebration in St Columb’s Park.
The day will also feature breathtaking seascapes, with the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge among scenic highlights.
The torch is on a five-day journey around Northern Ireland and Dublin as a token of closer Anglo/Irish ties following the Queen’s visit there last year.
0800 Following around the torch today and all this week is The Times Diplomatic Editor Roger Boyes. You can follow his tweets at @rogerboyes Join in with the hashtag #myolympics
0800 Welcome to day 17 of the Torch Relay, which begins in River Bann 1.23pm and will end in Londonderry 5.26pm. For the full 70 days of its epic journey The Times will cover the Relay with live updates, reports and tweets from our reporters following the route of the Olympic Flame around Britain as it gets closer to the opening ceremony of the Games in London on July 27.
We also want your experiences and thoughts, so let us know what is happening with you by adding the hashtag #myolympics to your tweets.
All the runners
Denis Broderick; Tony Browne; Oonagh Campbell; Philip Carson; Bell Coote; Meabh Fisher; Cormac Gillen; Jenny Gillespie; Teresa Gillespie; Darrel Harpur; Helen Hasson; Adam Hayes; Siobhán Heaney; Siún Heaney; Mark Herald; Mark Horton; Sinead Hughes; Peter Jack; Jean Jones; Ena Kavanagh; Lee Kitson; Clare Leahy; Maria Mallet; Karlann McDermott; Sammy McAnaney; Heather McCarroll; Trevor McClay; Jonathan McCormick; Sean McGoldrick; Aymen McGonigle; Stephen McIlmoyle; Kiernan McLaughlin; Paul Meikle; Anne Murray-Cavanagh; Ryan O’Connor; Seamus Reynolds; Ella-Rose Sainsbury; Leanne Scott; Tim Shiels; Marcela Vilchis Garza
One to watch
Anne Murray-Cavanagh, 61, from Derry-Londonderry, is passionate about education and works in the integrated education sector inNorthern Ireland. She helps to bring together primary children of all creeds and backgrounds at a school she has set up, Oakgrove Integrated Primary School and Nursery. She received an honorary doctorate for her work.
Sources of the timings and torchbearers: london2012/ torch-relay
Where and when the Torch will be
01 River Bann 1.23pm
02 Coleraine 2.08pm
03 Articlave 2.34pm
04 Castlerock 2.45pm
05 Downhill 3.09pm
06 Bellarena 3.33pm
07 Limavady 3.55pm
08 Ballykelly 4.14pm
09 Greysteel 4.43pm
10 Londonderry 5.26pm
Going out
The finale to the Big Flame Weekend in Londonderry will be a free ticketed event held at St Columb’s Park. The concert will feature performances from Irish dancers, acrobats and a home-grown band General Fiasco, who have recently toured with Snow Patrol (5pm-7pm).
Briefing
London: The Queen attends a concert at Buckingham Palace to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee with performances from Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Shirley Bassey St Petersburg: EU-Russia Summit continues Paris: Appeal hearing of the French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel begins Armenia: Hillary Clinton visits Bolivia: Organisation of American States General Assembly continues
Travel
Rail: There will be suspensions between Crewe and Liverpool Lime Street, and between Derby, Newcastle and Matlock over the Jubilee weekend Air: Stansted baggage handlers continue their four-day strike
Nature notes
The rain is making life difficult for swifts. In sunny weather they go torpedoing through the sky on their curved-back wings, picking up flying insects and small, drifting spiders — the so-called aerial plankton that gets carried up by warm air currents. When it is raining, there is little to be had up there. Their solution is to fly, often a long way, to the edge of the rain, and especially to the rear of a depression where warmth is lifting their food back into the sky again. Now some swifts have eggs in their nests under the roofs, and these are in danger of getting cold if the incubating bird is hungry and has to fly off for a long time. Also, later in June, the nestlings that have hatched successfully will be at risk of starving if it rains and their parents find it hard to collect food. However, nestling swifts have the ability — unusual for infant birds — to draw on fat reserves, and can go without food for several days without coming to any harm.
Derwent May
Out now
The Architecture of London (John Wiley, £14.99) Tom Dyckhoff and Claire Barrett look at the design process behind the buildings that will be part of London’s Olympic legacy. They also explore the principal architectural accomplishments from the Games in previous years.
Your bid
Sophie Dickens’s Olympic exhibition of judo, boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, fencing and diving sculptures is at the Sladmore Gallery, Bruton Place, off Berkeley Square until next Saturday. These are impressive figurative works, with grace and movement deriving from Muybridge and Vorticism as well as Michelangelo and the Greeks.
Huon Mallalieu
Gadget
Nikon Sporter EX 10x50 (£239.99; shop.london2012.com) USP: Fog-free binoculars with London 2012 logo
Upside: They provide crystal-clear magnification and are waterproof up to 1m. The lightweight body is filled with nitrogen gas to make them fog-proof. Suitable for use with sunglasses or spectacles
Downside: The four front and back lens caps are flimsy and easy to misplace Laura Westcott
Winning numbers
37,000 bags and 10,000 athletes will pass through the temporary Olympics terminal at Heathrow
You bet
Oscar Pistorius might become the first athlete to compete in the Olympic and the Paralympic Games after winning a court case against the IAAF. William Hill is offering odds of 14-1 on him winning a medal, and 66-1 on winning a gold medal.
A dream home
Londonderry Ballyoan House: A five-bedroom detached house dating back to the late 1800s with more than an acre of land included in the sale
Upsides: Beautifully restored with a jacuzzi, a library and an oil-fired Aga cooker the kitchen. Some rooms have views of the river
Downsides: The striking paint in some of the rooms might not suit everyone Yours For: £595,000, Oakland, 02871 267979, thetimes.co.uk/property
The last word
“Every time I go out I want to win. Nobody shoots to get second.”
Tiffany Adaez Porter, the 100m hurdle runner and potential British track captain, who found herself having to fend off “plastic Brit” jibes after she she switched from the US team to Team GB last year
1300 @rogerboyes filed this from the road last night: It was always going to be difficult to have a British soldier take part in the Northern Island leg of the torch relay. After all, one of the most important pitstops for the Olympic flame is Derry--the place where British paratroopers shot into a crowd of Irish protesters on Bloody Sunday.
But Kylie Watson stood out and ultimately could not be ignored by the organisers. Still only 25 years old, the Ballymena nurse was last year awarded the Military Cross, one of the country’s highest battle honours. Only four women have ever been awarded it. She was serving as a medical orderly in Afghanistan when her platoon came under fire from the Taliban. Despite having no cover, she dashed over a hundred metres, dodging bullets, to stem the bleeding of an Afghan National Army soldier who had been hit twice in the pelvis. Then she helped to carry him--again under fire--to a rescue helicopter.
That wasn’t just brave--it showed that Britain was treating seriously the Afghan army, which is supposed to take over full responsibility for the security of its country.
Yesterday evening, dressed all in white, she carried the Olympic torch rather than a wounded comrade. Not many in the crowd knew who she was. But we spotted her running down the Harbour Road of Portrush -and your photographer James Glossup caught the scene.