Latest news with #Arkle
Edinburgh Reporter
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Arkle Theatre Company marks the end of three decades of theatre
Sculpture unveiled to mark the legacy of an independent Edinburgh theatre company. Rob Mackean and Michael Mulligan with the sculpture PHOTO Robin Mair Friends and supporters of Arkle Theatre Company have unveiled a sculpture to mark the thirty year legacy of grassroots theatre recognising the contribution of founders Rob Mackean and Michael Mulligan to the arts. The sculpture was unveiled at a reception attended by alumni of the theatre company and held at this year's Fringe Central at Grassmarket Community Project on Monday 18 August. The sculpture was commissioned from Edinburgh blacksmith and artist Jack Waygood, and depicts a mischievous figure of Puck sat atop a step ladder and holding the full moon. The design was inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Patrick Barlow's adaptation of The 39 Steps; two favourite plays of Arkle Theatre founders and the ensemble productions that made up the company's final Fringe performances. The work is due to go onto public display at the new Fringe Hub when it opens on Infirmary Street in 2026. Jack Waygood is a blacksmith and artist, and owner of Work of Iron, providing a progressive approach to blacksmithing and contemporary art practice. Established in 2022 and now based in Granton (North Edinburgh), owner Jack Waygood is passionate about communicating visual ideas through highly skilled craftsmanship. Raised in the Dark Peak, Jack studied Art & Design in Manchester before taking Artist Blacksmithing and Advanced Decorative Ironwork courses at Hereford College of Arts. Jack Waygood PHOTO Robin Mair Talking about the artwork and contribution Arkle Theatre Company has made to the arts in Edinburgh, Head of Artist Services at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, Chris Snow said: 'Edinburgh is packed year-round with talent – professional theatre companies, students and community groups alike. In this year's Fringe programme hundreds of shows are presented by Edinburgh-based teams. Rob Mackean and Michael Mulligan have led Arkle Theatre for 30 years, with the company performing more than 50 shows at the festival. The new Fringe Central isn't just for August – it's to provide support and space to our local artistic community year-round. We are proud to be a home for this sculpture, commissioned to mark the final Arkle productions and honour Rob and Michael's legacy to the city and even the festival.' Arkle Theatre Company was founded in 1996 by Rob Mackean and Michael Mulligan who were formerly members of Edinburgh People's Theatre. The company's first production was Womberang by Sue Townsend, which was performed in August 1996 at Theatre East End, St Pauls and St George's Church Hall. Arkle went on to stage 85 productions in close to 500 performances in the subsequent 29 years, performing at over 20 different venues across Edinburgh and Scotland, and engaging the talent of over 200 Edinburgh based actors, directors, technicians, and artists. Reflecting on 30 years, Arkle founder Michael Mulligan said: 'You only get out what you put in. You couldn't pay me to act, I can't act. So I've been doing the one thing I like to do, and that is to give talented people a chance to perform. It's as simple as that.' Rob Mackean added: 'So many people just see the actors on the stage and they don't realise the hours and hours of rehearsal and all the preparation behind the rehearsals that goes on. The performance is just the tip of the iceberg of what we do. It's only when you've done something like this for 30 years or more that you realise people have no concept of all that stuff that goes on behind the scenes.' The company's final season came to a close at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it staged four productions at The Royal Scots Club; Nancy's Philosopher, George, Don't Do That… The Joy of Joyce Grenfell, The 39 Steps and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The sculpture by Jack Waygood and gifted by friends of Arkle Theatre Company to Rob Mackean and Michael Mulligan will be placed on public display at the new Fringe Central on Infirmary Street when it opens in 2026. Arkle Theatre Company operated in Edinburgh between the years of 1996 – 2025. The company staged 85 productions in venues across Edinburgh and beyond. Like this: Like Related
National Observer
06-08-2025
- Business
- National Observer
Prime Minister Mark Carney announces financial support measures for softwood lumber industry
The federal government is setting up a safety net of loans, product-development grants and market diversification plans for Canada's softwood lumber industry in an effort to shield it from the worst of American duties and fees. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the plan Tuesday, promising $700 million in loan guarantees to address what he called "immediate pressures" and $500 million for long-term supports to help companies diversify export markets and develop their products. Carney also promised that future projects will "prioritize" Canadian lumber. "We will be our own best customer by relying more on Canadian lumber, Canadian softwood for Canadian projects," he said. The announcement comes amid heightened trade tensions with the United States over softwood lumber, a decades-long friction point in the Canada-US trade relationship. The US Commerce Department recently announced it intends to hike anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood to just over 20 per cent. In addition to the countervailing duties, the fees would be closed to 35 per cent. Carney said his government has a mandate to "get big things," like millions of new homes, major new ports, trade corridors and energy projects "built faster." The prime minister said government is working toward doubling the pace of new home building to almost 500,000 homes a year over the next decade. "That alone could double the use of Canadian softwood lumber in new residential construction, an increase of almost two billion board feet, and double demand for structural panels, an increase of nearly one billion square feet," he said. He added that this fall it will launch Build Canada Homes program to get the government back into the "business of building deeply affordable homes." He said the government will also introduce a training program as well for "up-skilling and re-skilling" workers, which will include $50 million for those in the forestry sector. Carney announced the measures in West Kelowna at the Gorman Bros Lumber mill, which he had toured earlier with Nick Arkle, CEO of the Gorman Group. Arkle welcomed the support in an interview after Carney's appearance. "I have not seen the federal government show this kind of attention to the forest industry," Arkle said. This attention, combined with the attention from the provincial government, is significant, he added. Arkle also acknowledged that the industry has to do its part. "What we need to show is that we are responding," he said, adding the industry needs to diversify its markets and its products. BC's Forest Minister Ravi Parmar said the announcement sends a "strong signal" that Ottawa has recognized the "foundational nature" of the softwood lumber industry. "The federal government has certainly stepped up," he said. BC will now be asking for its "fair share" of the funding, somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent given the size of the provincial softwood lumber industry, Parmar said. The announced measures will also help in reaching a trade deal with the United States that won't leave softwood lumber out. "This support buys us some time to do this important work," he said. Kurt Niquidet, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council, said in a statement that the measures are "timely" because the industry needs support now. Kim Haakstad, president of the Council of Forest Industries, said the measures provide "critical relief" during an "exceptionally challenging time." Both Niquidet and Haakstad pointed to the importance of resolving the softwood lumber dispute, with both calling on Carney to make it a top priority in trade negotiations. The fate of the softwood lumber industry is in particular importance in BC, where Premier David Eby has repeatedly called on Ottawa to link resolution of the softwood lumber dispute to a larger trade deal and to treat the industry with the same importance as Ontario's auto industry. Carney said Canada has consistently raised the issue with the United States, adding that resolving the trade dispute and the softwood lumber dispute are "distinct but related" when it comes to American protectionism. "So to be clear — we are not sacrificing any industry," he said. "We are working for the best deals for all our industries." Arkle acknowledged that the possibility of softwood lumber being left behind has been a "major concern" in the past, saying "all of the attention" seems to be on Ontario. "We will hold government accountable if they sacrifice us," he said. "They haven't sent out any indication that that is going to happen, and I take them at face value," Arkle said. Speaking in front of some 100 workers who were wearing hard hats and safety vests, Carney struck a defiant note. "At this hinge moment in history, Canada is starting to shift from reliance to resilience," Carney said. "Together, we are going to write our own story, rather than let others dictate theirs to us. Federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson, who represents an Ontario riding, and Kelowna MP Stephen Fuhr, who also serves as secretary of state for defence procurement, joined Carney on the tour of the facility, which is in the riding of Conservative MP Dan Albas. Following the announcement, Carney shook hands with the workers and joined Hodgson and Fuhr in signing their names on hard hats as souvenirs of their visit. West Kelowna was Carney's last stop on his BC swing, where he walked in Vancouver's Pride parade and stopped in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island.
Scotsman
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The Scottish amateur theatre directors retiring after 30 years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... They were two friends who set out to change the face of amateur theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the 1990s. Now the directors of theatre production company Arkle are to retire after 30 straight years of Fringe performances. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rob McKean and Michael Mulligan are to close the company with a final swansong of two shows - selected by each of them as their former Fringe favourites - at this year's festival. The pair set up the organisation in 1996 after meeting at another local club, Edinburgh People's Theatre. Mr McKean said: 'Arkle started as the result of a couple of bottles of wine in a cottage in the north-west Highlands. We'd both been involved in Edinburgh People's Theatre and back then, there was a set way of doing shows. It was box sets, it was two acts and we realised that we wanted to do something different, we didn't want to do shows in a set format. 'Also we wanted to do it without a committee and a club around it. Back then, people could only act for one club. There was no crossover, that's changed now. So we thought we'd try to do something simple for the Fringe - a short show and see how it went.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Their first show was Womerang, by Sue Townsend. 'It was great and people asked us 'what are you doing next year?',' Mr McKean said. Rob McKean (centre) and Michael Mulligan (right) with the cast from last year's Fringe show. | Rob Shields 'So we did. All of that was 29 years ago. This is our 30th on the Fringe. Even during Covid, we did some radio-style productions on Zoom, so we didn't miss a year. But after 30 years of doing it, it is time to stop.' Mr Mulligan added: 'Rob retired last year and I turned 70 in March of this year. These are factors which made us think it was time to stop after 30 years. Seventy is not the same as 40. A lot of people don't appreciate the sheer amount of work that goes on to do this. Also, it is getting staggeringly expensive. I see the future as a lot of what I call 'pop-up theatre'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He added: 'But the time to finish something is when you're still enjoying it.' Arkle's 2010 production of a Midsummer Night's Dream. | Arkle The company's second show was A Midsummer Night's Dream, which they are to reprise this year, alongside The 39 Steps, as their final performances. 'We've done what we set out to do,' said Mr McKean. 'Amateur theatre - we prefer to call it unpaid, as we have always tried to do professional level productions - has changed a lot over the last 30 years. There's a lot more crossover between the clubs, we help each other. All of that has developed. Mr Mulligan also runs the Royal Scots Club on Abercromby Place as a venue during the Fringe, both for Arkle and for other amateur clubs putting on shows. He plans to continue to do so next year.
Irish Daily Mirror
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
'He would have won six Gold Cups' - the story of Arkle's death 55 years on
Paddy Woods could still recall the moment clearly. He was enjoying a holiday with his wife Phyllis in London for the 1970 Derby at Epsom when he was stopped in his tracks by a newspaper seller. A pleasant stroll after lunch along the River Thames was interrupted with shocking news as he stared in disbelief at the headline on the front page; 'Arkle is dead'! 55 years ago, the greatest and most iconic horse of all-time, Arkle, took his last breath. Severely painful arthritis in his feet had been plaguing him for some time and on May 31, 1970 the agonising decision was made by his owner Anne Duchess of Westminster, his former jockey Pat Taaffe and vet Maxie Cosgrove to put him down. Arkle's magnificent career had ended three and a half years earlier in December, 1966, when he fractured his pedal bone while jumping a fence in a surprise defeat at the King George in Kempton. Ironically, on that London visit, one of the first things Paddy did was visit Kempton and renew acquaintanceship with friends he had made when looking after Arkle during the weeks of veterinary care. 'I couldn't believe it. We had just been talking to the lads in Kempton that morning. I'd made a lot of friends there when they looked after him and I said I couldn't come to London without seeing them,' said the late Paddy in a 2020 interview with the Irish Mirror. 'We stopped for a cup of tea after lunch and there was a paper shop there and I saw the headline. He died the night before. It was a big shock,' recalled Woods, who rode Arkle out every morning during his brilliant career, also winning a race on him at Gowran Park in 1962. Arkle had finished a stricken second to Dormant in that King George on December 27, 1966. It was a dank and misty afternoon and very few saw it happen as the race was not covered by the BBC. There's no TV footage anywhere but for Woods, who sadly passed away aged 93 in April 2024, the memories were vivid during that 2020 conversation. 'I was there the day he got hurt, not only that I was there for two weeks afterwards too. He was there for six or seven weeks but I couldn't stay any longer. I'd a young family at the time. 'I had gone over with Arkle to the race, myself and Johnny Lumley (Arkle's stable lad). The race had been put off on St Stephen's Day because of frost and we were furious because we thought they could have raced. We definitely would have raced in Ireland. 'Myself and Johnny walked the track afterwards and noticed he'd taken a lump out of the toe bar at the ditch past the stands. The vets said that's what definitely did it. 'They X-rayed him and confirmed the break. I remember Johnny innocently asking them if it would put him out of the Gold Cup in March. I said 'It will put him out of this year's Gold Cup and next year's too.' 'It was disappointing because he'd have definitely won the 1967 Gold Cup. It was a really bad race. He'd have won a fifth the following year too as Dreaper's won it with Fort Leny, a horse much inferior to Arkle. Johnny reckons he'd have won six Gold Cups.' Arkle was a chasing superstar in the 1960s and his fame in these islands equaled that of The Beatles and Mohammed Ali. He won 27 of his 35 races, including three Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1964, '65 and '66, while his astonishing weight-carrying feats in races like the Irish Grand National, Hennessy Gold Cup and Leopardstown Chase are still the stuff of legend. He was trained by Tom Dreaper in Greenogue, a small townland around two miles outside of Ashbourne in county Meath, and for four seasons his brilliance and personality transcended the sport while his battles with Mill House began the Irish-English rivalry which made the Cheltenham Festival what it is today. He's still the highest rated steeplechaser of all-time, an awe-inspiring animal so far ahead of the rest that a different handicapping system had to be used when he raced. After several attempts to get him back on the racecourse, Arkle was officially retired in 1968, and had moved back to his owner the Duchess of Westminster's farm at Bryanstown, near Maynooth in Kildare. Pat Taaffe had called in to visit his old partner with his daughter Olive, fussing over him with apples and treats, but noticed all was not well with the 13-year-old when he went to close the stable door. 'I had to move him back a foot and when I did, he almost fell. I realised that it was only courage and pride now keeping him on his feet,' Taaffe poignantly recalled in his book My Life and Arkle's. He immediately called the vet and the Duchess, and a decision was reached that evening. One of Maxie Cosgrove's partners in his Lucan clinic, James Kavanagh, walked to the back of his car and filled the syringe. Arkle would have felt nothing, it could have been a routine injection, and the greatest steeplechaser the racing world has ever known passed away peacefully. Woods still recalls his first experiences with Arkle, adding: 'He just came to be my ride out. I didn't think that much of him at first, he was just another horse. Then one morning I was riding him out on the gallop and I thought, 'He's going to be great.' 'I rode Arkle every day. He was very good at home. 'Mr Dreaper was a brilliant man. He was a genius; no one knows how good he was. He was a great man to work for too.' Woods got to ride Arkle in 1963 at Gowran Park in a hurdle race when the stable jockey Pat Taaffe couldn't do the weight of 10st5lbs. 'I thought I should have ridden him first time out but Pat (Taaffe) was riding Liam McLoughlin's horse Kerforo, and the boss man was fair and gave the ride to Liam. 'The day in Gowran we were running in because Johnny Lumley had a tip or something. I was going in with him and as soon as I set foot in the place the boss man grabbed me and said, 'get your colours on, you're riding Arkle'. 'It was a good race. He was beaten twice before that but was favourite. Going past the stands I was pushing and kicking and thought I had no chance. I thought he was done. He was gone. 'I got serious three out, and gave him a few slaps down the shoulder. I asked for a big one, we took off in fourth and landed in the lead. I never heard another horse until we pulled up.' Arkle was a huge celebrity in the 1960's - the Dreaper's even having to hire a secretary, Mrs Tinsley, to reply to all the fan mail he would receive, some just addressed to 'Arkle, Ireland'. Dominic Behan wrote a song about him and he even appeared on the Late Late Show with Gay Byrne. Visitors to the yard would have been regular but Woods remembers one occasion when two musical superstars of that era, Dickie Rock and Butch Moore, came to see Arkle. "Ah the two of them got up on him all right. It was a funny sight. Dickie wore his winkle pickers. 'I was friends with Butch and I remember being at a show with Roly Daniels some years afterwards and Roly was talking about horses,' recalls Woods. Country singer Daniels had an interest in horses and owned Hazy Dawn, a mare that gave WIllie Mullins his first Cheltenham Festival success in the 1982 National Hunt Chase. Daniels famously celebrated by singing Danny Boy in the winners' enclosure. 'Roly was telling us about his horses and Butch butted in and said: 'What are ya talking about, sure I rode Arkle, didn't I Paddy.' It was very funny.' Woods also remembered a huge security alert one time. 'Mrs Dreaper answered the phone to the British Police warning her that a pair of dopers, masquerading as a couple with the female an attractive blonde, had caught the ferry to Ireland.' 'Would ya believe as she looked out the window to the front gates, there was the couple getting out of their car. Paddy Murray (head lad) stopped them and quickly gave them gate.' Murray was another key member of the Arkle team, famously mixing two bottles of Guinness into his nightly feed called 'the mash.' 'Guinness would deliver bottles of beer to the yard every week for Arkle. We'd a bit of bother keeping some of the lads away from them though,' recalled Woods, who never drank. 'I was disappointed though when we were putting up the statue in Ashbourne a few years ago. Lynsey Dreaper wrote to Diageo but they said no, they weren't interested in giving us anything towards it. They got plenty of mileage out of Arkle with all the photographs.' Woods returned to London with Arkle in 1969 for the Horse of the year show at Wembley. 'It was a great week. Everything was paid for. I'd actually left Dreaper's at that stage but they asked me to go over with him and Pat. He was stabled about half an hour away on a big estate. He seemed as good as ever. 'In the nightly parade at the show there was a well-known cockney fruit seller, a famous fella in London or something, with a donkey and cart. Arkle loved sweets; he could smell in a pocket from three yards away. 'On the last night we decided to have a bit of craic. A tune was played for every horse and for Arkle it was, 'There'll Never Be Another You' by Nat King Cole. The cart man stopped in front of me and I let Arkle have a look at it, I let the reins loose and he nosed the back of the cart, and started scoffing like a child. 'He ate a big hamper of fruit and he got a huge applause; it brought the house down.' Speculation had been rife the previous year in 1968 that Arkle would race again. A special race was arranged at Fairyhouse for his comeback but his fate was sealed when Dreaper took him to Naas to school over hurdles with stablemate Splash. After they had jumped the hurdles Taaffe walked him over to Dreaper who asked: 'All right Pat?' The reply came: 'No, sir.' 'When do you think he will be right?' 'I think he will never be right, sir.' Taaffe died in 1992 at just 62, having had Ireland's second ever heart transplant the previous year. That Wembley trip was to be his final outing but Woods revealed that the Duchess decided to give Arkle one more chance to prove himself before resigning herself to his retirement. 'The Duchess asked me to meet her in the yard one of the mornings. She asked me to put the saddle and bridle on him and give him a spin. All the locals were out taking photographs and everything. 'We did about a mile and a quarter and he worked great and felt absolutely marvellous. I said 'you'll have to put this fella back in training, that's as good as ever he was'. 'We did the same thing the following morning but he took a lame step and that was it. Her vet had told her that might happen and if it did, he was finished for good.' Arkle's story continued even after his death. He was buried on the Duchess' farm in Bryanstown but in 1976 after the land was sold it was feared his grave could vanish if developed for houses. A museum at the Irish National Stud was being started and a controversial idea was forged to display Arkle's skeleton as a centrepiece - where it still is displayed to this day. The Duchess took some persuading and the project was not short of controversy with Arkle's breeder Alison Baker abhorring the idea - only accepting an invitation to meet the Queen in 2011 on condition she didn't have to see Arkle's remains. Paddy met the Queen too that morning, 'she was just like one of us, I couldn't believe it. She said to me 'it must have been very exciting to ride him.' I said it was great, sure a child would have ridden him. ' Paddy and his wife Phyllis, who passed away in January 2020, stayed on for the Derby in 1970 and witnessed another equine superstar Nijinsky power to victory at Epsom in one of the race's greatest ever performances. Himself would surely have approved.
The Herald Scotland
01-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Majborough makes amends with ease at Punchestown
The Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old was sent off at 4-11 to reward those who kept the faith back on home soil and while he pulled his way to the front on the second circuit and raced keenly throughout under Mark Walsh, he stamped his class from the home turn, pulling 14 lengths clear of the Arkle runner-up Only By Night. Mullins, saddling his 200th winner of the season in Ireland, said 'He jumped today like we know he can jump. For some reason things didn't go right for him in Cheltenham, but he's redeemed himself today. 'He's a huge, big horse but he's very light framed and is an athlete every time you look at him. Looking at him in the parade ring today, there wasn't one ounce of spare flesh on him, and I couldn't have galloped him one more time. 'He's only five and hopefully he'll mature this summer. I'm looking forward to what he could mature into over the next 18 months or two years. 'What he did there you are looking at the Champion Chase, but he has enough pedigree to stay a trip.'
