The 47th Harry Brittain Fellowship
6 June to 14 July
Fast moving Australians
By Lee McDougall (Australia)
AUSTRALIAN sprinter Matt Shirvington was once described as the fastest white
man in the world but 2005 Harry Brittain Fellow John Rolfe, himself an
Australian, may perhaps take a shot at the title.
There are many memories that I will take home with me from my six weeks as a Harry Brittain Fellow: being inside Buckingham Palace in the Queen's Centre Room; visiting 10 Downing Street; standing astride the 0:0:0 Greenwich Mean Time Prime
Meridian; going down into a coal mine in Wales; or walking along Limestone
Road, Belfast to view the devastation that 30 years of 'troubles' has caused
are some that immediately come to mind.
While all these memories have in some way changed my life, the most memorable moment was undoubtedly the vision of John sprinting through Manchester's Piccadilly Station in a bid not to miss the train to Liverpool.
Granted this memory will not change my life nor expand my understanding of
the United Kingdom, but in essence it represents the true spirit of the fellowship: that of friendship and fun times.
Downing Street |
The 10 fellows were in Manchester on our second week of the tour for a
week-long training session run by former editor Gareth Weekes - a Welsh man.
On day four it had been arranged that we would travel by train to Liverpool
for the afternoon to view all the wonders of this beautiful Merseyside city.
Our most organised co-ordinator Jane Rangeley had placed on our itinerary a
departure time from our training rooms of 1pm. Gareth, however, decided that
a 1.15pm departure would provide ample time to reach the station. In
hindsight, we should have been smarter.
On the first day of meeting Gareth, he had informed the group that time had
never been a priority for him - until he became a journalist of course.
However, we were soon to learn the hard way that old habits die hard.
Boarding the tram that would take us to Piccadilly Station, it was becoming
increasingly obvious that time was working against us. Arriving at the
station, we had two minutes to find our platform and board the train.
This was all the incentive John needed. Taking off like a competitor in the Race
Around the World television series, John sprinted up the escalator leaping
over some poor woman in a move akin to an elegant African Sprinkbok.
Stumbling behind him in his wake were the remaining nine fellows and by this
stage a slightly embarrassed (or so one would assume) Gareth. Hitting the platform it was Gold and Silver to Australia (John first, yours-truly second) and Bronze to Wales (Gareth obviously decided it was now a case of each person to themselves). We launched ourselves onto the train huffing, panting and laughing and then comes the call - 'Where's Farhat?'. Our Pakistan fellow was not on the train.
In a scene befitting the sloppiest of Hollywood B-grade romance movies, Gareth leans out the train door, arm outstretched in yearning, calling 'Farhat, come on, hurry' with
Farhat responding ever so slightly to his words of encouragement to increase
her pace and make the train. The relief of making the train was written all over our faces, none more so than Gareth's.
The thought of trying to explain to our Liverpool hosts - and more importantly Jane - how we had missed the train was a thought too bleak for any of us to entertain. But we had made it and we spent a beautiful afternoon in Liverpool. Liverpool, for a whole host of reasons, is a memorable city but for this 2005 fellow, it was the actual act of getting there that will remain as my strongest memory from six fantastic weeks as a Harry Brittain Fellow.
