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Star Wars actors have joined forces to get behind the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice by signing one of the most famous artifacts in the movie industry --

The Eagle Of The Ninth

Update on Eagle of the Ninth

On Saturday, 10th October, we decided to walk up to Fox Point to look at the set. The weather was great when we had left home and was still dry as we walked up the hill. Due to filming we had to wait for a while and once the all terrain vehicles started to move we were able to continue towards the set.

We met a really friendly guy near to the set and we spoke to him for sometime – he was telling us about how they were in Hungary for 6 weeks and how things were going here etc and told us to go and look into the huts, wander around the “village”etc and not to worry that if we were in the way, we would be asked to move. Having introduced himself as Duncan, asking our names as well, I asked if he would be going to the ceilidh at night. He was and we met him there and he spoke to us by name which I thought was really good. Only later did I find out that he was infact Duncan Kenworthy, the producer.

The set was so impressive – however getting across the boggy tracks was not at all easy, especially as I am a bog magnet and usually end up falling in them. We had seen some photos of the huts and were totally amazed at how realistic the fibre glass stones were – an amazing amount of work must have gone into it and the colours were incredible!

The costumes for the extras are fantastic and it was great fun looking beyond the green paint to see who we recognised!

As the weather was so bad by now – rain, rain and more rain we weren’t sure if we would just head back down the hill but noticed they were filming at ground level. 2 of the extras were walking past the black horse and the camera man was filming their legs through the horses legs! The man actually turned out to be a friend of Stuart’s and his nickname is Budgie.

The next bit to be filmed was Channing scraping a sealskin outside a hut so bark chippings had to be laid and covered with bracken as the ground was so wet. Then with everything about ready and Channing called the weather changed so they decided to do a close up of Channing with the horses.

By now we were well and truly soaked so headed off back down the hill. We had spoked to quite a few people involved in the filming and they were all really courteous and looking forward to the ceilidh.

We never saw Jamie so not sure if he was there or not.

The ceilidh was by far one of the best we have ever had in our community hall. Despite having taken 2 hours to get off the hill a great number of people came along – including some extras who were staying in Ullapool and had never been to a ceilidh before.

Jamie, Channing and his wife all came along and appeared to be really enjoying themselves. I hadn’t seen Jamie before and he is quite a small and slender guy. I had gone into the lounge to tidy the tea things and he was there jamming away with a local guy and they were singing away (can’t remember the song) and Jamie was playing one of the kid’s guitars.

Both Channing and Jamie were really good about signing autographs and having their photos taken with people. Due to the problems with my camera I didn’t get any.

The music for the evening was varied but brilliant. So many of the kids were involved – guitars, bagipes, accordians and whistles. The Coigach singers did a few songs, lot of piping and a tremendous amount of dancing. It was great as we had our very own “Dancing with the Stars”.

The lady who is the vocal coach sang Robert Burns Aye Fond Kiss and it was so beautifully sung and the audience joined in with her.

At the end of the night we finished in true highland style with Auld Lang Syne and I hope that the memory and atmosphere of the night stays with everyone for a long time.

*****

Channings Hut

Julie Outside The Hut Sea View From The Village
 
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Thanks Julie! 

Stand-Ins for Hallam and Kate on the set of