 past who has turned her lifelong passion for music into a walking tour of the city. She's the lowest fisher and lowest actually grew up between Belfast and Dunny Gull and grew up with the love for different genres of music, everything from the the trad scene here in Dunny Gull, which actually layer in the borough, to punk gigs in the harp bar in Belfast in the late 70s and she recently retired from Queen's University after almost 20 years so decided to follow a dream of hers to become a tour guide and so she studied to become a qualified Belfast Green Badge tourist guide and one of the modules was to you know what I'm telling all of Dolores story so she's on the line now I'm not gonna tell anymore because she's well capable of telling it herself she's a tour guide for heaven's sake. Dolores how are you? I'm very good thanks John yes thanks for having me but that's true I'm a tour guide now so a new later on change of career and really enjoying it. So what sort of a notion did you take had you always a wee bit of a hankering to show people around the city? I did because part of what I did for my university job was to show visitors to the city to take them around the town and then we've got relatives from all arts and parts coming to Belfast from different countries so I always enjoyed taking people around and I thought to myself that would make a nice job at some point yeah I was always really inclined to do that and really enjoy showing people around but as part of your course you had to come up with a theme for your your tour is that right? Yes we had to develop a whole new tour and one of the areas was the arts so I knew that Belfast was preparing a submission to be recognized as a UNESCO city of music so I did a whole new tour all about music of all genres and then I checked it out with some people including my friends and partners at the OEM Music Center and so we had it all ready to go just as the announcement came in November 21 we called that a pilot trial run of the tour we did it twice then but really only got started last April 2022 as I just left Queens then and so it's been full on and really enjoyable since then because Belfast is now UNESCO city of music and there's not that many people have a a walking tour on that topic so so I'm enjoying it and the people seem to be enjoying it too. Good good because I'm sure people go to Belfast for for differing reasons and they want to see different things in different parts of the city but yours is is music based but you throw in bits and pieces about I don't know other things like history and buildings and stuff as well do you? Oh yes we do all that we we play a bit of music as we go along we throw in a bit of the history of where the people came from what's happening in each genre and some of the many festivals that are connected with the the different genres for example there's a jazz festival starting soon there was trad fest last weekend so whatever's current I'll give them information on what's available and link into any historical things as you say the population growth of the the time all that kind of thing and importantly we play music as we go along just to to keep it yeah forefront keep it keep it moving and moving musically moving along I suppose so what other sort of bits of interesting tidbits do you throw in do you like do you show them where van Morrison used to used to play or where I don't know snow patrol used to busk or whatever it is you are right at every stop we talk about different genres of music but it's all about people we're not reaming off a whole heap of history in fact music is made by people for people so we're telling the stories of some of our music legends past and present so for van Morrison we would maybe look at the plaque at the maritime hotel location where he was first discovered in 1964 we start off with one of our quite underrated female singers Ruby Murray who still holds the word Guinness record for having five singles in the new charts pop charts in 1955 who has entered cockney rhyming slang for going for a curry a ruby Murray and then we look at the plaque see where snow patrols first played and look at the jazz look at work the venue of Belfast's first music festival as I call it the Harper's Assembly happened in 1792 so we range about the whole hundred generations but we end up at the best place for music now the the music center for Belfast which is the oh yes center where there are rehearsal rooms recording studio performance spaces so that young bands can really be helped find places to perform and practice quite inexpensively and usually I would have a performer there at the end to put on a special performance for the group so that would happen once a month and then other people I'm happy to be asked to take a book on a private booking for four or six people that all works out fine so so you can put away a good few hours round Belfast and find plenty to keep you entertained I think I can imagine but you're doing something that you love because you're in a city that's close to your heart and you're you're chatting about music which is obviously close to your heart did you ever think that when you're growing up in the 70s and you're you know going around all these punk gigs that you'd be doing a musical tour in Belfast and ending up with the oh yeah center like a musical arts center not really but if times had been different back then I would have been in a band myself but it just didn't really work out that that girls back then were not really wasn't so easy for us but I did I'm a late developer you might say John I did finally get a chance to form a punk band of all things in 2018 2019 through girls rock school I had a brief 4a into being in a band myself singing and drumming so it was great crack but our our moment came to nothing whenever the covid things started you haven't picked it up since then I've been enjoyed it to another music collector so I'm now part of the oth music collective which unfortunately stands for over the hill but it's a great collective for more mature musicians and we recorded together an album during lockdown so I'm still have a wee toe in the water you might say absolutely absolutely now another toe in the water so to speak was your your husband you met him when he was was working with the stranglers well we met at university in scotland and johnny had been on tour with the stranglers helping to sell their fanzines and merch really that kind of thing so we clicked on that we both like the stranglers because my little claim to fame was that I had jumped up in one of those punk concerts in belfast in the ulster hall and rushed over to the drums told the drummer jeb black that I could play a bit and he said well here you go take over I need to go to the bathroom not quite as politely as that so off he went so I had to leap on and give it my best shot for one song so so that was my moment wow but in those days people find it hard to realize but everybody was just jumping up on the stage and sheer chaos they wouldn't do that nowadays it wouldn't be alive no no absolutely I remember Chuck Berry once playing over in the hammer smithodian and the same thing came to the towards the end of the set and he invited everybody up onto the stage there's no way it would happen no not very often health and safety just wouldn't wouldn't allow for that sort of thing yeah so so I do the music walking tours I do other ones as well arts of the cathedral quarter and in fact I've got a very exciting new one to announce next week so you're getting an early scoop there we're running a belfast punk experience and that will comprise a wee walking tour a workshop to make your own punk style t-shirt and badge and then we'll end with a live punk band a contemporary because we've got great punk bands and belfast as we have great music across all the genres here at the moment so that'll be a bit of fun on the 25th of march so that'll be announced next monday or tuesday we're just getting all the details together and what about gigs whether they're punk gigs or any other sort of gigs do you do you still get time to squeeze the odd one in yes people would know that I squeeze more than the odd one in I'm out several nights a week if not every night I've already had a bit of music today I was at the launch of another one of belfast exciting festivals called imagine festival the theme was brain food and one of the main acts of that festival is a band called wood burning savages yeah a couple of them from dairy so paul connelly and one of his bandmates were playing a few songs to launch that festival and then tonight I'm going to another band with connections up in dunagall and dairy new pagans in the ulster sports club for the launch of their second album so no I love going out to live concerts it really helps to keep me young and energetic still I know absolutely and and you're like you're right out there at the uh at the cutting edge if you like because that's you know that's contemporary music and it's not oh yeah it's not like you're seeking out the the stranglers or the clash or whoever to go and see on on nostalgia tours no I prefer to go to the I did used to do that but now I prefer to go to the to support the up-and-coming bands because they're so talented and they're much fresher and it's just a brilliant experience but I'll go to all sorts I mean last week I was at a lovely NI opera salon series event and before that at the Ulster orchestra so I will go to music of all sorts so I really just enjoy getting out to live music supporting live music across all the genres that we have so if somebody's on a wee break in belfast and and they have an hour or two to spare and they're thinking you know that wouldn't mind going on one of those walking tours how can they seek you out to where could they get info well they can get info on the publicly advertised walking tours on visit belfast just search belfast music walking tour and it should come up with visit belfast or my own wee company website creative tours belfast and then if you contact me if there's no date that suits we could maybe work something out that would suit yourselves or whoever comes along brilliant brilliant well you can't it's it's hard to hide the enthusiasm that you have for it all that is for sure and listen and the best look with it all going forward and and all all the gigs and all the music and everything on the periphery as well at lores thanks thanks just say hello to all my friends in bunk rana and the dylan cousins and kill mcranon direction so hope to see you again soon great thanks lores best luck to you thanks john bye bye farmers know when it's time to get moving like when the alarm goes off first thing in the morning they know it's time to move the