A Richer Life in Letrim

UNLESS you believe in the guiding hand of Fate - perhaps in this case aided and abetted by the Muses -- Ian Wilson's presence in Leitrim seems pretty arbitrary. Seeking a change of scenery and a move away from the relative smallness of musical circles in Northern Ireland, the Belfast composer decided last summer that he and his family would settle somewhere in the Republic. If Leitrim, a rural and disadvantaged county in the north west, was not at the top of his list nowhere was, because there was no list. Anywhere was fine, so long as it was south of the border. He conveyed this to friends, asking them to keep an eye out for suitable accommodation. It was an artist friend who suggested Leitrim and mentioned hearing good things about the county's dynamic new arts officer.