Taken from 'Top of the pops Magazine', November 1999
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The shy and sensitive Mark
took TOTP Magazine to his favourite beauty spot
in the depths of the Sligo
countryside. It's the perfect place for a chill-out sesh.
"I'm not the kind of person
to go mountain climbing or hiking. I prefer to relax and take things easy.
That's why I love these
woods, cos they're so green and peaceful. In fact this particular spot
by the loch
is a great place to come
when I want to get away from absolutely everything,
from the madness of being
in a band. This is the only place where I can be totally alone.
Sligo was a great place
to grow up cos there was always plenty of space to play football.
Me and my mates would often
go off on big adventures in the countryside -
you know, see what we could
find in the fields, and the woods.
I suppose we used to think
we were in a film! I used to come here with the Scouts.
We'd cook sausages, go
on treasure hunts and play footie.
I remember once when I came
fishing here with my friend.
There's loads of trees
around so every time we tried to cast off, the fishing line got caught
in the branches.
In the end we had to leave
the fishing rod dangling from the trees and go home minus the rod and any
fish!
My nana lives just up the
road from these woods.
When I was younger both
my parents worked so I was round at her house every day.
She owned a general stores
shop and I can remember sitting at the window waiting for my mum to come
and pick me up.
I really wanted to use
the shop till and I was always asking my nana to give me a job
but I was too young of
course.
She let me help her stack
the shelves instead which I thought was just great.
My nana is a fantastic cook.
I can almost smell her home cooking just thinking about it!
She was also a good card
player and taught me a few card games on rainy days.
When my granddad was still
alive they used to grow hay for the local farms
and my nana kept a lot
of hens and chickens out the back.
I can remember feeling
very frightened when my nana's hens pecked at me!
I don't have a girlfriend
right now but if I did,
this would be the ideal
place to bring a girl on romantic walks. It's so beautiful here."
