RETIRED lifeboat engineer Walker Simpson has not been short of real life drama in his career and whilst he’s been recognised with an MBE, he’s never had the movie star treatment before.
That was until he agreed to be interviewed for a video made by Donaghadee Heritage in which he talked about his service on the historic Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat.
When he turned up in his trademark jeans, bomber jacket and bosun’s cap, the plainspoken seafarer discovered that the video crew had brought with them a Bangor-based photographer more used to working with A-list names than with seadogs from the ‘Dee.
Said Walker: “They asked me to walk out on to the pier to have my photo taken. It turns out that the photographer, Christopher Barr, had pretty much come to me from a job snapping actors Mark Wahlberg and HaIle Berry in Switzerland.
“I never expected my picture to be taken by a photographer to the stars.”
Mr Barr, a TV and film stills craftsman from Ballyholme, was shooting A listers Berry and Wahlberg on location in Switzerland for the Netflix feature The Union, which premiered last week.
A date has yet to be set for the screening of Walker’s premier, though Dee Heritage has confirmed it will take place at the Sir Samuel Kelly exhibition centre in the Marina car park.
In the meantime, The Sir Samuel Kelly Lifeboat is open Thursdays 6-8pm and Friday-Sunday 2-5pm. The exhibition features a number of audio-visual assets with more short films in the pipeline.
