Defeating the Divide

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

They huddled under umbrellas which couldn’t seem to fend off the swirling rain as they stood beside a Belfast round-about and sang Christmas carols.  Cars swished past them.  Takeaways were ordered and collected in the chip shop opposite.  Life seemed to pass them by.  It was a moment that could so easily have been missed.
This [...]

No tricks… just lots of treats

Monday, November 7, 2011

It was almost twilight on a cold autumn’s evening on Belfast’s Shankill Road - and it was time.  Time for the vampires to come out to play.  There were three of them and their mission was clear - to invert the traditional practice of trick or treating and spread a bit of hope in west [...]

Putting shoes on their feet…

Friday, November 4, 2011

It was a former ice-cream shop - that then lay derelict - before volunteers in Carnmoney transformed it into a thrift shop, which hands out free school uniforms and food hampers to struggling families.
“The whole intention,” says Paul Elliot who has been involved in the project right from the start, “was to create a thrift [...]

She shall go to the Ball…

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The girls had never worn formal dresses before; the guys had never cruised about town in a limo.  But then a truly Cinderella story unfolded as a north coast community got behind an idea to organise a formal for the young people of Sandelford Special School in Coleraine.
The beautiful initiative was spearheaded by Causeway Coast [...]

Flags of Hope

Monday, August 8, 2011

Flags: they can define us, divide us, inspire us, provoke us… These pieces of coloured material that flutter in the breeze, decorating our neighbourhoods, can often spark some deep reactions…
And so a visual artist from Belfast decided to try and use flags to forge new links between our communities here.  Raymond Watson was in Tibet [...]

Into ‘Enemy’ Territory…

Monday, June 27, 2011

If there had been no intervention they probably would have remained as faceless enemies their entire lives.    One came from the Falls, the other from the Shankill.  Both had lost brothers in the Troubles.  Both had witnessed so much harsh history.  But Sean and Rab forged a unique affinity, which has taken them into [...]

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