Tag: Community Development
John Scott
“I was probably one of the first ones to bring platform shoes to Northern Ireland so that’s one of my claims to fame.” John who grew up in a family of nine on the Shankill Road, left school at the age of 15 in the ...
Kathleen Kelly
The ten years, Kathleen spent as a teacher in the primary school in North Queen Street, brought home to her the poverty in which the children she taught, lived. Originally from east Belfast, where her father was a ...
Dale Harrison
Dale remembers the beginning of the Troubles. “From memory the Troubles in the Woodvale were rife. To this day some people would say that’s originally where it all started. I do remember one evening. There was a full ...
Catherine Couvert
Originally from France, Catherine grew up on a small farm. She remembers her childhood as a happy one, though living conditions were sparse. “Until I was ten, we lived in a house with one kitchen and one bedroom, a...
Anne McVicker
Anne was born into a large family, being one of 9 children born in South Belfast. Anne spent most of her childhood growing up in the Cliftonville area in north Belfast. During her youth Anne recalls a lack of youth pr...
Jim Deery
Jim’s childhood was spent growing up on the Cregagh estate in east Belfast. His family moved to north Belfast when he was ten. “My fond memories of north Belfast are the Cavehill, I think it’s an underused tourist ...
Denis O Hearn
Denis’s scholarly interests are in social movements, the sociology of economic change, industrialisation and transnational corporations. Denis was brought up in the middle of the New Mexico desert and remembers a c...
Alan Houston
Alan recalls growing up in Portstewart as an “active childhood, but you were very aware of the dangers of the environment that we were living in. There were very few opportunities if I’m honest. You worried about wher...
The Rape and Plunder of the Shankill Revisited
Traumatic change came to the inner city communities of Belfast in the 1970s with large scale redevelopment, ring roads planned to encircle the city and whole communities being wiped away by the bulldozer. One of those...
Father Desmond Wilson
Father Wilson grew up in the mixed community Ormeau Road area in south Belfast. “Belfast, to us, was an amazing place. When I was growing up I was very fortunate, I was able to go to Saint Malachys Grammar School a...
Vera Henderson
Vera had a tough start to life. Her mother died when she was only one year old. Her father, unable to manage, sent her to a home until he remarried when Vera was 4 years old. “I don’t remember an awful lot about it be...
Ruth Taillon
Growing up in post WWII Canada, Ruth left home at an early age: “I left home at a very early age following the hippy trail. I was very interested in music and it was exciting at the time. I quickly got involved with t...