Tag: Community Relations
Pádraigín Drinan
Pádraigín Drinan grew up in west Belfast and joined the Republican Labour Party in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. “As I was very young and at school, I was probably the only person to bunk off...
Helen Bell
Born in 1947 in Hopewell Street at the bottom of the Shankill Road, Helen remembers the late 1960s and the first time that real “trouble” started on the Shankill Road, with rioting and flares being shot into the air....
The Secret’s Out
“I suppose I knew I was gay or that something was up so to speak, I was about 14-15 and fought against it for a while. I just knew it was wrong even though I read about it and tried to learn about it. I did tell my mo...
May Blood
May was born during World War Two and grew up in Roden Street, a mixed area of Belfast with her mother and sister. He family was separated due to the evacuations during the war. “For the first six years of my life I t...
Joe Baker
Joe grew up on the New Lodge estate in north Belfast. “When we moved into it, it was a construction site, everything was brand new and spic and span. It was a lot of adventure and a lot of fun playing on the buildi...
Roisin McGlone
“The Troubles began at the time we moved up to Andersonstown from the Falls Road. My lasting memory is the raids, whenever the army and police came. This would be before Ulsterisation. They closed off streets and sea...
Mike Maloney
Mike was brought up in Australia. His family, which is of Irish extraction, moved many times and he recalls going to nine different schools and living in seven different houses. His father’s love of writing and journa...
Joseph Ricketts
Born and raised in Jamaica, Joseph’s father was a contractor who believed his sons should be responsible for their own land and be able to manage work on a farm. When they came of age, Joseph and his three brothers ha...
Darren Ferguson
Darren grew up in Glengormley. He recalls a time when bomb scares were common. “Me and my brother were fascinated when they brought out the robots to defuse these bombs. I have very clear memories of the police com...
WRDA Lectures – Baroness May Blood
The inaugural lecture of the Anna Eggert lecture series, organised by the WRDA. Baroness May Blood was the speaker for the afternoon and delivered a biographical lecture entitled “From the factory floor to the House ...
Tura Arutura
Tura grew up in Chitungwiza in Zimbabwe during the pre-war period. He recalls it as being a “very colourful beautiful country. Very warm, very hot, it also reflects the nature of the people as well. They wear their he...
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 ...