community relations – Slugger O'Toole

GRACE: measuring trust for better community relations

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on October 17, 2023, 11:52 am

| Readers 574

On the International Day of Peace, as part of Good Relations Week, research undertaken through a partnership between the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (Coventry University) and Community Relations in Schools (CRIS) was launched. The research examines the role of trust-building in school-based reconciliation initiatives: “Trust, while taken for granted as important, has not been deeply unpacked or examined to better understand its more particular role in facilitating a move towards reconciliation,” declared the organisers, and the panel …

Opsahl Commission 30th anniversary: ‘civic poetry’ still yielding insights

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on July 24, 2023, 9:15 am

| Readers 1009

Laurence Simms (joint secretary of the British-Irish Secretariat) hosted a reception to mark the 30th anniversary of the Opsahl Commission, which invited and gathered oral and written submissions from individuals and civil society organisations about their suggestions for the way forward in Northern Ireland. Several dozen guests at the Notting Hill residence listened to reflections by various participants of the initiative and shared their stories with each other afterwards. Simms welcomed all who travelled long and short to attend. Remarking …

‘A long-term devotion to complexities’: women, art and activism

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on June 7, 2023, 4:47 pm

| Readers 818

As part of the Belfast Photo Festival and hosted by the Ulster Museum, several panels of women spoke about how the realms of artistic practice and activism have evolved over recent decades, with consideration of future change. National Museums NI curator, Anna Liesching, explained to the audience of several dozen that the motivation for the day-long symposium was the current exhibition of work by Hanna Starkey, a collection of 21 two-metre portraits of peace women. The first panel theme was …

Citizens Wallpaper: a co-produced community visual story

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 30, 2023, 12:37 am

| Readers 1226

Four “canvasses” of photographic images, covering the northern part of the island of Ireland, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Irish Sea, are part of an exhibition that was launched by Kellie Armstrong MLA in the Long Gallery at Parliament Buildings, Belfast. “The Citizens Wallpaper” is a project organised by the renowned photojournalist Martin Nangle, who serves as chairman of the Associated Photojournalism for Art and Culture (APAC) Association, a Northern Ireland-based charity established partly to engage, create, and share …

Community Relations Fund Launches new ‘Ride The Other Side’ campaign…

Brian O'Neill on April 1, 2022, 7:00 am

| Readers 7887

Frustrated by the slow process of community integration, The Community Relations Fund has launched an innovative programme to encourage more cross-community dating. They have allocated £250,000 to a new dating fund with the catchy name – ‘Ride The Other Side’. The way the fund works is they are giving cash payments to encourage cross-community relationships. There are three levels to the fund: You get a £50 payment for a first date £500 for an engagement And £1000 for a wedding …

Soldiers, Soup and Sandy Row: Challenging a fixed mindset…

Jason Conlon on July 9, 2020, 7:24 am

| Readers 2174

The anecdotal examples given here are intended to act as blunt signifiers, and can hopefully trigger a much broader conversation on identity and growth mindsets – concepts that are very much intertwined and blurred together, positively, across the community already The American psychologist Carol Dweck is renowned for her research on mindset theories, and her work is widely referred to in the education sector. The general idea is that people who welcome challenging situations, who embrace their mistakes and value …

Considering Grace: An invitation to listen

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on November 6, 2019, 9:18 am

| Readers 1301

Considering Grace: An invitation to listen by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News 5 November 2019 Considering Grace, by Gladys Ganiel and Jamie Yohanis, is a new book that explores how Presbyterians responded to the Troubles, through a series of narratives from 120 people who tell their stories of how they coped with trauma and tests of their faith. The book was launched with a set of readings and short presentations at Assembly Buildings, Belfast, to an audience of several …

Church leaders dragged heels in late 1980s over gov appeal to improve community relations #20YearRule

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 26, 2017, 9:00 am

| Readers 427

SENIOR CLERICS appear to have been less than enthusiastic in the late 1980s when asked by government to consider the more fulsome involvement of church denominations in improving community relations. “Pressures on the church leaders’ diaries” were blamed for not finding “an opportunity to discuss the issue of the churches’ future role in community relations activities in depth” after months of delay.

Forgive for the sake of the future?

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on October 6, 2015, 7:34 am

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Forgive for the sake of the future? A lecture by Duncan Morrow by Allan Leonard for Northern Ireland Foundation 29 September 2015 As part of the Community Relations Week programme, a former Chief Executive of the Community Relations Council, Dr Duncan Morrow, gave a lecture that explored how unresolved trauma affects the legacy for future generations. Sitting in the same chairs as the elected representatives occupy in the chamber at Down District Council, Dr Morrow told the audience that he …

Knitting together: CRC annual conference

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on September 29, 2015, 9:49 pm

| Readers 512

As Chair of the Communication Relations Council, Peter Osborne, welcomed delegates to their annual policy and practice conference at Stormont Hotel, Belfast, he explained the event theme, “One Place — Many People”: “All of us in this room are a minority of some sort; we are all minorities in this place we call home.” Mr Osborne added that it will be relationships between us that will dismantle bigotry and sectarianism. But that ordinary people in Northern Ireland are suffering from …

Slices of Belfast: A tour of Sandy Row

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on January 26, 2015, 10:39 am

| Readers 1573

As part of a work group, I went on a Sandy Row Tour, discovering the history and character of this neighbourhood. We began at the well-known mural site at the entrance to Linfield Gardens — a large example of a re-imaging project. The UFF “Welcome to Sandy Row” has been replaced with a more permanent, metal affixed, “Let ambition fire thy mind” homage to King William. Standing at Boyne Bridge, we learned that this was where the Belfast riots of …

Shirlow on the gap between slowly shifting attitudes and political positions

Brian Walker on October 13, 2014, 12:30 pm

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Peter Shirlow has to deal with politicians and so cannot afford to sound completely exasperated or polemical. Informed by his detailed work in the communities he discusses the perceived gap between public attitudes and the starker political positions in the Belfast Telegraph, in the light of the recent LucidTalk poll commissioned by the paper. I would only add that the gap between slowly shifting attitudes and the political choices available is not necessarily a contradiction. People vote for a bottom line because they …

The prevailing wisdom of A Love Divided

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on April 5, 2014, 11:45 am

| Readers 564

Based on a true story, “A Love Divided” chronicles the aftermath of a mixed marriage in Co. Wexford, Ireland, where Protestant-raised Sheila refuses to send her children to a local Catholic school. She flees with her two young girls, leaving her husband Sean confused and frustrated. “A Love Divided” was shown at Culturlann, as part of the Belfast Film Festival and organised in collaboration with Pieces of the Past oral history project. Sheila signed the Ne Temere contract, which obligated …

See that #fleg in Enniskillen? Well, now you don’t…

Mick Fealty on June 7, 2013, 11:59 am

| Readers 322

Now relax… The St George’s flag still flies over Enniskillen Castle as a reference to two former British regiments raised in the town’s defence in 1689. Can’t say I’d ever noticed before, but apparently there’s a row brewing over it’s removal from a leaflet for the G8 Summit… Here’s the council’s reasoning… “The design team gave long and detailed consideration to the content and design of the leaflet. In relation to any decision around the inclusion of flags, the design …

For Everyone – the main points from Alliance’s blueprint for a shared and better future

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 29, 2013, 10:37 pm

| Readers 177

Like their last election Manifesto, the Alliance Party’s “blueprint for an Executive strategy to build a shared and better future” [PDF of Executive Summary] is not a skinny tome. So far I’ve got about a third of the way through the seventy or so pages. While I read the rest, here’s a synopsis of some of the key points in the “For Everyone” blueprint for you to ponder and comment on. David Ford’s introduction: [Building a shared society] won’t be …

Martina Anderson reprises her Unionist Outreach role

Turgon on December 7, 2011, 10:58 am

| Readers 243

Previously Ms. Anderson had a less than successful outing as Unionist Outreach Officer (or successful dependent on what one feels SF were trying to achieve). On this occasion she was present at cross-a border “reconciliation” event held in the Gateway Hotel in Co. Donegal. Around 140 young people were attending the dinner on Saturday night as part of a year-long cross-border, cross-community project involved various youth and community groups coming together to explore the joint sacrifice of the Irish and …

New peace wall for Londonderry and thoughts on divided communities

Turgon on March 6, 2011, 11:17 pm

| Readers 271

Derry City Council last week approved planning permission for a new peace wall. From the Belfast Telegraph: The 170-metre long fence at the playing fields at Lisnagelvin in Londonderry will be erected as soon as possible. A litany of incidents at the interface, including sectarian abuse, stone throwing, attacks on the police, underage drinking and the lighting of fires have been recorded since last September. This peace line seems to have been requested and endorsed by all the relevant community …