From left, Rachel Mullan-Carlin, IFI Peace Walls Project, Eddie Breslin, Housing Executive cohesion advisor and Joan and Donna Best at a “Bunting Making” workshop for women from the Fountain and Bishop Street areas. (Photo – Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)
Barriers between the interface communities of the Fountain and Bishop Street areas of Derry are set to be broken down with the help of the Christmas spirit.
The city is to host its own Christmas market as part of a unique project pioneered by the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) backed Peace Walls Programme and funded by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to the tune of almost £9,000.
Bishop Street Gate, once the centre for market trading in foodstuff and cattle, will once again ring out with the sounds of trading when it plays host to a two-day winter festival in December.
Thirty-five residents from Bishop Street and the Fountain are currently taking part in a programme of arts and crafts at the Playhouse Theatre and will be selling their hand-made wares at the Christmas market at Bishop Street Gate on 12 and 13 December.
There will also be a cross-community Christmas Carol Service in which local schools will participate.
Donna McCloskey, Peace Wall Development Worker at the Bogside & Brandywell Initiative, said the purpose of the workshops was to promote good relations in the area whilst also increasing the employability of local people by training them in food hygiene and craft making as well as giving them a taste of a business environment.
She added: “The winter festival offers the people of the city something different as it focuses on empowering and training local people. This is a local festival for the entire city to enjoy.
“The schools involvement will build on the intergenerational work that is taking place,”
Eddie Breslin, Housing Executive cohesion advisor, said the work that had been carried out would bring together residents from across the interface in a “positive, relationship enhancing experience” that would showcase the range of activities they had been engaged with in the run-up to the Festival.
Tags:
