Teams from across Northern Ireland have gathered in Newtownards for a Walking Football tournament aimed at increasing physical fitness and improving mental wellbeing. Now in its second year, the tournament organised by Glen Men’s Walking Football has benefitted from a Community Involvement Grant worth £3,042.98 from the Housing Executive.
For more information visit: The Housing Executive – News (nihe.gov.uk)
The Ards and North Down Borough Council’s Good Relation’s Shared history programme –
A shared history programme exploring the history of Londonderry/Derry. Four cross community trips to “The Siege Museum” and the “Museum of Free Derry”.
Participants learn about both the Siege of Londonderry/Derry, the formation of the Apprentice Boys and Bloody Sunday, formation of The Bloody Sunday Trust and the ongoing search for justice with a facilitated tour and seminar.
Between the visits to the Museums, we will have two online seminars from the facilitators of the Museums, allowing participants to gain more knowledge and ask questions.
Seminars are delivered on Zoom @ 7pm
Tuesday 19th September – William Moore – Past Governor and current General Secretary of the Apprentice Boys
Wednesday 20th September – John Kelly – Relation, campaigner and facilitator for The Bloody Sunday Trust.
Make the most of volunteer opportunities at Ulster Folk Museum.
Come along on Friday 22nd September and help us bring our cottage gardens back to life, growing the heritage fruit and vegetables they would have produced over 100 years ago.
The session is from 10am – 3pm. Come for a couple of hours during that window or bring a packed lunch and stay for the full session.
See link below for more information and details on how to register.
Harvest is an important time of year and marks the culmination of the agricultural season when crops cultivated throughout the year are finally ready for gathering and processing.
It is a time of celebration and hard work with deep-rooted cultural and historical significance. Communities came together during the harvest season to help each other gather crops and store them for the winter months. The spirit of cooperation and camaraderie was evident as neighbours supported one another in this labour-intensive process. There were always jobs to be done in the harvest season – vegetables and fruits to be picked, crops to be harvested, corn to be threshed and ground, flax to be pulled and food to be preserved in preparation for the long winter months.
But harvest wasn’t only a time of hard work and was also a joyous celebration of the abundance of nature; fairs and feasts would have been a common occurrence through the season.
For the whole month of September, visit the Ulster Folk Museum to explore and celebrate harvest and our close connection to the land and to each other. During your visit you can explore our beautiful exhibit buildings dressed for harvest and learn about traditional harvest activities. Our visitor guides will be busy making potato bread and butter and our craft demonstrators will be busy on harvest themed work. There are plenty of walks to take in the autumnal hues of the woods and farmlands as you watch the season turn and the work of harvest unfold.
The Museum of Innovation is where we tell the story of Irish and Northern Irish ingenuity and innovation. These individuals pushed the boundaries of what was thought achievable in pursuit of their dreams.
This season’s ‘Innovator in Focus’, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, born in Lurgan Co. Armagh, epitomises the theme of togetherness as we contemplate our position within the universe. As the first scientist to discover pulsars in 1967, which earned her the Nobel Prize for Physicas dedicated to inspiring others within the scientific community and enabled many others to pursue a career in this field of research.
You can learn more about Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and more of our Innovator in Focus series at the Ulster Transport Museum throughout Good Relations Week.
The Museum of Innovation is located at the Ulster Transport Museum
Harvest wasn’t only a time of hard work, it was also a joyous celebration of the abundance of nature. Rural communities came together during harvest to help each other gather crops and store them for the winter months and by the end of harvest, it’s a cause for celebration.
Join us in McCusker’s Pub for a drink and enjoy traditional music and dance, where our Senior Curator of History will be on hand to share her knowledge about the harvest season and answer your questions.
We’ll also be finishing a few harvest jobs like turning flax into fibre now the flax has been pulled. With the leftover straw, you can have a go at making harvest knots and straw ropes.
Or help us collect seeds from the native trees at the museum and learn how to process and store the seed, ready for planting in the spring in an interactive ‘seed collection’ workshop – pre-booking essential.
Did you know: ‘Cúl Trá-il’ is derived from the Irish place name for Cultra (Baile Chúl Trá)?
This self-guided, educational trail at Ulster Folk Museum allows visitors to explore the rich and diverse language traditions associated with Irish-English, Irish and Ulster Scots. As you tour, you’ll get to explore the story of the Irish language through the places and people of the Ulster Folk Museum. The trail has been titled Cúl Trá-il, with its meaning derived from the Irish place name for Cultra (Baile Chúl Trá).
This is the first part of our wider ‘Languages of Ulster’ project, with research currently underway to introduce an Ulster Scots trail that celebrates local languages and culture as the next part. Choose to enjoy the trail using an illustrated map, which can be requested at admissions.
Ards and North Down Borough Council are hosting an online event which reflects on Northern Ireland and its Decade of Centenaries 1912-1922.
This talk will be delivered by Dr Éamon Phoenix of Stranmillis University College, Belfast on the 22nd September at 7pm.
The talk will be cover information on centenaries such as the Home Rule Crisis, the formation of the UVF and the Irish Volunteers, Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme, the Irish Revolution (1919-21), and Partition and the birth of Northern Ireland.
To register this event, please email Goodrelations@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
Ards and North Down Borough Council are hosting the film ‘Remembering Srebenica: Quo Vadis, Aida?’ at the Web Theatre located in Newtownards.
This is an intimate and powerful drama focused on one of the most shameful moments of recent European history.
Bosnia, 11 July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN when the Serbian army takes over the small town of Srebenica. Can she possibly do anything to help the inhabitants? Get her own family into safety? Rescue at least one of her sons? With the sensational Jasna Duricic in the lead role, director Jasmila Zbanic has captured the harrowing events of the genocide in Srebenica with compelling immediacy.
Doors open for the event at 7.00pm and screening begins at 7.30pm.
Early Childhood settings reflect Brighter Days Ahead. Early years settings with a diverse range of practitioners, children and family backgrounds, were invited and encouraged to consider what ‘Brighter Days Ahead’ means to them. We have captured their creative interpretation of this through the voice of the child and those who care for them, based on the Good Relations Week theme.