Local Primary Schools in North Fermanagh marked the end of Good Relations Week 2024 with the completion of their Shared Education Action Plan for the year ahead. Following collaboration with the staff of Kesh Primary School, Lack Primary School and St. Joseph’s, Ederney, they have planned five programmes of Shared Education for this year.
Council Area: Fermanagh & Omagh
South West College embraces GRW24
South West College (SWC) students and staff came together to celebrate Good Relations Week 2024. This year’s theme, ‘OpportUNITY,’ was a call to action for creating a brighter, inclusive future for all, and SWC certainly rose to the occasion!
Tuesday, 17th September: A Day of Fun and Flavor
The festivities kicked off with an Online Good Relations Fun Quiz facilitated by Fearghal O’Boyle from Youthscape +. Participants from across campuses joined in for a lively session of trivia and camaraderie.
Later that day, the Erne Campus hosted a delightful Cultural Diversity Tasting event at the Erne Restaurant. Attendees were treated to a mouth-watering menu featuring dishes like Beef Goulash with Parisian Gnocchi, Crispy Sesame Chicken with Soy Noodles, and Triple Chocolate Brownies. It was a feast that celebrated the rich tapestry of cultures within the SWC community.
Wednesday, 18th September: An International Tea Party
The celebration continued at the SWC Enniskillen Skills and Technology Centre with an International Afternoon Tea. Organised by the Social Inclusion Team, the event offered a variety of traditional and Mediterranean tasters. From Goats Cheese and Red Onion Bruschetta to Chinese Spring Rolls and Mediterranean Tartlets, the spread was both diverse and delicious.
Thursday, 19th September: A Grand Finale
The week wrapped up with vibrant events at the Dungannon and Omagh Campuses. Both campuses hosted Cultural Diversity Tasting Afternoons alongside interactive quizzes and activities. The Dungannon Campus featured dishes like Pierogi, Cabbage Rolls, and Peri Peri Chicken, while the Omagh Campus offered Lamb Tagine and Thai Chicken Curry.
Good Relations Week 2024 at South West College was a resounding success, filled with fun, food, and a strong sense of community.
Fermanagh Churches Forum Study Day
Fermanagh Churches Forum will host a study day visit to the Armagh Cathedrals. The Inter-Church group will have guided tours of St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral and St. Patrick’s RC Cathedral to explore Church history and architectural features of the buildings.
Good Relations Mural Event
Lisanelly Regeneration Group, based in GK House in Omagh and have been active in our Community for more that 25 years.
They are running a Good Relations Week Event, a Showcase of the Good Relations Mural completed in the Summer by our Young people. This will take place on Tuesday 17th September at 10.30am in GK House.
Parallel Histories Stormont Debate Workshop – Omagh Academy
Parallel Histories are delighted that Omagh Academy is taking part in the Parallel Histories/Good Relations Week Debates on controversial Northern Irish histories at Stormont on 13th September.
At the Stormont debates, students from across Northern Ireland will investigate the controversial histories of Northern Ireland. This workshop is to prepare them for working on sensitive topics with people the same age from across communities. They will focus on collaboratively investigating and then articulating views drawn from sources first from one side and then from the other in conversational debate. In the process they will learn how histories have been constructed and develop the skills and confidence they need to listen, question, and arrive at their own, informed choices.
Parallel Histories Stormont Debate Workshop – Loreto Grammar School
Parallel Histories are delighted that Loreto Grammar School is taking part in the Parallel Histories/Good Relations Week Debates on controversial Northern Irish histories at Stormont on 13th September.
At the Stormont debates, students from across Northern Ireland will investigate the controversial histories of Northern Ireland. This workshop is to prepare them for working on sensitive topics with people the same age from across communities. They will focus on collaboratively investigating and then articulating views drawn from sources first from one side and then from the other in conversational debate. In the process they will learn how histories have been constructed and develop the skills and confidence they need to listen, question, and arrive at their own, informed choices.
Good Relations Coffee Morning – Omagh
This event will keep in line with other Good Relations events that Youth Link will be hosting. Youth Link staff will be sharing their stories on their work in Good Relations and Peace & Reconciliation.
Date: Friday 20th September
Time: 10am – 12pm.
Venue: Omagh Methodist Church Hall
All church clergy, staff, volunteers and congregation members as well as community workers, youth workers and anyone who would like to find out more about Youth Link’s work in Peace & Reconciliation and Good Relations work in Northern Ireland and beyond are invited. This will also be an opportunity to network, catch up as well as building or re-establishing connections in the name of continued Peace making and Good Relations.
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Linking Generations Project – Omagh
GK House Linking Generations Creativity Project
Linking generations is an inclusive project building on the positive resources that the young and older generation have to offer each other and those around them. ‘OpportUNITY’ to practice the four R’s- Respect, Reciprocity, Responsibility and Resilience is crucial in creating and building on strong intergenerational relationships.
This event will showcase a mural project with workshops around diversity, inclusion, culture & community cohesion with the ‘OpportUNITY’ to create a piece of art for everyone who visits GK house to enjoy. We encourage you to come along!
Bad Bridget at Ulster American Folk Park
The Bad Bridget exhibition at Ulster American Folk Park (on display until April 2024) tells the stories of the thousands of women who left Ireland for North America between 1838 and 1918. Many of whom found themselves facing troubles and struggling to survive.
Through a sensory experience of the lives of these women, visitors are taken on a journey beginning with their lives in Ireland, their experiences of life alone at sea to seeking jobs once they landed in America; as well as the real life experiences of living in poverty within the tenement housing of the period.
Bad Bridget is a continuing collaboration between the museum, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University and is based on significant research carried out by Dr Elaine Farrell and Dr Leanne McCormick.
Emigrants Exhibition at Ulster American Folk Park
Follow the emigrant journey through the following four themes in our Emigrant exhibition:
People and Places
Delve into the lives of the many different brave and ambitious individuals who emigrated with a closer look at their social class and religious denominations. Learn about the successes and failures of some of the hundreds of thousands of people who left Ulster for North America between 1700 and 1900. Disappointingly, some of the early success stories involve the possession of enslaved persons.
Failure and Opportunity
Explore the reasons people left their friends, family and everything they’d ever known to embark on a journey into the unknown. Factors such as the Great Famine and down turns in trade saw many leave Ulster shores during the 1700s and 1800s, encouraged by letters sent from family and friends who had already made the move to America.
Transport and Migration
During the years of early migration, the first steps to leaving Ulster involved a long walk to the port or a horse and cart ride if you could afford it. From there, many would embark on the long and dangerous 3,000 mile crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Over time, transport evolved and railways replaced the wagon and the ocean could be crossed in less that 14 days by iron steam ships. Experience what this journey would have been like for our brave emigrant ancestors.
Survival and Prosperity
Discover what happened upon arrival in America. What was the 19th and 20th century political scene like in America, and how did this impact the life of the emigrant?
North America was not an open country as the map might portray, but was actually fully populated by Indigenous People. The Indigenous population at the time was dwindling due to skirmishes with settlers and new European diseases. Once white colonists made secure settlements in Virginia and New England they started to spread out. The settlers used treaties, drawn up by white courts, to take land from Indigenous People. The treaties were very generous to the white settlers, often unfair to Indigenous people, and sometimes the treaties were broken by settlers as they wanted even more gains. Since tribes were all unique they were unable to unite to fight the encroachment.
Early Ulster migrants made new homes in this different environment, carving out successful lives for themselves and their families. Some of the richest settlers showed their wealth in the number of enslaved persons that they owned.