The stories of youth and community workers and young people crossing the interface in Portadown
Ryan Quinn, Leader in Charge of St Mary’s Youth Club in Portadown shares his story:
‘I started off in youth work when I was 19. After not really knowing what I wanted to do, I saw a youth work opportunity with a training package and placement and I absolutely loved it. The group that came together and trained together was very cross community, made up 50/50 of Catholics and Protestants. From there, I went to university and got my degree and at that time I became involved in St. Mary's as a part-time worker. When the opportunities came along to get involved in good relations work with T:BUC we were one of the lead organisations. We did some really good work and some of the young people still talk about those programmes and the friendships they have to this day.
I went to Australia for six years and when I came back last year I noticed some changes. There are still some challenges but there are definitely big changes in the area. There's not as much trouble at the traditional times of high tension.
There seems to be a lot more respect between the communities. I think we've moved into the realm of reconciliation at this point. Some of the divides appear to be bridged.
T:BUC programmes and good relations work has made a lasting legacy of bridging gaps and building understanding and respect between different cultures and opinions.
There are still tensions, but the generation I would have worked with has grown up now and it seems the tensions are not there as much. It seems to me that we've moved into how to reconcile with the past and cultural differences and all the work done previously has laid the groundwork.
Looking to the future there are still young people coming through that will need good relations work. I'm thinking of primary school kids and the early intervention work that needs to continue and we can't take focus away from that. We need to continue single identity work and respect for cultures and give opportunities to cross divides, work with each other and integrate. There are still issues around things like bonfires and cultural identity which we really need to delve into and unpick. There are still legacy issues from the lived experience of Drumcree, so there may have to be work on those issues within groups or young people, maybe coming from their parents.
We need to make sure the connections and bridges are still being built and the groundwork and substantial work that has been done to ensure this town has moved forward, doesn't stop.
That can only come with continued resourcing of facilities, communities and partnership work between the voluntary and community sectors and The Executive Office.’
Ryan Knipe from Portadown says:
‘It started off with all of us running around the bonfire field, playing football and stuff. Then Jordon came down and asked us if we wanted to do a programme across the community and we said yes. The first one we did was with Divis in Belfast and the next one was T:BUC in Portadown.
We actually made friends out of it and we still talk to each other and run about together, so it actually helped. There's a big difference in the town now. You see it more mixed. The stories you hear are that we were more divided years ago, but now it's completely changed. More cross community things have helped so much. Whenever we were younger, we wouldn't have done it, but now growing up, you're asking ‘why is it divided?’ It shouldn't be divided.
We need more things for young people to do, like football nights, and more activities. There's not much about the town for the young one to do, so they just run around the town causing mischief.’
Jordon Russell of Edgarstown Residents Association shares his story:
‘I grew up in Corcrain, a large PUL community situated in West Portadown. From a very young age you would have seen people's windows being boarded up, masked men chasing people and there was a show of strength by the loyalist paramilitary groups. These were everyday norms. There's also a large bonfire, a bit of a trouble at the interface and the peace wall in Portadown was built in around 2000. Growing up, there was never really much for us to do in our community. The area was very rundown, there was no infrastructure and a community centre that wasn't really used for the community.
As I got older, I got involved in the local bonfire. They were encouraged to try to change things. There were always posters, flags and emblems on it. So we got involved and we managed to get all the posters and effigies, all the sectarian stuff, removed from the bonfire. It was actually from that we got involved in a T:BUC programme. I got two photographs, one of when the bonfire used to be covered in flags and posters and another where it wasn't. I brought the two photos to St Mary’s. I told various people in the community that I was going to approach St Mary’s to see if we could work together and everyone said I was mad in the head, but I wanted to show somebody how far we've actually come. So that's how I got involved in community work and T:BUC.
It came down to our own young people not knowing their own identity. A local lady told me I could be a really good community leader and she forced me to go to university. I went to university and I’ve just completed a community development degree at 28.
As a young person growing up, I didn't think these sorts of programmes made any difference. I thought, you go on a few trips and nobody really gets anything out of it. But whenever I was actually bringing young people to a programme and seeing the friendships they were making I could see the bonds that were created and are still there six years down the line.
It's fundamentally important that young people continue on these programmes and learn about each other's culture and identity.
For the future, I think there is a need for more single identity work within T:BUC, so that young people understand their own community, history, traditions and cultures, before they explore other people’s backgrounds.’
Charlie Larkin shares his lived experience of good relations programmes:
‘I live in the Catholic side of the town. I've been coming to the club since I was eight years old and I’ve been volunteering since I was 14. Growing up, the Catholics stayed with the Catholics and the Protestants stayed with the Protestants. But during the Twelfth, the Catholics wouldn't really go up the town. It's more mixed now with us. There's some Protestants who come down to St Mary’s which is more of Catholic-based club and there’s some Catholics go up to the YMCA in the town, which is more of a Protestant based club.
I’ve made quite a good few friends, like Ryan and Brandon. In this generation we don't want to go ever go back to the Troubles, but with the older generation there is still something there. If the club wasn't open I’d be lost. I would probably never have spoken to Protestants. It’s a very good idea to understand their background.’
Brandon Knight shares his story:
‘Growing up, you didn't really understand what the other side was about. We were all down at the bonfire and a youth leader came down from one of the youth groups and asked us if we were interested in a cross community project. Nobody was really interested, but we did it anyway. We didn't understand what the other side was about. We didn't know the difference between the two flags. We didn't want to engage with them, but it turned out it was good craic. We met new friends and got to understand the other side better and your country’s history. It must have been 10 years ago from the first T:BUC project I did. I still talk to some of the ones I met. They’re people I'd never even had known before. I still talk away to them.
It's come to the point that there doesn't seem to be very many of these programmes anymore. There’s not the same offering now as when I was younger. You see the young ones down at the Bann and there's nothing for them to do. Whereas back then, coming into the summer we had all these groups. We were offered all these projects with the other side, but there’s no youth provision like there used to be. Drugs have become a bigger thing now and now they're getting into them. There's nothing there to help the young ones to get away from it. There’s nothing for them at the weekends anymore.’
Michael Mallon from St Mary’s Youth Club shares his story:
‘I have been involved in St Mary’s Youth here now for 25 or 30 years, initially as a part-time youth worker. I'm now a member of the Management Committee. I also lived quite close, within a hundred yards of the youth centre, quite close to the local interface. Around the period of the Drumcree trouble was a difficult time. It was quite scary. You didn't know what was going on, but you heard the fighting and the shouting.
The difference between then and now is like night and day. There has been a lot of cross community work. Young people now are quite happy to walk across into the other side. It's great to see and it's long overdue. The community group is involved in a project in relation to the interface with the Department of Justice, the Council and groups from Edgarstown. We were hoping to make it more pleasant to the eye. That's something for the community to agree on because they're the ones that are going to be living beside it. The community groups have come together and worked together very well.
I think a lot of people are surprised to see an interface outside of the big cities of Belfast and Derry. Portadown is the only other town to have peace walls, but we're sort of forgotten about. We have come up with great ideas and designs and we're just hoping that the funding is going to be made available to follow things through.
Building on the interface project would give everybody in the area a boost, but along with that comes a need for investment in the area. The youth and community groups can do their best but there's only so much they can do with the budgets that are available. Funding is a big issue, especially in the current climate, where everything's being cut and it just seems to be easy to cut budgets from the youth service in particular. The work that youth and community groups do is important and needs to be strengthened.’
