W2B-004 Local history-0.txt
Peter Hutcheon looks at a project which is charting local history

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE...

"A COMMUNITY history by the people for the people" is how NICEA describes its oral history project in south Belfast.

Now entering its second phase, the project has captured the imagination of both the participants and the thousands of people who have been to see the results of the initial stage.

NICEA the Northern Ireland Community Education Association, has spent the past year charting memories and gathering photographs depicting the history of the Markets and Lower Ormeau areas.

The stories have been compiled into five booklets which have gone on display, along with the extensive collection of photos, at various community centres throughout the area.

Visitors from other parts of Northern Ireland, the Republic and from as far afield as America and Canada have expressed an interest in displaying the work further afield. Indeed, an exhibition is planned for the Irish Heritage Centre in New York.

And eventually copies of all the work produced by the project will be kept at the Ulster Folk Museum.

Project manager Caroline Bingham explained that the Lower Ormeau and Markets area was chosen for phase one because it was an inner-city area where cross-community links could be strengthened.

Contrast

"The project has three distinct aspects: recording the stories of many working class people, broadcasting and publishing their stories and organising photographic exhibitions."

Work is now beginning on collecting stories and photos from the Donegall Pass area of the city. A Protestant working class area, it has been chosen deliberately to contrast with the initial phase.

Next year the group plans to interview people from both sides of the Donegall Road, the Village and the Falls Road ends, to contrast the memories of this mixed area with the previous two.

"Ultimately we want to show both Catholics and Protestants that there is very little difference in their backgrounds," said project worker Anne O'Shea.

"We hope that this realisation that they come from the same backgrounds and experience the same problems will contribute a little to understanding each other."

Jill McKenna, who compiled the five booklets of interviews, explained: "We have aimed with these publication to give ordinary people a platform to talk about their own lives and experiences. It's history from the bottom up, instead of the usual way from the top down."

"We hope that, taken as a whole, they will give a new insight into the recent history of this fascinating and diverse area, which in itself is a microcosm of the city of Belfast."

Community

Material gathered through the project has now been incorporated into local school's history lessons.

Project worker David Holloway pointed out: "Most of the history taught in schools deals with the major political figures, not how life was like for ordinary people living in the community."

"These stories and memories give an insight into how life really was for the people coming from the children's own areas."

NICEA was founded in 1984 to promote the need and find funding for community education.

The funding for the current project has come from the Belfast Action Teams, while Belfast Exposed helped with the photography.
