Portlaw Heritage Group and culture and heritage staff from Waterford City and County Council travelled to Ballymena in Mid and East Antrim as part of a two-day study trip in mid-September 2024. Creative Communities on a Shared Island funding provided the group with an opportunity for Waterford and Mid and East Antrim to develop and enhance a shared sense of community examining common themes in industrial heritage. For the study trip, connections through the heritage of linen and cotton industries created a focus for building new relationships.
The first stop on the study visit included guided tours of Raceview Mill and Broughshane Industrial Trail. Raceview is a 200-year-old woollen mill, set in 16 acres in Broughshane, the Garden Village of Ulster. A local family purchased the mill in 2013 to stop it being demolished. Since then it has been restored and brought back into use with around 40 local businesses employing almost 150 people.
Photo credit: Waterford City and County Council
The second visit was to Gracehill village, which recently secured UNESCO World Heritage status. For over two decades the Gracehill community has worked with other similar Moravian Settlements around the world to develop a joint nomination for inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photo credit: Waterford City and County Council
The following day the Waterford group was welcomed by the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Alderman Beth Adger MBE at the Mid-Antrim Museum at The Braid in Ballymena. Named after the river that runs through Ballymena, The Braid weaves together history, arts and culture alongside contemporary conference, tourism and civic facilities on a site that has been for centuries the centre of local civic life. The group had a tour of the museum and watched a film titled the Future of Fashion.
Photo credit: Waterford City and County Council
An exhibition of work by textile artist Wilma Kirkpatrick was another highlight of the visit as she explained her vision and process in developing her wonderful quilt collection.
Photo credit: Waterford City and County Council
A special event was held exploring how flax was traditionally grown, retted and scutched as part of the linen making process at Tenth Glen Heritage Farms who are involved in the cross-border project. Tenth Glen Heritage Farm’s mission is to restore heritage properties and inspire others to celebrate the old ways and reimagine a sustainable future. By reviving heritage and creating opportunities for collaboration and connection they aim to build a living legacy that will continue to empower healthy and sustainable futures.
The Waterford team had the opportunity to meet with local artists, wool workers, storytellers and creatives from the area. Ideas about future collaborations were flowing – plans are being developed for a reciprocal trip to Waterford later this year.
Photo credit: Modafota
The trip was funded by Creative Communities on a Shared Island, an initiative of Creative Ireland. The project aims to develop connections between communities in Mid and East Antrim and Waterford through a variety of culture and heritage projects.
The Shared Island initiative aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island of Ireland and engage with all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared future.
Creative Communities on a Shared Island is a Creative Ireland programme which seeks to build on the experience and expertise of local authorities’ existing strategic north-south ambitions and transform them into a collaborative network across the island of Ireland. It intends to recognise and utilise the inherent creativity of all. Creative Communities – Creative Ireland Programme
Under this programme, Waterford City & County Council (WCCC) and Mid & East Antrim Borough Council (MEABC) successfully partnered on an application for a project entitled Building Shared Creative Communities. Through this funding the two local authorities will work together to foster social interaction, engagement and dialogue with local communities. The project will deliver cross border projects that support the heritage and creative sectors, examine wellbeing through the medium of sound, consider the nature of identity in literature and will create mural art in both areas to reflect the themes of the project.