Ballycarry group awarded £10,000 to mark NI centenary

Ballycarry and District Community Association is one of 39 groups awarded funding to help mark the centenary of Northern Ireland.
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The local group has been awarded £10,000 through the Shared History Fund and is the only community group in the area to receive funding.

The “Ballycarry and Northern Ireland: 100 Years Together” project will help the local community group to run a shared history project which will include an exhibition of 100 objects that tell the history of the area as well as attractive new photographic murals in the centre of the village.

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There will also be a project involving local children, a family fun day, an arts event telling the story of Northern Ireland and a series of history talks.

The NI100 Centenary logoThe NI100 Centenary logo
The NI100 Centenary logo

Chairman of the community group, Billy Thompson said “We are delighted to have obtained this funding through the Northern Ireland Office and National Lottery Heritage Fund. The grant will enable an exciting programme of events to take place to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland with a local reflection and we hope to involve the entire community in our plans,”

“The centenary of Northern Ireland is a major milestone and this project will also look at the Ballycarry area through that century. We hope this will be an educational, entertaining and engaging project, which will continue until early 2022,” he said.

The Shared History Fund is a £1million fund which The National Lottery Heritage Fund is distributing on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office to mark the Centenary of Northern Ireland.

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The National Lottery Heritage Fund said that in awarding grants it prioritised those organisations which best demonstrated how they were inclusive of different audiences and interpretations of the past, in line with the Principles for Remembering.

These are a set of principles which The National Lottery Heritage Fund developed in partnership with the Community Relations Council in 2011, to help groups navigate difficult history and to ensure the stories told throughout the Decade of Centenaries were thoughtful and inclusive of a range of perspectives.

“The projects funded are diverse and cover a wide range of subjects and key moments in Northern Ireland’s history, from discovering untold stories of our past, to the development of different communities to our hopes for the Northern Ireland of the future,” the body said.

Mukesh Sharma, Chair, Northern Ireland, The National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “As a leading funder of heritage throughout the UK, we understand the central role that heritage plays in people’s lives and their communities. We also recognise that there are aspects of heritage that can be challenging.

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“However, our experience in supporting partners to navigate difficult periods in our historythroughout the Decade of Centenaries demonstrates that there is a way to engage with difficult heritage in a positive way. No one narrative is more important than another, and it’s important we create a space that allows a range of stories to be told.

The Shared History Fund, which The National Lottery Heritage Fund is distributing on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office, will support groups in marking the Centenary of Northern Ireland in 2021 in a thoughtful, inclusive and engaging way.

The fund received high levels of interest and following a competitive application and assessment process, 39 projects across Northern Ireland were awarded grants, including the Ballycarry group.

Find out more about east Antrim’s cultural and historical heritage:

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