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Reminiscences Think Tank
19th February 2008
SLIG has committed to producing three booklets over three years, creating a picture of life in the Suffolk and Lenadoon Interface areas.
In 2007 we worked with well-known community historian Michael Hall producing a publication on SLIG called ‘Building Bridges At The Grassroots: The Experience of Suffolk-Lenadoon Interface Group, (Island Pamphlets No. 81). This is a compilation of first-hand accounts of the SLIG founders, including their own personal histories living on the interface, and how they came to create the interface group. The document can be found at this link:http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/islandpublications/hall07-ip81.pdf
We are now working on the second booklet, through a Reminiscences group with some older citizins in the two areas.
In June of this year, members of the SLIG team began work on the reminiscences project with senior citizens from Suffolk and Lenadoon. A group of senior citizens who meet in Suffolk Community Centre and a mixed religion group attending arts and crafts classes at SLIG participated.
The memories of the group evoked an idyllic picture of Suffolk and Lenadoon set against the beautiful backdrop of the Belfast Hills and the awe with which the participants and their young families viewed their new homes amidst rolling green fields and pristine countryside. All a far cry from the devastation later years would bring. Of course, for some, who even at a young age were committed city dwellers, the view they had was of distance and isolation so it took them longer to settle.
Recollections of the Pearl Factory and the grand Suffolk House were revelations! Who'd have thought that something as exotic as a Pearl Factory would have existed in an area which is now almost fully residential! During the sessions, thoughts meandered through experiences during the ‘Troubles' and the fear and devastation caused during the Blitz. Notably, one theme ran constantly through the sessions and that was how similar social conditions and life in general had been and still is for the participants regardless of what section of the community they call their own.
The Suffolk Lenadoon Reminiscences Pamphlet will be available from the beginning of November and is recommended reading for everyone in both communities. We will be launching the publication during October and it will also be available on our website. So watch this space!