Carrickfergus Trip with the HUBB

Carrickfergus Trip with the HUBB

On Saturday 16th October Abhaile Aris made its latest trip to Belfast as part of our ongoing engagement with the HUBB group. The HUBB works for and with Loyalist ex prisoners, former combatants and their families.

The purpose of the ongoing engagements between Abhaile Aris and the HUBB is to give each group a better understanding of the others culture and heritage. The e meetings are always ably facilitated by Eamon Deane of Holywell Trust and Mick Rafferty with Patricia from CTA.

We arrived at HUBBs new offices just of the Shore Rd next to Crusaders Football Ground which they are currently in the process of renovating. Our journey together today will take us to Carrickfergus where we will be visiting Carrickfergus Castle we are also going to visit St Nicholas church which is Church of Ireland affiliated.

A church has stood at the site since 1180 it is surrounded by a graveyard were many graves are situated dating back hundreds of years and you can clearly trace the history of Carrickfergus and its inhabitants through the headstones. On display in the church is a cannon ball found in the graveyard which had been fired by the Duke of Schombergs army in the year 1689 during the siege of Carrick Castle. The Church has very long and varied history and many of the people who worshiped there were leaders of their communities.

After the visit to the Church we toured the town and then went to visit the Castle. It was the first time ever any of us had been in Carrickfergus let alone visit a Castle and Protestant church in it.

On arrival at the Castle we were met with a guide from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency who took us a tour of the castle and gave us a very in depth history lesson on the origins and cultural significance of the castle over the past eight hundred years.

On completion of our tour we moved on to the Clarion Hotel where we had refreshments and a light lunch. After lunch our facilitators Eamon Deane and Mick Rafferty facilitated discussions and carried out an evaluation around the cultural diversity work that we have been involved in these past eighteen months. All of us agreed that the process we have just come through has been of immense value and has certainly helped us in understanding and appreciating each others culture and identity. We then did some preparity work around our showcasing of our work as part of Donegal County Councils Cultural Diversity Month which is being held throughout the month of November.


Gerry Mc Monagle
Outreach Worker
Abhaile Aris