Special Collections
Becoming Irish – Stories of an Indian Community
Connections between India and Ireland have been evolving since at least the 18th century but it wasn’t until after World War Two, that people from India came to Northern Ireland in significant numbers, many of them af...
In Our Time – Creating Arts Within Reach
Belfast has seen a remarkable expansion in community arts activity over the last forty years, since the 1970s, putting it at the forefront of the movement within the UK and Ireland to change the way art is seen. It ha...
Falls Women’s Centre
Personal stories from women who established a women's centre on the Falls Road in Belfast and sought to provide a space for women to feel safe and to gain advice on childbirth, abortion, marital problems, social secur...
Giros
Imagine a place of freedom and expression for young people, a place to eat at a reasonable price, a place to create art and play music. An alternative space for anyone who didn’t find the mainstream appealing. Welc...
Ná hAbair é, Déan é
This film is subtitled. Labhraíonn Séamus Mac Seáin, Seán Mac Seáin, Bríghid Mhic Sheáin agus Máire Mhic Sheáin faoina dtaithí ag fás aníos i mBéal Feirste, ag dul isteach i ngluaiseacht na Gaeilge, ag bunú Ghaelta...
The Edge of the World – Turf Lodge
In the shadow of Belfast’s Black Mountain lies the Turf Lodge housing estate, which for most of its 50 year history has been the scene of much poverty and social unrest. Originally, the estate was built to house peopl...
JB Vallely
JB Vallely was born in Armagh in 1941 and apart from a couple of years at the Belfast Art College and Edinburgh, has lived all his life in the city. He was always determined to express himself through painting. “Wh...
Joe O Donnell
Reflecting on the housing conditions of his youth, Joe O Donnell explains, “Conditions were all very similar in that they were terrible. Most of the small two bedroom terraced houses in all of the working class areas ...
Betty Carlisle
As the youngest of five children, Betty recalls fond memories of the Woodvale area of the Shankill in west Belfast as she was growing up. “It was a very community spirited area, I spent lots of time playing and felt a...
Padraic Fiacc
Poet Padraic Fiacc was born Patrick Joseph (Joe) O Connor in Belfast on Elizabeth Street in 1923. The First World War had ended and Padraic remembers that “everybody went half mad when the war was over, and my moth...
Helen Holland
Helen’s interest in getting involved in her local community came soon after she married. “Betty Rice was organising these meetings about new houses, so, I was quite interested in that. My husband used to say ‘why do y...
Aodán Mac Poilin
Aodán grew up on the Norfolk Road in west Belfast with his two sisters, his mother who was an Irish speaker and his father who worked as a civil servant. His parents were avid followers of hurling and Gaelic footba...