Tag: Our Generation Stories
Angela Ifonlaja
Bridging communities in Belfast
Born in Nigeria, Angela’s family moved to London when she was a child. She remembers many differences between London and her homeland, most notably the British education system. “In Nigeria you move through the school...
Alan Houston
The Healthy Living Centre
Alan recalls growing up in Portstewart as an “active childhood, but you were very aware of the dangers of the environment that we were living in. There were very few opportunities if I’m honest. You worried about wher...
Denis O Hearn
Social and economic justice
Denis’s scholarly interests are in social movements, the sociology of economic change, industrialisation and transnational corporations. Denis was brought up in the middle of the New Mexico desert and remembers a c...
Jim Deery
Community development in North Belfast
Jim’s childhood was spent growing up on the Cregagh estate in east Belfast. His family moved to north Belfast when he was ten. “My fond memories of north Belfast are the Cavehill, I think it’s an underused tourist ...
Alfred Abolarin
Race relations in NI
Born in northern Nigeria, in Zaria, where he grew up, Alfred has lived in Northern Ireland for twenty years. It was the offer of a job, which brought Alfred to Belfast in the early 1990s. “I was offered a job in Ph...
Linda Bunting
Dealing with trauma
Marie Breen-Smyth, Associate Dean International, University of Surrey, talks to Linda Bunting about her husband Alex Bunting. Alex was injured in an explosion. Linda talks about the hardships she and her family have h...
Michael Paterson
A path to clinical psychology
Marie Breen-Smyth, Associate Dean International, University of Surrey talks to Dr Michael Patterson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist about the injuries he received while on patrol with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. ...
Anne McVicker
Women's Tec in Northern Ireland
Anne was born into a large family, being one of 9 children born in South Belfast. Anne spent most of her childhood growing up in the Cliftonville area in north Belfast. During her youth Anne recalls a lack of youth pr...
Catherine Couvert
Just Books and Women's News
Originally from France, Catherine grew up on a small farm. She remembers her childhood as a happy one, though living conditions were sparse. “Until I was ten, we lived in a house with one kitchen and one bedroom, a...
Mark Ervine
Talking to the mural artist
Mark’s childhood was spent growing up in the Woodstock and Ravenhill areas of east Belfast, a socially deprived area of the city, a loyalist community and one where as Mark explains ‘There was a great sense of commun...
Billy Dunlop
WW2 & the trade union movement
After a pleasant childhood spent in Delaware Street on the Ravenhill Road in east Belfast, Billy entered the world of work in the post office as a telegraph messenger at a tender age, “I started at the age of 14 years...
Bobby Foster
Highfield to Canada and back
“As a boy, Highfield was a fantastic place to grow up. We passed our time up the mountain doing the things that kids did. One of the highlights of the year was bonfire night, anything that grew on branches we were tak...