The residents have for a long time had to deal with parking issues in their quiet street and the thought of more cars being brought into the area is just a nightmare for them the plan includes the demolition of a corner house to enable Limetree to put a driveway through to the apartments that they are planning to build,the need for Limetree to speak with the residents of Denorrton Park has not been proposed by Limetree they just seem to want to walk over people who have lived in Denorrton Park for many years.

It seems that no one cares how people feel we are told by our planning service that contacts have been made with the residents but that seems to be a total waste of time as the residents views don’t seem to matter when it comes to developments being planned and built the views of residents who have lived in the area that are being affected does not count for anything the Northern Ireland Planning Service seem to be on the side of the Developers all the time no matter what the consequences are for the area or the residents who live in it.

Northern Ireland seems to favour the Developer and our councils and MLAs seem to go along with what is happening instead of them changing policy they seem just to pass the problem on to different departments and end up doing nothing to stop the destruction of an area,yet it seems that they as law makers can do nothing and powerless to halt what is going on.yet in other parts of the UK and Ireland they would not let happen what is happening in Northern Ireland.

Residents rights are being walked over and its being called progress yet we see areas like Denorrton Park being changed for ever just to please the planners and the developers Northern Ireland needs to stop this sleep walking and wake up and see just what is going on in our towns and suburbs before all our built heritage is wiped off the map just to give developers a cash windfall, when do we say no to planners when do we see our MLAs and councilors changing the planning laws to protect our areas and residents homes when do we see our assembly making laws to encourage developers to think about other options other than demolition of properties or to preserving them.

The Planning service must be accountable to someone in the decisions it makes it can not look at a plan and say this will work without going out and seeing an area and listening to the people who live in it they can not carry out a survey from their office desk,the need for them to view the site is important and to look at the areas that could be wrecked if the development was to go ahead the need for control in the planning service is vital and the need to protect our environment for are children is vital.

Our MLAs and our Councilors should be held to account if this development is given the green light it is not good enough for Limetree to say that these apartments are being retirement apartments when their plans clearly show they intend to destroy the habitat that has taken years to grow it is not good enough to amend plans by removing habitat and wildlife and then claim they are ECO Friendly when clearly they will be destroying local habitat to shoehorn apartments into a site that is not suitable for this type of development our MLAs and Councilors must step in and fight to protect the habitat and the only piece of green belt that is left in the Sydenham Area.

Green Issues are fought for all over Europe but once more we see Northern Ireland seems not to care about green issues we see residents taking time to protect trees and habitat in an area by going to the planning service to deem them protected yet they tell you that this will not stop them from being cut down surely this is a nonsense of trying to protect any habitat when a law that residents try to use has no teeth once more Northern Ireland’s Assembly should be protecting the green spaces for our children and making laws that discourage developers from destroying local habit without looking at it and using it to

enhance the development.

Laws that protect green spaces are not new they are made in every other country in Europe and the united states yet our MLAs and Councilors seem to be walking round with blinkers on regarding this important issue maybe if it affected them at the ballot box they would pay more attention and listen more to the residents that they have been elected to serve the need for them to stand up and be counted in issues like this should be looked at by residents as a vote winner or as a vote loser many residents must be looked at as people who have invested a lot of money into their homes and have chosen to live were they are, residents have and must have the same rights that is granted to others simply to be ask what they want in their areas and their answers to be listened to

Laws are made to protect and to safe guard the rights of others we in Northern Ireland seem to walk over the basic right of living where you want and to live in peace but our laws don’t seem to protect residents who have chosen where they want to live and have invested lots of money in their homes only to see it destroyed at will without protection that is given to others the protection of private residents needs to be looked at and overhauled and need to be weighted in favour of the residents who already live in an area the planning service must be held to account in the decisions it makes and the old mantra that its not the planning service makes the decision its the councilors and the councilors say its not the councilors its the planning service.

Like the residents of Dennorton Park its their rights that seem to have been walked over departments seem not to want to listen to them on a basic issue like the right to live in peace and the right to live where they want without the threat of their habitat being changed at will without any sort of protection being granted to them or even given the right to consult with the developers who are planning to change their area for ever

To claim they are eco friendly is a joke when they are planning so much destruction of part of our green belt they seem not to care about what the residents in the area want they dont care about how the residents feel about the private driveway they have planned for the entrance of the site they seem to don’t want to listen to peoples concerns many of the people have lived in their homes for many years the site entrance is on to Denorrton Park it is not on a major road it is only a side street of the major Holywood Road that has enough problems with parking and cars parking on the footpaths this Development will bring more traffic to this very quite street and will add to the problems for the residents of the park.

Northern Ireland Planning Service should step back and learn the mistakes from the past the need for them to listen to local residents who already live in the area should have protection from developments like this, when the planning office must see that this development is being shoehorned into a site that is far from suitable and the planning service know the feeling of the residents in Denorrton Park they also seem to have forget to ask the residents of the Palmerston Road how they feel about this development as it will mean overlooking issues Bunkers hill looks over the Palmerston Road and any development would cause major problems for them but the Planning Service seem not to care about the feeling of residents on the Palmerston Road that such a major change to the habitat is being railroaded through behind their backs and have not any say in what may cause major problems in the future for them as well as make a difference in how they feel living in an area that trees will be replaced with apartment blocks and their privacy will be compromised by this development and the opening of the floodgates to other developers moving into the area offering huge amounts of money to residents to move out. To enable them to build more apartments because the Northern Ireland Planning Service can not protect or preserve the heritage of the residents who have lived in the area and bring their children up in the homes it will cause a huge change for the residents they will be expected to live with overlooking issues where once their homes looked out on a hill covered in green habitat and if the flood gates open it will mean for the residents that apartments will take the place of homes and mean people looking down on them day and night

We ask the Northern Ireland Planning Service to look after the rights of the residents from the Palmerston Road who’s privacy is being compromised if the Northern Ireland Planning Service do not stand up for their rights of privacy it would be a great miss justice to them we ask the Northern Ireland Planning Service to carry out a proper survey in the area to include residents from Denorrton Park,Palmerston Road,Larkfield Park,Palmerston Park,Victoria Road,all residents that would be affected if this green belt was removed to make way for developments if the flood gates were to open causing a domino effect along this only part of green belt that is left in the Sydenham Area that is so important to the residents

We ask Harry Roston Architect Ltd and Limetree Retirement Homes to meet the residents of the area and give them their chance to speak with the reps in the area before these amended plans are put in place and action taken to start any development at this site some of our residents are in their retirement and have lived in the area for most of their married life or it is married children of the retired please think of how this development and any future developments would have on their lives

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A major part of the Titanic Quarter Development involves trading upon the heritage of Harland and Wolff and the Titanic itself. As host to the largest shipbuilding industry in the world, along with related industries, Belfast’s maritime and engineering heritage is notable.

Such is the enthusiasm of the civic authorities for this project, it has received no small amount of public funding: “Helping Belfast rediscover that ‘Titanic Town’ heritage, Titanic Quarter, Belfast Harbour Commissioners and the Northern Ireland Executive have committed £65m to create the £90m landmark Titanic Signature building at the head of the Titanic’s slipway,” states the development website.

However, there are a great number of residents of historic Belfast neighbourhoods that needed no reminding of their heritage. Indeed, these neighbourhoods have been proud of their Titanic Town heritage for generations. They seek to secure this heritage for subsequent generations: “History belongs to us and our children to give them something to look up to and respect, let them see how great Northern Ireland industry was and how it leads the world in shipbuilding, ropemaking, Aircraft and Engineering, we are only a small nation of six counties but a world leader in so many fields. We need to protect our heritage now to enable us to leave it to our children,” reads one entry in the Palmerston Residents’ Association website (PRA).

However, the residents of the Sydenham area in particular are to be denied the chance to mark the role of their neighbourhood in maritime history. The feeling among the residents of Sydenham is that the imperatives of developers – and the politicians in awe of them – have been allowed to trump the lived lives of communities. Continuity, substance, integrity, authenticity have been denied in what feels like conquest rather than development.

Between October 2007 and February 2008, the PRA were involved in an exchange of letters with the Department of the Environment, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister trying to secure the future of an important site in their area. That site housed two cottages and all that remained of ‘The Den’, a residence of Gustav Wolff, co-founder of the Harland and Wolff shipyard and Belfast Ropeworks.

Despite having a building protection notice (BPN) issued on the building on July 17^th 2008, the cottages were demolished without further contact between DoE/NIEA and residents. Moreover, residents learned of a meeting having taken place just two days prior to the cottages’ destruction involving one resident of the Station Road in Sydenham, the developer of the site and an MLA. Terry Hooey of the PRA was left asking: “Who was at that meeting? Why did a heritage office that wanted to preserve these properties change overnight on the say-so of one person? Why was that allowed to happen?”

Despite repeated requests for full disclosure on just what happened, the residents never received an explanation of the reversal of the BPN. The Association smelled a rat, but the dirty work had apparently been done.

When contacted by Naomi Long, on behalf of the residents, Sammy Wilson explained the decision in terms of building regulation in the form of PPS6: “The structures were indeed part of [Wolff’s] now gone estate known as ‘the Den’. However…though of interest, this was not sufficient grounds upon which to protect the buildings. It did not make the buildings objects of special historical interest”.

The question is – to whom were these features not relevant? Sammy Wilson? The Lisburn-based developers who then owned the site, Somerton Limited? Certainly they were relevant to the residents: “You should have seen those cottages. They were beautiful. It took craftsmen to create them, and in a matter of an hour they were gone,” said Terry Hooey.

At various consultation meetings, the residents group assembled to defend their area. They were met with incredulity. The residents were dismissed, simply being told that they were standing in the way of progress. The residents were being managed as a problem, not engaged with as relevant parties. With no reference to wider consultation, we cannot know how much further afield such interest might have stretched. Indeed, the PRA believed that: “In those cottages we had a potential heritage site for a global audience, right on our doorstep. They could have been incorporated into the main Titanic Project at the Harland and Wolff site and could have helped to put the great area of Sydenham, back on the world map.”

The only representative working for the residents, in their eyes, was The Alliance Party’s Naomi Long, who unflinchingly took their views as her starting point. This was something Sammy Wilson of the DUP was felt to have failed to do. Subsequently, and following further separate development scandals involving DUP top brass, Naomi Long went on to oust Peter Robinson as MP for East Belfast after his 30+ year reign. One can only speculate as to whether these events were related.

Apart from the Wolff cottages in Sydenham, there is also the deeply felt pride over the heritage of the ropeworks, not to mention the aviation and engineering history of the area. These six counties led the world in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and aviation. The idea that developers seem to have is that heritage is detachable from communities as a commodifiable economic resource. Links to heritage are merely to be exploited as marketing tools. This is what risks actual heritage. The risk is a developer’s idea of heritage unlinked to reality – an economic centre devoid of texture or substance.

Local artist and commentator Daniel Jewesbury is an outspoken critic of unreflective development. “It’s all about this whole neoliberal imperative to unlock the potential, the capital potential, of the built environment. We’ve got more and more complicated financial instruments for turning property development into spectacular returns and you can get a much more impressive return through building something new that nobody particularly wants, necessarily,” he said.

What are the driving qualities of development that shows such scant regard for actual history and culture? Is development aimed at creating retail areas – economic zones – or at improving and building upon existing legacies of the past and the rightful pride of living, breathing, organically developed communities?

Professor of urban geography at Queen’s University, Steve Royle, sees parallels with the present in the past: “We had this when they did Lanyon place. The people of The Markets said ‘is this for us, are we going to get jobs? Can we make anything of this?’ The answer was basically ‘no’. There was nothing for the Markets people in the Hilton Hotel and all the other stuff round there. So, it’ll be the same in the Titanic Quarter,” he said.

In the eye of the developer, cities and communities are blank canvasses upon which ‘visions’ can be realised. In reality, they are homes, workplaces, leisure areas – social settings with history. Who benefits from the imposition of a vision on an area thought of as blank? Surely not those uprooted and displaced. Those who remain, meanwhile, are left feeling slighted. They feel disenfranchised— that without the stories to tell their children of the history, their children have been disinherited somehow. What’s more, when the people go, the tangible ties to the past – the heritage – goes with it.

The damage can be more than architectural, moreover, according to Rita Harkin of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society: “I think it’s giving a sense of history, but in terms of our mental well-being it’s that sense of continuity that things aren’t just disposed of. That you’re building up layers and layers and layers of memories and that’s where your sense of a connection to a place comes from,” she said.

With nothing to evidence the pride that an area such as Sydenham has, how can future generations feel connected to an area? Why, when not connected would they care for an area? As the flags fly from various residences in East Belfast, it seems clear that the vacuum left by the disrespect for this hugely significant part of Belfast’s history will be filled by the easy yet dangerous identifications with tendentious accounts of the past. The pride of world leadership in engineering and manufacturing will be alien to the next generation, replaced by the usual thrill of throwing bricks at the other side.

The broader context of shipbuilding, ropeworks and the associated industries includes where the workers lived, worked, played. The past isn’t just that one harbour region – that’s a developer’s artifice. Moreover, Harland and Wolff wasn’t just the Titanic. However there is simply no appetite, owing to the economic imperatives of retail-led development, to genuinely reinvigorate communities or to pay homage to the past of an area. There is just the drive to zone and build, to unlock the economic value of the region whether that comes at the cost of other values or not.

In terms of retail-led development, diluting the traffic is to be avoided and it’s what would happen if the area – not just the site – were to be promoted. If the heritage were respected and faithfully developed rather than the idea of it formed through an economic lens, retail models projected for the development site could indicate certain lower than optimal returns. The link with Berry Street in the city centre is illuminating.

Originally, the Berry Street wall was built to divide west from east Belfast as a security measure. However, despite the ‘new dispensation’ following paramilitary ceasefires, the DSD keeps the dividing wall as a result of retailers’ stated fears over ‘leakage’ from predictable shopping routes. Were the wall to fall, established models of consumer activity might need to be reformulated. How much more stark an illustration of the influence of private retail imperatives on public bodies, their willingness to acquiesce under such influence and the limits this syndrome place upon the possibilities for individual choices could there be?

“Nobody has really had to learn how to run a city just because all any of us have ever had to learn was what flag was flying where. So to give them anything else like how to run a city how to run a council, they’re lost in that. They cannot think for themselves,” says Terry Hooey of our politicians.

Into this gap, moreover, fall the developers, the retailers, the consultants. Nowhere in the list of concerns for these privately interested parties is the public good. Elected representatives are supposed to do what Naomi Long does – represent the people and what’s good for their interests. What we have illustrated in this Sydenham debacle is the cavalier and ill-informed manner in which those at the top fail to do this.

Given the recent revelations regarding DRD and NI Water; amid whisperings of NIE failings and many more to come, this seemingly indicates a capability deficit at the height of power in Northern Ireland, both at the individual and departmental level. It will be future generations that suffer the consequences.

Years of political violence have yielded to years of feckless leadership. A cultural void could result in another lost generation as rootlessness creates disaffection. Without capable leadership, consultation at the local level is even more important than when the people at the top are the brightest sparks. Only through public opinion taken seriously can the lie of the land be determined and accountability maintained. Only with accountability does legitimacy arise. Without clarity on the processes of planning and the working of agencies such as DSD and DoE, there can be little hope that what Terry Hooey regards as the crime of Wolff’s cottages’ demolition won’t be played out again and again, in your place and mine.

Dr Stephen Rainey
Tutor, QUB

This is the site where two cottages once stood at 2-4 Station Road Sydenham Belfast Northern Ireland, the last remaing part of the Gustav Wilhelm Wolff estate known as the Den. Northern Irelands Shipbuilding History lies in a heap once cottages that could have become part of the shipbuilding history of Northern Ireland and part of a major tourist industry were demolished at 7-00am one morning to make way for apartments that have never been built, the Developer has never been back to the site to clear it or to ensure it is made safe by removing the rubble that was once two historical cottages of the like that has never been seen before in Northern Ireland.

Gustav Wilhelm Wolff was born in Hamburg, Germany in November 1834 Wolff was taken on as a full partner of Harland in 1862 the name of the Belfast Shipyard Changed to Harland and Wolff. the cottages were an asset to Northern Ireland, the decision taken to allow them be demolished was very short sighted even though the connection was there, questions have to be answered as to why two cottages that held so much history for Northern Ireland were demolished and left in a pile of rubble, as can be seen in our photograph above what was the urgency to demolish the cottages at 7-00am in the morning, then leave the cottages as they fell,who gave the go-ahead to let this happen,why was the go-ahead given before residents in the area were told it was going to take place.

The cottages meant so much to the community of Sydenham and was part of the history. why was the community not involved in any decisions taken to demolish the cottages removing the only remaining link to Harland and Wolff  shipbuilders and Gustav Wilhelm Wolff, the cottages were also a vital link to our children’s history the Sydenham Community want answers.The Shipyard of Harland and Wolff has meant so much to the larger Sydenham area as so many fathers and sons from the Sydenham area worked for the company that vital link has now been broken, and the need to have our children’s history safe guarded is the main aim of the Palmerston Residents Association.We look at the Titanic Quarter as not having a shipping history it may take the name of a liner that was built in the shipyard but that is all it achieves.

Harland and Wolff has built many ships and liners they were the world best they employed a lot of Northern Ireland people yet this is not marked in any way at the Titanic Quarter, so many people worked and died at Harland and Wolff none of which have been remembered in any way at all, even to have named  buildings after Sir Edward Harland, Gustav Wilhelm Wolff and William James Pirrie.  Great ships were built but are no part of the Titanic Quarter, names we should never forget the  SS Canberra, Seillean and Olympic, yet they are forgotten. We also seem to have forgotten the names of the Passengers and the workers who lost their lives on the Titanic.

2-4 Station Road would have been the community museum of Harland and Wolff for our children’s history, yet it lies in ruins the Palmerston Residents Association chairman Terry Hoey would like to meet with Sammy Wilson of the DUP to talk over some of his concerns regarding the demolition of the cottages to enable the Residents Association to get the answers they need.  

The Station has come on well since being community adopted 2years ago by the Palmerston Residents Association for the whole Community of Sydenham, the intention is to turn the station into a visitor attraction and show visitors and everyday commuters who use the station that we care for where we live, and that the Community are proud of their station and surrounding area. We would hope to have a Christmas Tree at the station this year to help bring a festive and community atmosphere to the area.

Once More Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year and we look forward to the Trans Link,Tourist Board, Ulster in Bloom Festival 2011

We have seen so many projects in Northern Ireland that would have helped the economy being lost due to bad decisions, unfortunately we just seem to accept it as if it does not matter. We will never become a big player if this is the attitude, there are to many countries trying to get themselves out of the dark ages and  governments are fighting for every inch that will make their country and their people prosper,Our government spends tax payers money going to St Patricks day in America to entice companies to invest in Northern Ireland, what is the point we as a country could be saving this money and spending it somewhere else for the good it is doing us.

Northern Ireland has lost so many opportunities it is mind blowing, we only have to look at the Olympic games every other country in the world is fighting to have the games brought to their country as they see the benefits, it brings Jobs,visitors,media, and money,We have had so many opportunities to get on that band wagon and show the rest of the world that Northern Ireland has really forgot the past and yes we are open for business, but as we all have seen this just was not the case for Northern Ireland, the loss to the economy is mind blowing to think what it would have brought to a part of Northern Ireland that is crying out for jobs and business to invest.

Our politicians cannot seem to grasp the idea they are in power  to govern Northern Ireland and make decisions on behalf of the people who elected  them, they are in power to make our economy grow and become stronger to give the people of Northern Ireland a more prosperous life with better jobs and better wages,  we are also seeing the John Lewis store that would also bring jobs and money to the Northern Ireland economy, once again we see they cannot make a decision on this  we must ask the question if our MLAs are in power to govern why do they not do it. Will we see yet further job losses and damage to our economy before we start asking the vital questions like when will they make the proper decisions for the people of Northern Ireland and its economy.

We now she just how bad its becoming for Northern Ireland and its people the decision that Ryan has taken should not come as a big shock to people, what company in their right mind would give as much time as Ryan Air has, For a decision on a extension to a runway of just 500mtrs, other cities are expanding their airports and willing to do so because they know it is right for the economy of the Country, yet we see once more our politicians cannot seem to see it is vital to extend the runway to enable  companies like Ryan Air to bring more business to Northern Ireland, our tourist industry is crying out for more tourism, the country is crying out for more jobs and yet our Politicians cannot make the decision.

George Best Belfast City Airport should and must be given all the support it needs from our politicians  to expand the runway or the airport as it is vital to the economy of Northern Ireland.  We hear cries that we have the international airport and planes should be diverted to there, just what is the thinking behind this we should be excited by the fact that we now have two major airports in Northern Ireland as it proves we need them both, there must be a need if both airports are moving passengers through them,  Some times decisions have to be taken by politicians that the electorate will not like but this is why politicians are in the job to take leadership and make decisions for the good of the country.  Extending a runway should be the decision of our politicians and not to hide behind the planning service,  they must look at the bigger picture and that must be for all of the electorate and the economy of Northern Ireland.

The politicians must show leadership they cannot sit back and expect others to make the hard decisions for them in case it may not go down well with their electorate, that is what politics is all about, the decision to let Ryan Air give up its slots to the UK were wrong and will effect the economy and jobs in Northern Ireland.  A meeting should be called by the Northern Ireland Assembly to clear the road blocks to make the runway extension happen for the good of the economy of the whole of Northern Ireland, and remove the damage that has already been done by having a major company like Ryan Air pull out of an airport like George Best Belfast City Airport.                    

There has been a lot of changes within the Alliance Party people have moved on and changed jobs I think the biggest change has been Naomi Long taking up her  Westminster seat,  Chris Lyttle has now moved on to stand as East Belfast MLA and Laura McNamee selected to replace Naomi Long on Belfast City Council. I really do hope everyone will settle into their new positions and with the moves give the Alliance party a bigger foothold within East Belfast we had a great MLA in Naomi and she will be greatly missed by us all.

Chris Lytle has worked along with Naomi Long for some time now, he always was a very hard worker on the ground for the Alliance Party and was forever present at all meetings from the PACT meetings to our own residents meetings. We wish Chris well as an MLA and hope he gets full support from the people of east East Belfast,I also send our best wishes to Laura McNamee and we look forward to working with her on any council business the residents association may have. This is a time of real change for the residents association in many ways.

Sydenham has come a long way since we first started the residents association fighting for our area to stay as we all know it to be, but as we have seen over the years every site we had to fight over is now up for sale again including 2-4 Station Road, this is not a time for the residents association to just sit back and think it is all over and we no longer need to fight for our area, to be complacent is wrong, as the sites that are up for sale are now being sold with planning permission, we need to make sure that any new planning proposals are again looked at for any changes to the plans where the quantity and dimensions to buildings may have changed and maybe not for the better.

Palmerston Residents Association will be looking for more members, and to expand our area, we also need to have more volunteers in the group to make the association more flexible for us all, we need people who would be willing to sit on different groups such as ACNs, PACT,Belfast City Airport Forum and Neighbourhood Watch, we have seen how important it is to have members on these groups as it enables us to have greater feedback, the need to have members on the PACT panel is vital for the policing of the area.

Palmerston Residents Association are to change the way it works, we need to change to meet the needs of our area, to put emphasis on the change to suit the times we are living in, this is going to be a very exiting time for us all with lots of new ideas on how the association is run and how we face the new challenges that will come in the next few years.      

Disability Action is currently looking for disabled people and carers to take part in a pilot Products Working Group. Can you help us spread the word?

The Products Working Group will be made up of a range of people including: people with disabilities, manufacturers, representatives from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and other professionals.

This group may look at a range of products including:

1. Shower/s- Shower seat or aid

2. Baths – Bath aid or seat

3. Lifts

4. Ramps

If you would like to share your experiences on these products or perhaps suggest a new product /adaptation then the Products Working Group could be the place for you. The pilot will take place between September and December 2010.

How to take part in the Products Working Group Pilot

For further information on how to take part please contact our administrator Laura Cleland.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards

Laura Cleland

Housing Project

Disability Action

Portside Business Park

189 Airport Road West

Belfast, BT3 9ED

Ph 028 90 297880
Fax 028 90 297881
Text 028 90 297882

Email  lauracleland@disabilityaction.org

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Everyone in the Community of Sydenham have lost a big chunk of history that could never be replaced by anyone, the cottages have now lay in a pile of rubble for over a year,  another waste land to add to the others within the Sydenham area, the developer  could not wait to have the cottages demolished in the early hours of the morning to leave them as a pile of rubble, yet we see now by this story of how a memorial for Jack Phillips is to be restored and cared for, while we had cottages where the founder of Harland and Wolff had lived only to be wiped of the face of the earth.

The Palmerston Residents association feels that no stone should be left unturned until we get to the facts of just what went on with the the two cottages that are now rubble,questions have to be answered as to why this happened who was the person who decided to let them be demolished at the time? when ever they meant so much to the history of Northern Ireland,  we need to know the facts to enable this to never happen again, we have also  received information that the Titanic anchor procession is to be repeated.

It seems that other communities in England are showing more support for our industrial history that we do ourselves, Crowds of people are expected to turn out in Netherton where the original anchor was forged at the former Noah Hingley & Sons iron works, the report states twenty shire horses will tow a replica of the Titanic anchor into the Black Country where the original was made 99 years ago, it states the reproduction 15 and three quarter ton will  feature in a five part television programme the anchor cost about £40,000 to produce

Northern Ireland has so much to be proud of and for a small region within the united kingdom is steeped in so much industrial history we should be shouting it from the roof tops, it was our fathers and mothers who worked in our industrial past,  yet it is forgotten about just as if it never took place come on Northern Ireland wake up and see what other countries are doing with our industrial past, yet we sit back and do nothing

Sydenham Community Station is still moving on as you see in our photos our raised planters are now in place, work is still going on but very slow and steady due to the problems that occur along the way, regarding the project I felt when I started working at the garden it would be plain sailing,  unfortunately it has been far from that. I have had endless obstacles that I keep hitting, from Electric Cables underground, the Foundations of the old sweet shop that once stood on the site called Davis News agents.

The old shop floor and foundations are on the outer side of the site at the fencing, this will be the entrance of the new garden, it has been hard work digging to try and get things right. I decided to work on the site my self to get it to a point where all the hard work would be over, leaving only the planting out to be done by volunteers.  I had hoped that by doing it myself it would cut the cost of the project down and also keep the project safe this has been accomplished I am very glad to say.

Our site was broken into and some damage done, our cement mixer was overturned and damaged , our water butt had a hole put in it  this was something that you could not see until you started filling it with water.  We had eight plants ripped out  and stolen from the garden we planted last year along the frontage of the station,  making a large hole in our show of plants for this years Belfast in Bloom Festival. The station seems to be coming to the attention of antisocial behaviour since the garden has been started.

We never thought it would have caused any problems as we felt it was making the area better for the community of Sydenham, and make it a lasting impression on our visitors.  This garden is for everyone and to give us all something better to look at, it was after all only a piece of waste land turned into a community garden. What  really gets to me is the plants being taken by someone who knows this is a community garden, my instincts tell me it is not young people doing this, it is someone who wants them for their own garden, so it must be a  so called (grown up) who likes a garden but will not pay for the plants he/she wants to have.

We say to the plant thief shame on you, do you not see what you are doing you are taking from your community you are also turning the frontage of the station into a waste land once more. We ask you to to rethink what you are doing and refrain from doing it think of the community who want to have a nice place to live and you are stopping that from happening. I would remind you that all work that is being done at the station is being done to help people in the area have pride in where they live. all this work is being done for free and our plants have been given to the community

The garden will be finished and will look well, I would like to thank all the people who pass by and ask how things are going. I am pleased that so many people are taking an interest in the garden and cannot wait until its completed,  it makes the effort all worth while and lets you see just how many people in the area want to have a nice place to live.