https://k8s-accounts-01.ulster.ac.uk/repo24/files/original/d206057c38440b32d34b7003f18ea5dd.pdf 36bb3c48e5713dc996e4b425a5faef3c PDF Text Text So, you were born in ’86, which is actually in the midst of the Troubles. So as a child do you have any recollections of the Troubles? Just like ... move out of the area, whenever your parents were always very afraid to let you go far – you always had to be within eye range of your parents where if you went round the corner to the local shop you had to make sure you had your parents with you or someone else. You were conscious of that? Conscious of it, yes, but I didn’t really know why but now I know the reason why. Also like, when the RUC or the police were on patrol – our house had a big pine tree – and whenever the police would come, they would come into the garden and sit under it so we were taken into the house just in case they were shot at by any paramilitaries. So you were aware of it? Aware of it; what you didn’t realise when you were walking by the police and there were all kids running about with all your friends and stuff that when you were going over to the police you didn’t realise who they were and you were looking through their guns and stuff. The next thing you’re in the house and your mummy sees you and you get a big clip across the head. But you were talking to the police? Talking to them but we didn’t realise who they were... They were letting you look through the sights – like the aim of the gun and stuff like that. It just that growing up, me and my friends just thought, “This is a gun” as you know when people are growing up and you see guns and you this and suddenly people are amazed at something you don’t see every day but then as I grew and grew and grew I realised you had to walk by them and not say anything. Did it influence your games you played as a child? Not really. The only thing is if we were playing in the street and the police or RUC or what have you were walking about then we’d really have to probably stop what we were doing maybe for our safety and just to be aware of what’s going on around you because you didn’t know what was around the corner or anything like that. So where were you growing up? New Barnsley. We had a police station right at the bottom – Henry Taggart – was our local police station – coming and going every hour. And the riots and stuff outside it. I haven’t got a recollection of it, though my grandmother does, when they had the bin lids and stuff. She’ll tell you the story of the bin lids and the protesting and different things. When you were growing up you seen plastic bullets being fired; a friend of mine was at the top of a lamp post and got shot in the head. He’s still alive to tell the tale. It was just stuff like that when you actually just seen this. It was crazy when you’re grown up and you see young people now – if they seen that, how would it affect them? It’s just good that it’s over. �So he was up a lamp post? He was on a lamp post. He was up... I don’t know what he was doing, but he was up the lamp post and he got shot by a plastic bullet. This guy’s is about three or four years older than me – so he would have been about eleven or twelve at the time. When you look back, what do the Troubles mean to you? I don’t really know they don’t mean anything to me really but I think about people being innocently killed on both sides of the community and people fighting for what they believe in. When you look at it now – you have politicians now who have been involved in these activities but now they’re all talking together so why couldn’t that have been done so many years ago to save all the lives. You know, instead of having so many people dead on both sides. So might not really – a wee bit of fear ‘round the family when you were doing stuff. But it doesn’t really mean anything to me. You were eight years old then, when the cease-fires would have kicked in for the first time in what became known as the significant cease-fires (obviously there had been cease-fires before) do you have any recollection of that? Just whatever was on TV – you just seen the media. I think ‘round our way there wasn’t very much – you did have the protests when you had the hijackings and stuff. When you had the poke van – that one sticks in my head because when you’re a kid you all love pokes and ice cream – but it got hijacked and you had free ice cream handed to you at the top of Whiterock. The vans got hijacked and stuff like that... So you all got free ice cream? Yeah we got free ice cream. Are there no striking memories of seeing on the TV? Yeah, I just saw it on the TV, mainly. So when do you think you first had a sense of the troubles – that maybe this place was different to other places like different to Dublin or different to Paris or London? It was probably, to be honest, in primary school one day – I’m just thinking about how then you used to ask questions, but when you’re sitting in a classroom and you’re overlooking a barracks as an eyesore and you would see on TV another police station somewhere else or like the Gardai down south and you have a wee house where there’s a big massive monstrosity of an eyesore in front of a main road on Springfield Road so stuff like that really stood out. And then they had different police cars and where they have jeeps and they have cars in England and stuff like that there and just when maybe whenever the rioting was happening – you didn’t really see much rioting on TV but you seen it all here and the publicity was all about Northern Ireland or Belfast or wherever else. So there was a sense of living somewhere that was different? �Definitely, yeah; you knew the bombings and stuff and all the hoax bomb alerts and, as I say, the hijacking and burning of cars, the barriers at the bottom of your street not letting police in. I can’t really remember the policing in the area from the paramilitaries but I did hear about them. And you talked about your parents keeping a close eye on you; not letting you go too far away – keeping you in eyesight, so therefore it must have been a worrying time for their parents. Did you have much sense of that? Oh, definitely because if you go away with your friends or you go away to the local play area where your parents couldn’t see you, they’d come out looking for you – it was like signing in and out of your house; you always had to tell people where you were going and if you didn’t tell someone it was like a big uproar. I got a sense of, if people did disappear, they wouldn’t ring the police back then – a member of the community would have went to the local ‘Community for Justice’ or something like that but yeah, it definitely impacted us a lot as they weren’t adventurous, whereas nowadays you have people going into the town and stuff and socialising in town whereas you would maybe see 50-60-70 year olds staying in their local area, even local pubs socialising – they wouldn’t dream of even leaving West Belfast. When you got older, like as a teenager, when you started to be old enough to socialise go out and about – by that time did you go into the city centre? Yeah, but you always hung about in your own area but I think as it went on people got more confident and if you heard if one of your friends was in the town – that was brilliant. It made you confident and it made you want to explore where you are and what else was out there. And then you’re meeting the other community, you’re meeting different communities and ethnic minorities and you ask yourself, “What was all the fuss about in the first place?” It was about that stage the Good Friday agreement had come along there was a more peaceful society. Yea, you had people from all over the world starting to come when you’re 19 or 20 and I just had a good buzz about the whole of Belfast and going into the town and feeling safe and stuff. So if you’re saying this is about the time you were 20, so that would be 2006 which is kind of – so you’ve a real sense that the town is different then. Yeah, I don’t know. See, my grandparents were from the markets so we would have spent our time in the markets which you would only have referred to as the markets, the ‘markets’ as in St Georges market – he would have went there as my great-grandfather was a fruit man. But that’s all we would have really seen of the town. What I remember is my granddad walking into town and out – nowadays he wouldn’t walk. Even going to the Orange parades – coming into town to the markets, watching all these bands – I didn’t have a clue what was going on – he would just abandon me – so I’m sure there’s pictures somewhere. But the atmosphere and everything’s changing –big time – around the place. The bars were opening and the night clubs and stuff were very good; people were really enjoying themselves instead of staying with their own company – people were actually socialising better and enjoying it. �Though I think people then at my age didn’t really realise about it and so maybe that kicks on and I think maybe it has kicked on from then. That sort of takes me to the question in terms of how do you think the Troubles have actually shaped your life? They shaped my life... around our area there was a lot of youth clubs and stuff like that, so we would go to the youth clubs a lot so your parents would know that you were safe. So, seeing that there and staying in my own community and staying in my own school – I think it made people want to do it better for the future of Belfast and Northern Ireland. I do think it’s shaped my life working here in Forsthspring – a cross-community place - and trying to do it better for both sides of the community and even ethnics. **** concentrate on what I want more and to be a youth worker and to go as far as a youth worker can go. I don’t think it’s hindered me in any way – I think maybe the young people before me have been hindered by the Troubles as in... a lot of them wouldn’t have really wanted to come into the area – like I still know people who wouldn’t even leave the Springfield Road. So, I think there are people who shut away and maybe don’t know what’s out there at the time and don’t know what was good for them. And if you look, on the other hand, my great-grandfather emigrated to other countries – sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst – it has happened. How do you see the future? I’d say – I’m 27 now – I’d say between the ages of 21 and 25 it was looking very bright and really good; I thought everything was going in the right direction but now I don’t know where it’s going to go because there’s different things happening and the politicians aren’t strong enough. I don’t feel they’re actually developing the country now. Do you think there’s an element of sliding back? Aye there is a wee small bit. Sometimes I think they’re using scare tactics and stuff like that there and stuff like that but I just hope that they can come to the solution of going forward and stuff like that. That would be your wish? Hopefully, yeah. What would you like to see in the future? I’d like to see some of the peace walls getting smaller – I’m not saying taken away because maybe people’s safety would be at risk. I’d also like to see more inter-community schools and youth clubs like Forthspring – to provide more money for them. Hopefully people could live together – that would be another wish. It would be good if people could respect each other more. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 5 Decades Project (<em>collection</em>) Description An account of the resource "<strong>Forthspring</strong> has worked since 1997 to build relationships between neighbouring Protestant and Catholic communities in West Belfast. The <strong>5 Decades Project</strong> grew out of a desire to examine these communities' very different experience of living through the 'Troubles', with the goal of developing a shared, but not agreed, account of the conflict and its impact.<br /> Experiences and memories were gathered through storytelling in small groups from the same community background, roughly structured around the 5 decades beginning with the 1960s. There were also opportunities to share and hear stories from other communities. Over 150 people have taken part." <br /> Forthspring 5 Decades Project. (2014). 'Talking About The Troubles'. (Rear cover) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Forthspring Inter Community Group Stories Collected Non DC - Number of stories recorded as part of the project. 20+ interviews (leading to 80 stories in the published book) Stories Deposited Non DC - Number of stories deposited with Accounts of the Conflict. 6 Collection Permission Form Non DC - Collection permission form signed and returned. Yes (signed 12 November 2014) Delayed Access Non DC - Yes/No on request for delayed access. No Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Publication A book, article, monograph etc. Author Author of the publication Michael Date Type Publication, Submission, Completion date etc. 2014 Publication Title Full title of publication, as it appears on item. Transcript of audio interview. Publication Status Published, in Press, Unpublished, etc. Unpublished Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Untitled Story</em><span>, by Michael (</span><em>story transcript</em><span>)</span> Description An account of the resource Transcript (PDF) of the audio recording of interview with Michael which was recorded as part of the 5 Decades Project. The project was conducted by Forthspring Inter Community Group. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Forthspring Inter Community Group Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF version of transcript Language A language of the resource English Availability Online Non DC - Availabilty Status (deposited, delayed, external, cain) deposited Catalogue ID Non DC - ID for the Catalogue entry that relates to this entry 2231 5 Decades Forthspring