Yesterday evening members of Dalaradia attended a public meeting in the Dunanney Centre facilitated by a new community group in Rathcoole, the RATH. Community Group.

RATH is a sub group of Dalaradia and is in its infancy and merely a few months old. Various members of the local community attended with a lot of issues discussed including the groups aims and ambitions along with concerns from the wider community.

A big thank you must go to Robert Foster of the UUP and Dean McCullough of the DUP who attended as guest speakers. Also thank you to Adree Wallace for speaking on the night explaining the aims of the Fuse project, a facilitator of the RATH group.

Other groups in attendance was Rathcoole Regeneration, Newtownabbey PSNI policing team, Listening Ear and Funkykidsworkshop.

Thank you to everyone who attended and we will continue to try make a positive impact in our community. A big well done to the RATH committee, they are a credit to their community and hopefully this will be the start of great things to come for Rathcoole.

On Saturday 11th May 2019 members of Dalaradia attended a talk on the Ulster Workers Strike (UWC) at the Somme Heritage Centre, Bangor in the run up to the strikes 45th Anniversary.

A great paper by Aaron Edwards, delivered on behalf of the Messines group with some really insightful stories and a great discussion from the panel including Jim Wilson of REACH.

Yesterday 11th May, Dalaradia attended the Red Hand Comrades Association ‘D’ Company Annual Memorial parade.

The parade formed up at Drumhirk Drive and proceeded to the unique memorial garden at Owenroe Drive for a short service.

Afterwards there was entertainment in the Kilcooley Community Centre.

The patriots blood is the seed of freedoms tree.

Honor, Service, Sacrifice – Lest We Forget

This Friday 10th May evening our friends in the William Savage Memorial (Toye Flute Band) are hosting thier annual parade through the Co Down Village of Killyleagh.

The parade will begin at 7:30pm from Killyleagh Orange Hall and will take the following route through the Village:

Killyleagh Orange Hall
Frederick Street
Cross Street
Shore Street
Seaview
Irish Street
Catherine Street
High Street
Frederick Street
Killyleagh Orange Hall

All welcome.

It is Election day folks. We cannot stress enough how important it is to vote. Across the world people have died fighting for the right to vote and to be part of a democracy. To sit in the confines of your home with the destructive attitude of “politicians do nothing for me” is to ignore the very sacrifices they made for us.

We also must stress how important it is to vote all the way down the ballot paper. The MOST important thing to remember is to transfer to ALL Unionist candidates from number 1 down. Unity is strength! Under our almost unique voting system, the Single Transferable Vote (STV), it pays to vote all the way down to maximise the effectiveness of one’s ballot for and against individual candidates. Do not use an “X” or tick, this will spoil your vote. Use numbers.

By doing so, you are making your voice heard and registering your opinion on how you think your local council should operate. Local councils are responsible for a significant proportion of our public services. Whether your concerns relate to employment and housing or potholes and fly tipping, their budgets are handed to them from Westminster but it’s up to them how they are spent.

Choose wisley, choose Unionist!

Belfast City Airport are searching for Northern Ireland’s ‘Best Small Visitor Attraction’ and they need your help!

Each attraction has a chance to win £30,000 worth of free marketing support and brand visibility at the airport.

Among them is the Somme Heritage Centre where we celebrated the 100th anniversary of armistice on Remembrance Day 2018 – you can view the video using the following link – https://www.facebook.com/dalaradiagroup/videos/255553101976453?s=100001031564621&v=e&sfns=xmwa

Also among them is the Museum of Orange Heritage and the The Siege Museum, both of which we have visited and highly recommend.

In order to decide who makes it to the final stage of the competition, we would like you to vote for your favourite by ‘liking’ the image of their product within the link and photo album below.

The product image from each council area that receives the most ‘likes’ will win its place in the final. Only likes on images in this post will be counted, and not likes on images within shares of this post.

Visit www.belfastcityairport.com/TourismNI for more information on the shortlisted products.

You have until 12th May to cast your vote!

Today members of Dalaradia attended a fun day organised by one of our sub groups the – RATH. Community Group.

Unfortunately due to the bad weather it was moved inside to the City Mission, Rathcoole.

A big thank you to them for the last minute change. Also a big thanks to Funky Fun Ltd, Kyles Inflatables and donuts, EUROSPAR NI and also Tesco Newtownabbey Community for their kind donations.

The event was attended by hopeful representatives who are standing in the local elections – Robert Foster (UUP), Stafford Ward (IND), Thomas Hogg (DUP), Paul Hamill (DUP), Dean McCullough (DUP) and also Danny Kennedy (UUP) who is standing as European representative for his party.

A massive thank you to all the volunteers on the day and throughout last few weeks who have helped make the event possible.

And most importantly a huge thank you to the people of Rathcoole, we hope your enjoyed your day.

A fun day organised by the RATH. Community Group, a sub group of Dalaradia.

All are most welcome.

UPDATE: Due to adverse weather the event is now being held at the Rathcoole City Mission, Innis Avenue.