I thought I'd better update this blog on how our first full day of filming went.
Although we had filmed some bits and pieces in County Armagh over the 12th of July period, last week we completed our first sit down interview with David McMullen from CACD. (County Armagh Community Development)
I met with David many months ago during my researching and networking for the project. He and CACD were very warm, welcoming and open. Their attitude and interest in engaging with the project was exciting, particularly after being told many times that "you'll find it very difficult to get protestants to engage".
In fact, so far, I have found quite the opposite to be true.
When we held our information session in Newtownhamilton in April, we got a good turnout and several of them were very keen to tell their personal story and experiences.
And so the development of our first film began as more people from the area agreed to participate in our project. We decided over the summer that our first film would focus on the area of Newtownhamilton, Keady and Markethill.
Some of you might question our inclusion of Markethill because it isn't that close to the border. However, the stories in the film will answer any question over this choice as many participants are from the border but now live in Markethill (12 miles from the border).
Our first filmed interview was with David. He has been working in community development for years as well as continuing his work as a part time farmer. He is also a member of the Orange Order and lives close to the border. David is excellent at giving some context to the area and the feelings and issues that have affected and continue to affect the local protestant population there.
In the afternoon, we followed him to a successful community project in Aughnagurgan Orange Hall.
CACD was instrumental in starting up the 'Thursday club' project which tours between 3 rural orange hall venues. Each one formed a committee and they are now self sufficient, separate to the Orange Lodge. They apply for their own funding when necessary and have approximately 50 attendees each week.
We filmed the tea dance and interviewed some of the people there. It was really a lovely afternoon and fantastic to see such a turn out to an event in a very rural area. More so, fantastic to see the groups' ownership of the project.
I'd like to thank David, everyone at CACD and everyone we met in Aughnagurgan. It was a truly inspiring beginning to our interviews and filming.
