In April we participated in a week-long international arts and cultural programme hosted by the British Council Northern Ireland called Peace and Beyond 2023: The Role of Arts in Divided and Polarised Societies to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
How we ended up in a segment on MSNBC's Morning Joe, along with Bob Geldof, Malachi O'Doherty and a Belfast punk outfit called Gender Chores!
Belfast artist Colin Davidson's exhibition 'Silent Testimony' is on show at the Long Gallery in Stormont until the 30th of April, so we took the opportunity to revisit this powerful series of paintings.
We were recently approached by BBC Newsline's Sara Girvin with a great idea she had for a feature on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. She wanted to take a group of young people from the "Peace Generation" (born after the agreement was signed in 1998) on a trip across Belfast to find out how they felt about the changes that have taken place in Belfast over the last 25 years.
For the handful of you that have read my previous blog about going to Leisureworld every Saturday in the 70s and 80s, as well as my unrequited love for Lynda Carter, you will know I grew up in the Holylands [...]
This week sees the 50th anniversary of Bloody Friday. The most violent day of the most violent month of the most violent year of the Troubles.
Very simply being a civilian bus driver or conductor here was an incredibly dangerous job. And just being a passenger on a bus could be a very dangerous ‘activity’.
The DC Tours phone rang on Monday, and I answered professionally and courteously as usual. Nadia, a pleasant woman with a posh London accent, quickly explained that BBC Breakfast wanted to interview me as a Belfast tour guide and historian about the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’.
The sprouts have wreaked (reeked?) their havoc, the remaining turkey has been curried and the tree shoved back up its hole, it is time to reflect on the Christmases past. Every year should be a learning year and whilst it has been an ‘annus horriblis’ to borrow a phrase, this year I have learned several things
Donzo's blog about the lost cinemas of Belfast
Donzo interviews his Ma about Belfast's nightlife before the Troubles really got started...
Belfast is famous for its murals, many of which commemorate or memorialise the victims of the Troubles. But why are there so few memorials in the city centre, where so many of the attacks happened?