Ulster Giants cameras go underground at Carrickfergus mines

Presenter Joe Mahon goes deep underground to the salt mines at Carrickfergus. He explores how modern engineers access the remains of an ancient sea that once stretched all the way from here to Russia.

Since 1965 The Irish Salt Mining and Exploration Company has been bringing some 500,000 tons of salt to the surface each year for distribution throughout Ireland, the UK and elsewhere.

That salt is used to lower the freezing point of water on our roads so it’s an industry that’s entirely dependent on our fickle weather system.

Ulster Giants is produced by Westway Film Productions for UTV.

You can watch this episode on Monday at 8pm on UTV and on catch up on www.itv.com/utvprogrammes.

Meanwhile, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has been announced as the official sponsor of the series. It comes as hundreds of hospitality and tourism businesses and attractions across the borough reopen to the public following the Covid-19 lockdown period.

The Mayor, Councillor Peter Johnston, said: “Alongside celebrating Northern Ireland’s built heritage and infrastructure, Ulster Giants showcases some of the province’s most breath-taking scenery and areas of outstanding natural beauty, many of which can be found right here across Mid and East Antrim.

“As a council, we are committed to doing everything we can to proudly showcase our compelling tourism offering of destinations, attractions and activities along the Causeway Coastal Route.

“Our decision to sponsor this hugely popular UTV series does exactly this and forms part of our wider tourism strategy and post-Covid recovery plan, led by our Hospitality and Tourism Recovery Task Group.”

The group is working collaboratively to deliver a recovery plan to restore and sustain growth in the industry in the aftermath of the emergency. This has included establishing a range of practical support interventions focused on delivering solutions to the immediate needs of businesses in the borough.

Council’s sponsorship of Ulster Giants forms part of a bespoke, phased marketing and communications plan that will target specific market segments such as ‘staycations’, day-trippers and visitors from Great Britain and Ireland, aligned to evolving government guidance.

Ads airing during each episode of the series have been specially commissioned by the local authority to showcase attractions including The Gobbins, Portglenone/Glenoe, Ballygally and Slemish.

The series will also feature a number of the borough’s celebrated civil engineering feats,including the re-roofing of Carrickfergus Castle and the Whitehead-based Railway Preservation Society.

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