Antrim and Newtownabbey: funding boost for VE anniversary celebrations
A total of 47 grants for community and voluntary groups to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day in Antrim and Newtownabbey will be made available at a cost of £23,480.
The funding was approved at a meeting of the borough council at Mossley Mill, in Newtownabbey, on Monday evening.
VE (Victory in Europe) Day which occurs on May 8 is the anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
A report to councillors said the local authority’s ‘VE Day 80’ community grant programme, which closed on April 14, received 48 applications with 47 successful applicants to each receive a sum of up to £500.
“The delivery of these 47 events across the borough will complement the councils own programme and enhance the VE Day 80 activity in the borough,” the report stated.
Glengormley DUP Councillor Alison Bennington moved the recommendation the grants be approved, seconded by party colleague Threemilewater Alderman Stephen Ross.
Cllr Bennington thanked council staff for making this money available.
“Not only will events be going on throughout the borough but the community themselves will be able to have smaller events themselves as well,” she commented.
Macedon Ulster Unionist Cllr Robert Foster said: “It is fantastic to see so many community groups taking part.”
In addition, 100 street party packs will be made available to community groups across the borough on a “first-come first-served basis” for local street parties through a budget of £10,000.
Councillors have already approved a £30,000 programme of events to mark the landmark anniversary.
The local commemoration will commence in Antrim and Newtownabbey on May 7 with the opening of a World War II exhibition in the Garden Heritage Room, at Antrim Castle Gardens. A Holocaust exhibition will open at Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey. This exhibition will include artefacts and testimonies.
That evening, there will be a ‘Beating Retreat’ with the Band of the Royal Irish Regiment in Mossley Mill Civic Square.
On May 8, a ceremony to raise a specially commissioned VE Day 80 flag will take place at Antrim Civic Centre and Mossley Mill. Churches in the borough will be invited to ring their bells as part of a national initiative to honour the casualties of World War II.
There will be a beacon-lighting ceremony with bugler and piper at Mossley Mill and Antrim Castle Gardens.
A VE-Day themed ‘Party in the Park’ event is being planned at Antrim Castle Gardens on Sunday, May 11, which will include an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest tea dance with bunting and flags to “reflect the original VE Day celebrations”.
Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter