Project reduces isolation of local service families

Councillor Brian Heading was speaking at an event at Lagan Valley Island to mark the conclusion of the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) .

This six month pilot programme received £30,000 from the Lisburn-Castlereagh Peace III Partnership and is the result of a partnership between Co-operation Ireland and the Army Welfare Service in Northern Ireland.

Mr Heading said: “It is great to hear that the FACE project has reduced the levels of separation, exclusion and isolation faced by service families living in the local Lisburn barracks.

“I would like to commend the members from both sides of the community who have come together in their community groups to make this project a success. The work and training you have undertaken to engage with the services community is very important in helping to put the past of Northern Ireland behind us.

“Your work has helped to promote a mutual understanding and co-operation within a post-conflict society for young people and their families living within Lisburn. This gets right to the heart of what Peace III funding is all about – peace and reconciliation,” he concluded.

Co-operation Ireland has undertaken a similar project at Aldergrove and Ballykinler, each of which was supported by the Peace III Partnership in these areas.

Councillor Margaret Tolerton, Vice-Chair of the Lisburn-Castlereagh Peace III Partnership, said: “I hope that everyone who took part in this project found it to be very beneficial. The FACE project utilised training, identity discussion, social networking, cultural awareness trips and a family fun day in Thiepval Barracks to provide a supportive environment. “

Mr Heading added: “I look forward to the good work undertaken by Co-operation Ireland and the FACE project continuing and Lisburn becoming an area of increasingly successful cohesion between both communities.”

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