Sentry Hill

Yesterday afternoon I visited Sentry Hill, which was for many years the home of the McKinney family.  It is owned by Newtownabbey Council and is described as the History House.  The McKinneys were originally called McKenzie and they came to Ulster from Scotland after the 1715 rebellion led by James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender'..

The McKinneys settled in the Carnmoney area, a thoroughly Ulster-Scots community, and the history of the family illustrates much of the history of that Ulster-Scots community in east Ulster, with stories of emigration, Presbyterianism, the 1859 revival, a Liberal tradition that gave birth to Liberal Unionism,  and the loss of a son at the Somme in 1916. 

I would ertainly recommend a visit to Sentry Hill as a way of learning more about our history and a way of spending a very pleasant afternoon.

As we were leaving I went into the reource room and came across a history of Ballycraigy Congregational Church.  This contains the following quote from the report of the Irish Evangelical Society for 1853 - 'The district of Ballycraigy was first occupied and a chapel built through the efforts of the Haldane brothers of Scotland.'  They were followed by another Scottish preacher named Douglas, who preached in the open-air in 1804 and 1805 and drew large congregations.

Robert Haldane

The Haldane brothers, Robert Haldane (1764-1832) and James Alexander Haldane (1768-1851), were the sons of Captain James Haldane of Airthrey House in Stirlingshire.  They were thoroughly evangelical and fervently evangelistic and their opposition to the established Church of Scotland led to the formation a Congregationalist church in Edinburgh in 1799.  They were leading figures in Scottish Congregationalism but they also came over to preach in Ulster and Ballycraigy is one of the fruits of their labours. 

Many people imagine that the Scottish influence on religion in Ulster was restricted to Presbyterianism but in fact it was much wider than that.  The Scottish influence on Congregationalism is but one example of that wder influence and other examples include the Faith Mission, which was born in Scotland but has a strong presence in Ulster, and Scottish evangelists such as Seth Sykes, who were regular visitors to Ulster.

Thomas Smith booklet

A new booklet about Sir Thomas Smith's Forgotten English Colony of the Ards and North Down in 1572 was launched in the Londonderry Room in the Old Town Hall in Newtownards on Friday evening.

The booklet, which was researched and written by Mark Thompson and published by Loughries Historical Society, helps to explain the background to the subsequent settlement by Hamilton and Montgomery, 'the founding fathers of the Ulster-Scots', in 1606.

The Londonderry Room was filled to capacity for the launch and we were entertained with music from Keith Lyttle and Matthew Warwick.  Mark himself spoke, with the aid of a powerpoint presentation, about the Thomas Smith story, and I was invited to make a few impromptu remarks at the end.

I commended Mark Thompson for uncovering and recovering both the Hamilton and Montgomery settlement and the earlier attempted colonisation by Sir Thomas Smith.  Too much of our history is forgotten or misrepresented and there is important work to be done in recovering the 'lost stories' of Ulster history but such work must be credible, authentic and historically accurate. 

This new booklet is of a very high quality as regards both the content and the presentation and deserves a strong commendation.  Copies can be obtained from the Loughries Historical Society and they can be contacted at hmanderson64@btinternet.com

Belfast Marathon

The Development Committee of Belfast City Council has reversed a previous decision in relation to the Belfast Marathon and so the 2011 marathon will be held on the Bank Holiday Monday, instead of the previous day, which is a Sunday.

The debate in the committee was interesting but one fact came through very clearly and this was that the organisers of the marathon had made no attempt at all to consult with those affected by a proposed change to a Sunday.  There had been no discussion at all with any of the churches in the city and they were simply ignored.

We live in an age of 'consultation' and almost every decision requires a consultation process.  Indeed the list of consultees for some decisions can run to several pages.  However in this case, when the people affected were Christian churches, they were simply ignored.  Indeed they were treated as second-class citizens.

A number of good points were made during the debate including the following:
1. A Sunday marathon would have an impact on Sunday morning services because almost any route will take it past a number of churches.

2. Quite a number of evangelical church-based youth groups, such as companies of the Boys Brigade, enter teams in the marathon.  A Sunday marathon would exclude them from participation.

3.  These youth groups often use the marathon to raise money for good causes and a Sunday marathon would put an end to this good work.

Common sense has prevailed this year and I hope and pray that it continues to prevail in future years.  I also hope that organisations such as that responsible for the marathon will not treat Christian churches as the 'invisible sector', one which they can simply ignore.

Year after year the marathon has been held on the Bank Holiday Monday and every year it has been a great success.  Why then should anyone want to change it?

Balmoral Show

The Royal Ulster Agricultural Society show at Balmoral is one of the highlights of the year for the farming community and for many others and I took the opportunity of visiting the show to see the stands relating to some of the DCAL arms-length bodies, including the Public Record Office, Libraries NI, the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge.

Thomas M Sinclair - Ulster-Scots entrepreneur

This morning I attended a service in Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church for the Northern Ireland Disabled Ex-Service Men's Association and the Royal Naval Association.  It is an annual service and each year Belfast and Newtownabbey councillors receive an invitation to it.  The preacher was Rev Dr David McGaughey, minister emeritus of Mourne Presbyterian Church and a former moderator of the Presbyterian Church.

The church was built by the Sinclair family as a memorial to John Sinclair of The Grove in North Belfast, who died in 1853, and his nephew Thomas Sinclair was the treasurer of the congregation for forty years.  On the wall beside the pew where I was sitting there was a memorial to two members of the Sinclair family, both of whom died in America while they were still under forty.  At the bottom was the text 'Be ye also ready Matt 24:44' and the fact is that both young men were indeed ready to meet the Lord.  The following is a short account of one of them.

Thomas McElderry Sinclair (1842-1881) was the son of John Sinclair of The Grove and after completing his education he entered the family business of J & T Sinclair.  The company was based nearby in Tomb Street and produced cured hams and bacon. 

It had an international reputation for its products and in 1862 Thomas M Sinclair went to America to develop the business in that country.  He landed in New York and established a packing house for the curing of bacon and hams during the winter season.  Later he decided to withdraw from the old business and establish an independent business in New York.  This was a great success but a fire in 1866 destroyed the plant.

Eventually Sinclair decided to move his business nearer the source of supply and in 1871 he moved with his wife and child to Grand Rapids in Iowa.   There he built a packing house and developed a business which became one of the most important industries in the United States.

At that time Cedar Rapids had a population of just 5,000 people and Sinclair did much to develop the town.  For example he organised the provision of a fresh water supply.  He was also an elder in the Presbyterian Church and held a Sunday afternoon Bible class for men in his home, as well as a Friday night prayer meeting in his factory.  When the Coe Collegiate Institute got into difficulty he paid off its debts and arranged for it to come under the auspices of the Synod of Iowa.

Thomas M Sinclair died in Grand Rapids on 24 March 1881 as a result of an accident in his factory.  A Sinclair Memorial Presbyterian Church was built in 1903 and there is a T M Sinclair Memorial Chapel in Coe College.  Today Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and both the city and Coe College owe much to the young Ulster-Scot who arrived there back in 1871.

North West 200

I travelled up to the North Coast today for the 2010 Relentless International North West 200 Race Day.  As well as watching some of the races from the paddock I visited the BBC complex, the media centre and the emergency services, and was able to view one of the races and see the entire course from a helicopter. 

Sports Minister Nelson McCausland on the grid with motorbike racer John McGuinness. McGuinness went on to win the Superbike race at the annual sporting spectacular.

This is the largest annual sporting event in Ulster and indeed in Ireland and the organisation behind it is extremely impressive.  Great credit must go to the race director, Mervyn Whyte, and his staff and team of volunteers.

The North West 200 shows that Northern Ireland is capable of hosting and organising world class events at the highest possible standard.  Each year this event draws more than 100,000 people and depending on various factors it can even reach up towards 150,000.  I saw visitors today from many countries around the world and such events are an important boost to the local economy.

The Northern Ireland Executive provides support through DETI and DCAL, for promotion and for safety.  Every year the organisers improve the safety of the course and this year, for example, a chicane was added at Mathers Cross and improvement works were carried out at Station Corner.

Such is the popularity of road racing in Northern Ireland that with ongoing support, with the leadership of Mervyn and his team, and with the dedication of the volunteers, the North West 200 can go from strength to strength.  Moreover with events such as this and the Ulster Grand Prix there is no reason why Northern Ireland cannot be the 'road racing capital of the world'.

Mount Vernon youth project

Brenda Dowie, Jacqueline Stewart, Nelson McCausland, Shannon Beggs & Rebecca McClure

A group of young people from the Mount Vernon estate in North Belfast have been taking part in a cross-community project with young people from Portadown, Ballymurphy and Claudy and last night they had a meeting in the Community House to showcase their part of the project.

Brenda Dowie, Jacqueline Stewart, Shannon Beggs, Rebecca McClure & Alex Hobson

The project, entitled Away from Violence,  has been organised by Public Achievement, which is a youth focussed civic education organisation.  Through a series of residentials, practical workshops, exhibition visits and groupwork, the young people were equipped with the relevant skills to create their own exhibitions and reflect the communities they live in.

Brenda Dowie and Alex Hobson work for Public Achievement and both the organisation and the young people from Mount Vernon are to be commended for this worthwhile project.  The website of Public Achievement is http://www.publicachievement.com/