Mid-Antrim Museums Outreach Programmes
Outreach in Ballymena

The Mid-Antrim Museums Service is developing an active community history programme through outreach with a range of local groups.  The purpose of outreach in museums is to actively encourage wider participation in cultural activities within local communities. 

The Mid-Antrim Museums Service has secured generous funding from the EU Special Programme for Peace and Reconciliation towards the development of a Community History Programme.  Grants of £30,000, £30,000, £27,000 and £20,000 have been obtained from the Local Strategy Partnerships in Ballymena, Carrickfergus, Larne and Newtownabbey respectively.  The aim of the project is to enable a diverse range of local groups to explore their history in an accessible and enjoyable way.

Linen: A Shared History: Cullybackey Environmental Improvement Agency, Glenravel Environmental Improvement Agency and Harryville Partnership

These three Ballymena groups participated in a programme that focused on locally produced linen. Each area had a distinctive relationship to the local linen industry, from the period of the cottage industry to the 1950s. The groups worked together and in tandem to produce a lively and interesting documentary recording the memories of flax-growers and farmers and mill-workers. Despite the loss of much of our industrial heritage in terms of mill buildings etc, the efforts of these groups to preserve memories and recall important details of these local landmarks and their importance in local daily life will enrich the historical record. Through workshops, field trips and reconstructions these groups learned about the different roles and jobs associated with linen manufacturing and rounded-off their personal knowledge with the help from one another and from the museum.