Mayor enjoys early St Patrick’s festivities at Waterside Shared Village
14 March 2023
The Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Councillor Sandra Duffy, started the St Patrick’s celebrations off early at the weekend with a visit to the Waterside Shared Village community hub, where a whole host of fun activities were taking place ahead of the big day.
Families were treated to fun and games and even enjoyed a sprinkling of magic courtesy of Parky the Magician, as well as some traditional dancing and other cultural highlights to mark the occasion, which takes place on Friday.
A whole host of local events are planned this week as part of the wider Spring Carnival programme, which is led by Derry City and Strabane District Council, culminating in the traditional annual St Patrick’s Day parade bringing hundreds of local performers out onto the streets at 3pm on March 17th.
The Mayor said she enjoyed a fantastic start to the festivities on Saturday, which offered the perfect chance for local people to visit the brand new centre. “I was delighted to asked along to the Waterside Shared Village Community Hub at the weekend, where the St Patrick’s Day festivities were already in full swing. It was lovely to see this new shared space buzzing with activity and already becoming such an important facility right at the heart of the community. I look forward to being invited to more events at the centre, which has some fantastic state of the art facilities which are much needed in this area.”
A spokesperson for the Waterside Shared Village community partners said: “Waterside Shared Village were delighted to host a St Patrick's Day Family Fun Day on Sunday 12th March. Despite some unfavourable weather almost 600 adults and children attended the event and enjoyed performances from Bready Ulster Scots Pipe Band, Guthrie-Wilson School of Irish Dance, Sollus Highland Dancers and Parky the Magician. Visitors also enjoyed face painting, fun fair and generous helpings of traditional Irish Stew. This was the first event of our Spring Festival which is running from the 12th March to the 16th March, which will also include an afternoon tea dance, preschool morning, men’s gardening workshop and a clothes upcycling workshop.”
The Waterside Shared Village is a unique and iconic project in that it is managed by two community organisations (Hillcrest Trust and Irish Street Community Centre) working in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council.
The shared space aims to promote inclusion by bringing people from all backgrounds together in learning, sharing and celebrating together. Throughout this year the Waterside Shared Village will host a number of community festivals including an Easter festival running from 6th - 8th April. The Community Hub building on the site will also deliver a broad range of programmes over the coming year including pre-school sessions, physical activity programmes, education workshops, women's and men's programme and activities for both children and young people.
This project is supported by the European Union's Peace IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).