Derry groups Developing Women’s Project - We’ve got your back!

The culmination of six months hard work by local women from the Moor district who completed Phase Two of the Churches Trust’s ‘Developing Women’s Project’ saw a night of celebration at a function in the Bishop’s Gate Hotel on Thursday night last with the group now hoping to go on to form a local community choir!

The project, funded by the Department of Communities, facilitated the ladies going on a journey of discovery exploring human development in its earliest years and how family life and community life impacts on health and wellbeing over our entire life.

Mary Holmes, Community Relations Manager for the Churches Trust stated she honestly believed this group of women were some of the most inspirational people she has ever worked with.

Mary outlined how the women learned about the impact of adversity on the developing brain in early childhood and the impact this has on a person’s physical and mental health across their life.

She added: "They also learned about how important positive childhood experiences are in buffering children when things aren’t going well."

Through workshops with Orla Hasson the women went on to look at conflict and how we deal with it in family life and in community life.

‘The huge learning point here was that conflict is an everyday part of life, but we aren’t always taught how to deal with it. The workshops allowed the women to discover how we can move from the position of victim to that of actor, where we can become active in bringing about solutions in both our family and community lives.’

The final phase of the project was delivered by Cara McLoughlin who facilitated the exploration of community issues that were important to the group and how they could help.

DEVELOPMENT WOMEN. . . . . .Group pictured at the Churches Trust’s ‘Developing Women’s Project’ Night of Celebration in the Bishop’s Gate Hotel on Thursday night last. Front from left, Sinead Boyle, Mary Holmes (CRM), Stella Gallagher, Marie O’Reilly, Laura Brown, Health Equalities Co-Ordinator and Elizabeth O’Doherty. Back from left, Sean Kearney, Maura McCool, Marianna O’Donnell, Margaret Love, Caroline O’Hara, Bridget Curran, Mary Wells and Kate Carlin. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)

Mary said: "The women all agreed that they wanted to recognise the amazing work being done in the Adult Day Care services at the Creggan Day Centre. They reached out to find out how they could help.

"They found out how important music was to those in the Adult Day Care Centre, particularly live music and, unfortunately, they do not have funding to bring in live music to the centre."

The women then came up with both a short term and a long-term solution to this issue. The first being to allocate their budget for social action to be donated to the Adult Day Care Services to facilitate bringing live music to the Centre.

A total of £700 was donated and Fidelma Heaney, the Adult Day Care Manager outlines that this will cover the cost of approximately twenty performances over the coming months.

Fidelma also outlined how the visit from the women would be reflected upon fondly for a very long time and that this was just the start of a friendship between the Moor Developing Women’s group and the Creggan Day Centre.

CHEQUE HANDOVER. . . .Group pictued at the handover of a cheque for £700 to Creggan Adult Day Care Services on Thursday last at the centre. Included back from left, Kate Carlin, Nell McCool, Terri Devine, WHSCT, Marie O’Reilly, Charlene Gallagher, WHSCT, Stella Gallagher, Mary Holmes, Community Relations Manager, Churches Trust, Fidelma Heaney, Day Care Services Manager, Creggan Adult Day Care Services and Fiona McCool, WHSCT. At front are some of the service users at the centre - Eileen McDaid, Rose Borrow and Lucy O’Reilly.

Hoping to form a local community choir, Mary explained: "This is very much the case because the women are now embarking on their long-term vision which is to form a local community choir.

"The reason for a community choir is twofold, one to enhance the mood and wellbeing through the joy of music for the choir members and their audiences, and secondly, to travel and share the joy of music through services like the Adult Day Care Centre across the City."

The course participants, Nell McCool, Maura McCool, Kate Carlin, Marie O’Reilly, Elizabeth O’Doherty, Stella Gallagher and Bridget Curran are now reaching out to their community and have got the wheels in motion.

Local councillors Patricia Logue and Maeve O’ Neill recently met with the group and are at the moment providing some sound advice on how to realise the women’s long-term dream of a community choir.

At their recent celebration night event the women were presented with a beautiful book, ‘From Trauma to Resiliency: Trauma-Informed Practices for Working with Children, Families, Schools, and Communities.’ This book complements the women’s new understanding on human development, and how they can use this new information to understand what leads to negative or positive health and wellbeing in family and community life.

Mary Holmes, Community Relations Manager, Churches Trust, pictured at Thursday evening’s event with Sean Kearney (seated), and back from left, Margaret Love, Caroline O’Hara, Sinead Boyle and Maranna O’Donnell.

This group of women have worked throughout this project and have connected as friends. They continue to work together to achieve common goals. And as Bridget says, for all the girls and women out there, don’t be afraid – we’ve got your back!

Anyone interested in joining our new Developing Women’s Project which is running until March 2024 or would like further information on the local community choir can contact Mary at maryholmes@thechurchestrust.org.uk.