South Belfast Cultural Society was formed in 1994 with the remit of rejuvenating the cultural life of Inner South Belfast, paying particular attention to the Unionist communities of Donegall Road, Donegall Pass, Sandy Row and Lower Lisburn Road.

Initially a discussion group was formed which included members of the Ulster Society, Pipe Band members and Individual Musicians, as well as Community and Church representatives. A consensus was reached that a strategy for cultural development was needed for Inner South Belfast.

POPULATION DECLINE IN INNER SOUTH BELFAST

Inner South Belfast had seen a large depopulation process which has been brought about by the following

• The Government policy of encouraging families to leave the Inner city and move to new towns such as Craigavon in Co. Armagh
• Poor housing stock and a lack of Government investment in social housing for many decades

This has led to the gradual decline of the Unionist communities of Sandy Row, Roden Street, Donegall Road and Donegall Pass.

With the onset of the troubles many residents moved from their traditional communities, for better housing and to escape the social unrest in Belfast at that time. This resulted in the growth of  the new emerging towns of Lisburn, Bangor and Newtownards.

In the 1980's this decline led to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive vesting the housing in Donegall Pass and Sandy Row. Both areas underwent extensive redevelopment, in many cases lifelong neighbours were moved to new housing and traditionally close communities were split up. The new housing was built at a lower density (ten houses pulled down and replaced with three new houses) which had an impact on the ability of the small local shops and services to survive.

As numbers declined there was a loss of the traditional "leadership" of many social groups like the Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade and Scouts.

Many local Primary Schools had to merge, or even close, and there was a decline in the congrigations of the local churchs. This lead to a further decrease in the sense a "local" community.

Although the community has now started to recover, new threats are posed by property developers, with the use of the land for commercial purposes and with the development of the area in a way that is not in keeping with the existing residents.

CULTURE

Inner South Belfast once had about six pipe bands, Accordion Bands and two Silver Bands. The Robert Armstrong Pipe Band, former Irish champions, once hailed from the Donegall Road area. A lot of these quality musicians disappeared with the decline in the Inner City.

The society’s role is to develop projects that encourage civic and community pride amongst these once proud communities. Our aim is to encourage local people to volunteer and help with projects we organise. We wish to play our part alongside the local Housing and Community Groups who have campaigned tirelessly for new housing and community facilities.

An initial development grant of a few thousand was received to take twelve community and church activists to Newcastle for a strategy-planning weekend. Some of the ideas advanced at that weekend were to hold events in order to highlight the talent that existed within the Unionist community and provide opportunities for social interaction.

The newly formed committee engaged a consultancy firm to help us map a way forward. The Society wanted to promote a more positive image of Ulster-Scots and Ulster-British culture and heritage.

Since 1994 the Society has been in the forefront of the Ulster-Scots cultural revival and over the years have worked with local Primary schools in the areas of musical and cultural education. We have also helped new and emerging cultural organisations, using our experience to give them guidance.

We have run numerous trips to Scotland to take in the World Pipe Band Championships, The Edinburgh Tattoo, Cowal Highland Games and Scottish Folk Festivals. Closer to home, trips have included historical bus tours to the Boyne Valley, The Historic Walled City of Londonderry, Enniskillen and cultural centres like The Somme Museum and Fernhill house.

Throughout the year our programme includes Ulster-Scots cultural nights incorporating our annual Burn’s and St Andrew’s Nights. Our Burn’s Dinner takes place in the Europa Hotel, Belfast, and regularly attracts over four hundred people from all sections of the community. It is recognised as one of the premier Burn’s Nights in Northern Ireland. Other projects include mural and carnival work, photography, dance and video workshops, not forgetting our participation in numerous community festivals.

We also work in partnership with many Culture and Arts organisations such as the Community Arts Forum, New Belfast Arts Initiative, Ballymacarret Arts & Cultural Society, South Belfast Partnership Board and many more.

Our work has been made possible over the past number of years by generous funding from the following: Belfast Regeneration Office, Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust, Arts Council for Northern Ireland, Ulster-Scots Agency, Awards for All, Diversity Challenges, Community Relations Council, Belfast City Council plus many others.

We would like to take this opportunity to also thank all those many committee members who have gave up their free time for the benifit of the communities we serve. We must not forget the many workers who have played their part in the development of this organisation.