Mayor Launches Mallusk Heritage Trail
The Trail was launched at Mallusk Primary School on Sat 17th April by Mayor John Scott. Nearly 100 local residents and special guests browsed old photographs and books of the area and following the official launch had the opportunity to walk the trail.
Mallusk Community Action Group secured £2,500 from the International Fund for Ireland, as part of the Community Leadership Programme delivered by NICVA, to create the trail around Mallusk and Hydepark. The Group was assisted by Newtownabbey Council Heritage and Biodiversity Departments as well as The Sixmilewater River Trust and Conservation Volunteers. A Community River and Trail Clean up event was held on Sat 20th March 2010 so that the area was cleared for the launch and a series of education sessions have been held with the children of Mallusk Primary School.
Barry Macaulay, Mallusk Community Action Group Chairman, said
"This project has really engaged the local community, as can be seen from the fabulous turn out today. It has allowed us to educate people on the area's history and environmental issues and has added something positive to the area. We wanted to show people that there is much more to Mallusk than landfill sites and industrial estates and that there has been a thriving community here for hundreds of years."
Guest speaker at the event was Danny Kinahan, local MLA, who reminisced about his early childhood in the area. Danny showed some stunning old photographs of his family home at Mill Grange in the 50's and 60's.
This is only the start of a larger Heritage Project planned by the group with hopes of landscaping parts of the trail, erecting interpretive boards, recording oral histories from residents and publishing a book on the area.
If anyone has old photographs or maps of the area please contact the group at malluskcag@yahoo.co.uk.
The self guide leaflet is available from Mossley Mill and can be downloaded from www.maluskcag.co.uk
