Illumination festival set to light up the city

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A two-week illumination festival will be held in Derry in February, with some of the city’s most iconic buildings transformed into pieces of art.

The ‘Illuminating the Walled City’ spectacular will run from February 14 to 27, from 5pm to 10pm daily.

It will consist of three main elements including an Illuminated Trail of Light, with props, performers and lanterns, a music programme embracing the theme of light in unique locations, and live illumination experiences featuring landmark buildings.

The plans follow the major success of the Lumiere light festival as part of the City of Culture 2013 programme, which highlighted the requirement for an out-of-season experience that will attract visitors to the city.

Derry City & Strabane District Council has received a Service Level Agreement (SLA) from Tourism NI for £451k to the two-week long festival. It is 100% funded with no additional budget required by council.

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WATCH: Merry Christmas from Derry and Strabane

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The festive season is in full swing in Derry City and Strabane, with a series of magical events getting people in the mood for Christmas.

The Uncover the Magic of Christmas programme included a magical procession through the streets of Derry and Strabane for the Christmas lights switch-ons (with Santa as the guest of honour), and the Mayor’s Magical Christmas Experience.

The Walled City Christmas Markets also made a welcome return to Guildhall Square on the first two weekends of December, offering unique, locally produced artisan food and crafts.

Christmas shopping left to do? You can support Council’s support local campaign using the hashtags #ChristmasDS and #GiftLocal on social media.

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Halloween homecoming for North West expats

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Derry’s Millennium Forum was the stage for a special cultural showcase for returning expats in October.

The event, sponsored by new diaspora association, Futureproof Northwest, featured snapshots of the region’s music, literature and art.

It included a choral recital, hosted by Maurice Kelly of Allegri and guests, a new exhibition of paintings of Derry street-scenes from the last century, by Bridget Murray, and the launch of the late John Bryson’s historical reference guide to the city, Derry’s Streets: 521-2021.

Futureproof chair Sean Downey said the diaspora group, which was inaugurated at Dublin’s Mansion House in 2019 and is made up of expats from Derry, Donegal and Tyrone, aims to support conversations that will help the region.

He added: “We want to encourage the diaspora of the North West to connect, share ideas and experience, exchange contacts and create opportunities. As part of this, we plan to organise activities and events to promote networking and relationship-building, and strengthen the community of Northwesterners across the islands and further afield.

“We also hope to provide support through the network to people in the North West and the diaspora across these islands and further afield seeking to develop business, promote culture and foster educational opportunities.”

Further information on the group is available at futureproofnorthwest.com 

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Boston and NW join virtually for Golden Bridges conference

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The 13th annual Golden Bridges Conference has taken place, showcasing the best of Ireland North West to influential US business and political leaders.

This year’s event was held virtually at Gteic in Gweedore, County Donegal, and featured prominent speakers discussing themes of investment, innovation, tourism, culture and education.

The conference, held last month, gave the global audience a unique insight into how people in the border region of Derry, Strabane and Donegal are continuing to work in close collaboration to attract investment, create jobs and boost the economy post-pandemic.

The event, jointly coordinated by Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council, aims to promote partnerships between Ireland Northwest and Boston, Massachusetts.

Catch up on Golden Bridges 2021 at https://aisling-events.com/watch-golden-bridges-2021/

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Council’s month of climate action

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November marked a month of climate action for Derry and Strabane with a series of events highlighting environmental issues and the action being taken locally to combat them.

The risks of severe weather such as flooding, storms, heatwaves, ice and snow, plus practical advice on how to prepare for them, were discussed at two pop-up roadshows in Foyleside Derry and Asda Strabane.

Derry City and Strabane District Council officers and resilience specialists provided information on measures to protect people, homes and communities in the event of severe weather emergencies.

Making homes more energy efficient was also a focus, as well as the appropriate contacts to have to hand in an emergency situation, depending on the type of severe weather event and local impact.

A full digital campaign coincided with the roadshows to broaden the reach across the City and District.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District, Alderman Graham Warke led a delegation to the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration Food Systems event taking place during the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

The Council also showcased some of its recent initiatives promoting food sustainability, including the launch of the Sustainable Food Places network, a growing collaboration between local food producers and manufacturers.

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Letterkenny named as new Technological University

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Students will soon be able to go to university in Letterkenny after Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris TD announced that an application from Galway-Mayo, Sligo and Letterkenny Institutes of Technology had been successful.

This is the fourth Technological University to be created since 2019 and represents a milestone in higher education provision for the West and North West, providing for the establishment early next year of a multi-campus university presence across the North West region.

Students graduating in the 2021-2022 academic year will do so with university qualifications.

Donegal TD Joe McHugh said: “This is a really significant development and will undoubtedly have massive benefits for our whole region. This will create stronger regional growth in the North West, and will further encourage the development of our close cross-border links here in Donegal.”

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Magee unveils new manufacturing and engineering degree apprenticeship

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Ulster University is partnering with Manufacturing & Engineering Growth & Advancement (MEGA) to provide Northern Ireland’s first degree-level apprenticeship in Manufacturing & Engineering.

This first-of-its-kind course, funded by the Department for the Economy, is now underway and represents a new chapter in higher education for the Magee campus.

This new offering aims to create a pipeline of skilled talent fit for industry’s needs now and into the future, ensuring Northern Ireland is in a position to maximise the opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution.

An alternative to the traditional degree route, it will see apprentices employed from day one. This means participants incur no cost in their higher-level education; in fact, they earn a salary.

Robotics, artificial intelligence and digitalisation will be among the key themes studied within the new programme offered by the School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems at Magee.

Apprentices who train at Magee will also benefit from access to Centres of Excellence such as the Centre for Industrial Digitalisation, Robotics and Automation (CIDRA) and the Cognitive Analytics Research Laboratory (CARL) that are being developed as part of the emerging Derry and Strabane City Deal, and which will become a destination for Research and Development for industry partners.

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Mayor welcomes The Honourable The Irish Society

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Members of grant-giving charity The Honourable Irish Society have met with Council officials to hear about the progress of the City Deal.

The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Graham Warke, and Council representatives met the delegation in the Guildhall and also discussed the region’s growing Fintech cluster, and plans for Ebrington and Fort George. 

During the visit, hosted by the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, the group also visited C-TRIC (the Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre), the new Visit Derry Visitor Information Centre, and North West Regional College’s Springtown Campus.

Mayor Warke said: “It’s vitally important that we continue to strengthen the unique relationship that our city and district has with The Irish Society and the City of London, and I was delighted to discuss many of the exciting projects and opportunities that are developing within this region.”

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City of London delegation meets Derry Strabane City Deal partners

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Representatives from the City of London Corporation met with key City Deal partners during a visit to Derry.

During the trip, the group of senior officials met with the Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Graham Warke, and representatives from the local education and business sectors.

The London delegation spoke with students involved in the region’s first professional financial services qualification (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), delivered to post-primary students, while financial services company FinTrU outlined the continued expansion of their sector in the North West.

City Deal Innovation leads also shared key objectives and took the visitors – who included the City of London Corporation’s Chairperson of Policy and Resources Committee, Catherine McGuinness, and Head of UK Partnerships Andrew McGowan – on a tour of Ulster University’s new School of Medicine at Magee.

Mayor Warke, said: “The City of London delegation during their visit got a unique insight into the key role our region is playing in the success of UK financial services and how the City Deal investment in research and innovation, particularly big data analytics and AI, will drive our regional economy.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Warke also travelled to London last month to attend the installation of the incoming Lord Mayor of the City of London Corporation, Alderman Vincent Keaveny. Mayor Warke said it was a “huge honour” to be invited to the ceremony and Derry City and Strabane District Council was committed to further building the close relationship between the two cities, including work, cultural, business, educational and tourism linkages.

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Scone-sational! Derry café’s scones named best in NI

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Derry’s Cottage Café is celebrating after its home-baked scones were named the best in Northern Ireland.

The thatched roofed café, in the city’s historic Craft Village, beat more than 100 other hotels, restaurants and cafes to win the hotly-contested title from the Dairy Council of Northern Ireland.

Michelle Devine from the Cottage Café, who bakes the scones from scratch in a variety of sweet and savoury flavours, entered the competition after a customer told her about it.

“I knew the judges liked our scones when they came around to try them but there were so many other great places in for it, I never thought we had a chance. But then when they called out our name I nearly exploded!” she said.

Michelle, who learned how to make scones from watching her mother bake, said the key to a delicious scone is to go easy on the mixture.

“To me, it’s all in the way you do it and having the oven at the right temperature. There’s not really much else to it,” she revealed.

The Cottage also won the Best Cafe category in the competition, while Patricia’s Coffee House on the Quay was one of five finalists for best cafe.

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