An Emotional Homecoming: My Return to Shandon Park

by Colm McDaid

Since becoming the Chief Executive of Supporting Communities in 2014, I have made it a priority to visit all my work colleagues in person at least once a year. This usually happens during the summer months when things are a bit less busy. While making my rounds, I also try to take in a few projects or visit communities where we, as an organisation, provide regular support. I have always found these visits to the grassroots so rewarding and re-energising.

When you take up a leadership role in any organisation, charity or otherwise, you often become detached from the operational end of the business as you concentrate on more strategic, financial and governance-related matters. When I joined Supporting Communities over 31 years ago, it was this hands-on community development work, at the coalface, which I found to be most rewarding – that is, helping to make a difference wherever I could.

This past summer, I have been meeting with colleagues in various parts of the country and, as a result, I have also had the chance to visit a host of community-based projects, far and wide. These have included community bases in Moneydarragh and Kilkeel in the Mourne Mountains, the Bowtown Estate in Ards, the Sovereign Centre in Rathfern, Newtownabbey, The Hubb on York Road in North Belfast, and the Gasyard Development Trust in the Bogside/Brandywell.

I came away from each of these projects with a renewed sense of fulfilment. Firstly, in how my colleagues are trusted by the people and groups they support day in and day out, and secondly, and more importantly, the sense of pride that I took from the various community representatives who give their time selflessly to improve the quality of life in their communities and to make them better places to live.

However, it was a recent trip back to my hometown of Omagh that touched me on a personal level, much more than I had expected it would!

Shandon Park Visit

The ‘Old Fort’ Community Garden in Shandon Park, Omagh

While I was visiting Ashley Moore, our Community Development Officer for the South West Area, she suggested that we see a new community garden that had recently opened with the support of the Housing Executive. The 'Old Fort' Community Garden is located in Shandon Park, which, unbeknownst to Ashley, was where my family lived during the 1970s and where I spent eight very happy and formative years from the age of 3 to 11.

During the few hours we spent in Shandon Park, I was delighted to meet with Pauline McSorley and Nicola Mullin from the Shandon Park Residents Committee. They spoke with both pride and passion as they showed me around the new garden, complete with raised planters and freshly grown vegetables, and the newly installed polytunnel, which showed signs of ripening strawberries. As we sat on one of the benches inscribed with the words 'Dedicated to the Memory of Past Residents', I couldn't help but think of my own parents, John and Rosaleen, who I am proud to say were indeed past residents of Shandon Park.

A Bench to Remember

Walking around the estate's footpaths and alleyways that day brought me back fifty years, especially as I walked up the path to No.77 Shandon Park, where my parents moved in 1973.

The Move That Changed Everything

A very young Colm McDaid in Front of his Shandon Park House (1977)

Visiting no. 77

Originally coming from a remote farming area known as Knockmoyle (about five miles north of Omagh), and having already raised three older siblings, my family moved into the town of Omagh after my older brother Eamonn, three years older than me, was diagnosed with a learning disability in 1972.

My parents had farmed all their lives up to then and suddenly found themselves having to make the momentous decision to move to 'the town' so that Eamonn could attend Cranny School, as there was no transport to and from this 'special' school in those days.

It is only in recent years, when I look back, that I realise just how big a decision and how much of a culture shock it must have been for them to relocate with two small boys to the town and to settle into a whole new environment and a totally different way of life.

The Neighbours Who Became Our Community

My mum Rosaleen and Brother Eamonn outside OUr Shandon Park House

As I stood outside the front door of No. 77, remembering the many happy times spent inside our family home, my thoughts quickly shifted to the surrounding houses where our neighbours lived. Family names such as the Northerns, Dorans, Harkins, Foxs and the Mills all came flooding back to my mind's eye. These families had wrapped their arms around my family from the moment we moved in, and as we slowly became part of the 'Shandon Community', where we lived for eight happy years.

Ballintoy, on the north coast, is now my family's home, where I am very happy and deeply integrated into the community. However, every time I cross the county boundary into Tyrone, or see the skyline of the three spires of the Sacred Heart and St Columba Churches as I approach Omagh, I am always struck by a strong sense of my identity and origins. I experienced the same emotions on my recent trip to Shandon Park, which stands as a testament to the impact that each 'place' has had on my life.

The Power of Community

Present day Pic of my Brother Eamonn and Myself

For me, community is about ‘people and place' where a common bond is formed and maintained. I am very proud of where I come from – Tyrone and Omagh – and, like many others before and after me, of being reared in Shandon Park, a Housing Executive estate built over fifty years ago.

Looking Forward: Building Community Connections

That visit to Shandon Park reminded me powerfully of why the work we do matters so much. The community garden I visited, the residents committee still working tirelessly for their neighbours, the bench dedicated to past residents – all of these speak to the enduring strength of community bonds and the importance of tenant engagement.

Through Supporting Communities, which acts as a key strategic partner to the Housing Executive, we build trusting relationships and, with our dedicated and hard-working staff, provide the necessary tools to help deliver our vision of 'Thriving, inclusive and sustainable communities' across the province.

As I look forward to our All-Ireland Tenant Engagement Conference, taking place on 6 & 7 October, I am proud to be part of another community. For those two days, over 300 people, made up of tenants and housing professionals from across Ireland, north and south, will gather together in the same place for the same purpose - to share good practice around tenant engagement and to recognise and celebrate all that is positive in terms of tenant participation across this island.

Just as the families of Shandon Park wrapped their arms around me and my family all those years ago, we too will come together to support each other, share our experiences, and strengthen the communities we serve.

The spirit of neighbourliness that shaped my childhood continues to inspire both myself and my colleagues in terms of the crucial work we do today, and I look forward to seeing that same spirit alive and thriving at our conference.

The Sight of the Three Spires in Omagh always makes me nostaligic