Gerry Kelly representing OFMDFM presents two students with a framed flag from each other`s school
Flags are often a focus for division in Northern Ireland, but north Belfast students hope to change this forever.
Year 9 students at St Patrick’s College on the Antrim Road have joined with peers from Ashfield Boys High School to produce a display of flags which they created and which demonstrate that their hopes and aspirations are the same irrespective of background.
Special flags have been produced by the students in each school, helped by artist Raymond Watson, which have been swapped and put on public display in the school grounds.
A special ceremony to unveil the Flags of Hope took place at St Patrick’s College on the Antrim Road on Thursday, June 25 at which Gerry Kelly representing OFMDFM and the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr Naomi Long MLA, officiated.
Please visit the home page of Thomasdevlin.com and down load a book on the project and the flags that the boys have made.
Local artist Raymond Watson described the purpose of flag flying in the Himalayas and we all agreed this was a wonderful way for young people to tell everyone their hopes in a colourful and very visual way. Raymond Watson described his inspirational visit to the Himalayas, which gave inspiration for the North Belfast Flags of Hope initiative.
Some of the students who took part in the Belfast Flags project with artist Raymond Watson. The trustees were looking for a project that would enable young people in Belfast to express their hopes and aspirations for their futures using the medium of art.
They believed that young people, irrespective of their backgrounds, essentially wanted the same for their futures.
