A celebration of the people and places in Killyleagh and Shrigley

A celebration of the people and places in Killyleagh and Shrigley

21 July 2021

A NEW exhibition celebrating people and places in the Killyleagh and Shrigley area opens this weekend.

The exhibition, entitled ‘People, Potential, Prosperity Project: Killyleagh and Shrigley’, will be officially launched in the Sir Hans Sloane Centre in High Street, Killyleagh, on Saturday at 10.30am.

It is the culmination of an innovative community project based in the area and anyone interested is invited to attend.

The exhibition recognises some of the people who have made a major contribution to the community in the Killyleagh and Shrigley area.

They include Zena McAllister, a primary school teacher who spent her career in Killyleagh teaching generations of children, local businessman Jim Lindsay, historian Clive Scoular, Morris and Kitty Crawford, former owners of the Dufferin Arms, local artist Joanna Martin and Kath Dougherty, an Australian who made Killyleagh her home.

Also featured are Mrs Jane Martin, whose grandson, John, now runs Martin’s Garage in the centre of Killyleagh, Presbyterian minister Rev Hiram Higgins and Rev Jerome Munyangaju, who was born in Rwanda and served as rector of St John’s Church for 15 years.

Other people from overseas who came to Killyleagh include Nicholas Vermes, a Hungarian Jew who fled Nazi Europe and became manager of the tannery in Shrigley where his niece still lives.

Another man to find a new home was Slavek Moucka, who was born in Czechoslavakia in 1926 and, rather than serve in the communist Czech army, came to the Killyleagh area where he too enjoyed a long and rewarding career in the tannery.

And there’s also the fascinating story of a Prussian sea captain, Karl Kannenberg, who came to Killyleagh in the early 1870s, married a local woman and had nine children, seven of whom survived infancy. Following his wife’s death he moved to South Africa where he died.

The aim of the project is to enable people to share their origins and family history and create a fuller picture of the shared heritage and of the people and places that have made Killyleagh and Shrigley.

A series of panels, a PowerPoint presentation and a world map provide an opportunity for visitors to learn more about people who have moved to the area and how they have influenced life there.

The Sir Hans Sloane Centre has worked with Kenera Consulting to complete the project.

“Creating this exhibition has been difficult due to the pandemic, but it is wonderful for those who contributed their stories or stories of their ancestors, to be able to see the finished exhibition at last,” said Shirley Lennon, project co-ordinator for Kenera Consulting.

Refreshments will be served at 11am and 2pm on Saturday and visitors are also invited to in any time to view the exhibition during the opening times of the Sir Hans Sloane Centre. Covid-19 safety measures will be in place according to Government guidelines.

The fascinating exhibition will be part of the offering of the centre for the future.

The exhibition is part of a Newry Mourne And Down District Council Animation programme, a project supported by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

The PEACE IV Programme is a cross-community initiative. It has been designed to support peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. The EU’s PEACE IV Programme also contributes to the promotion of social and economic stability, through actions to promote cohesion between communities.