Palmerston Residents Association

Once more we have seen Cllr Naomi Long standing up for the people of East Belfast, the silence of other MLAs in East Belfast deafening. The people have a lot to thank Naomi Long for as she was the first MLA to voice her support regarding the listing of Gustav Wolff The Den on Station Road and two cottages that once stood there. She has given us her full backing in all we tried to do to save these cottages for our history and more important our children's history.

 

We see her as a champion for the working class people of east Belfast, once again she is the first to show her support for the community. We have to challenge our other MLA’s and ask why did this happen, why were the residents not told when the building was listed by letter from the Heritage Service, and why was the developers told that the building was not being listed days before the date expired, why were the residents not given a chance to see the report the heritage carried out on the cottages

 

The residents look to the Heritage Service to save our history and our children's history, we feel they have let the people of Northern Ireland down and questions must be ask from the Principal Conservation Architect Mr Manus Deery as to why  he failed to respond to the Residents Association, he claimed in his letter to them on 28th March 2008 he would be in a position to provide a substantive  response within a few weeks. We also have to ask where the MLA’s are now who came out in support to save the cottages, we want to know what questions the MLA’s are going ask the Heritage Service, why has Sammy Wilson kept silent, when  he appeared on the local TV stations he was in support of saving our history for our children, should we ask Cllr Sammy Wilson why he let this happen.after all you know the importance of our children and their history.

 

We say thank you to Naomi Long for the work you do in our area and the support you give to the Sydenham community and the hard work you undertake on behalf of the Community. 

 

The Palmerston Residents Association

Will make A statement in the next few days

Chairman

Terry Hoey the Chairman of the Palmerston Residents Association has spoken of his fears of XLP,HLH,EVB,he wants to raise the profile on these disease Terry Hoey s and make our doctors and hospitals look further when they see a child with glandular fever.

Hospitals and doctors must be aware of the signs to look out for with these diseases, it not enough to see a child and think it is glandular fever,my grandson was ill for a few weeks on seeing the doctor was prescribed calpol when he had a very high temperature his mum and dad took him to the hospital. After tests were carried out he was diagnosed with glandular fever. after a period of time Cavan's doctor felt he should be recovering as he was not blood tests were taken and sent to Bristol children's hospital and Great Ormond Street. Cavan was then taken by ambulance to Bristol Children's hospital where they had diagnosed HLH from his blood tests. More tests on Cavan revealed EBV and XLP

 

XLP is passed on by the mother and it affects only the males in the family. There are a hundred families in the world who have it but they cannot say how many may have it where it has not yet been triggered. The more people who ask their doctors about XLP the more they will look into this disease.

 

HLH can affect both sexes and happens in children also, (HLH)is a rare disorder affecting young children at a very early age ,but is found in patients of all ages patients with active HLH too many histiocytes as well as lymphocytes (another kind of infection- fighting cell)both of which are so-called white blood cells that may cause inflammation (swelling,redness,heat,pain,and loss of function) these cells then begin to penetrate and accumulate in the good tissue and cause damage to a variety of organs some possible sites of involvement include:bone marrow,lymph nodes,liver,spleen,skin,membranes surrounding the brain,spinal cord,or,more rarely, the brain its self.

What Causes HLH scientists do not yet know all the complicated process involved in this disease. There are two major forms of HLH one known as primary form,is inherited the other is known as the secondary form, the disease develops secondary to inappropriate (abnormal)activity of the immune system this can occur after the use of immunosuppressive therapy and/or infections researched by (Histiocytosis Association Of America)

Terry wants to see all woman screened in early pregnancy to check if they carry the gene to enable the family decide the way forward.These diseases are dreadful and the treatment is huge terry wants all our parties to look at this and encourage our health service to be on the look out for these diseases

Terry Hoey has set up a Trust Fund for his grandson Called The Cavan Tommy Hoey Trust he would ask anyone who wishes to donate to the fund to do so by cheque to

The Cavan Tommy Hoey Trust (Ireland)

C/O 86 Palmerston Road

Sydenham

Belfast

Co Antrim

Northern Ireland

BT4 1QD                email terryhoey@the-cavan-tommy-hoey-trust.org

Terry would also like to thank the people who have all ready given to the fund. We would ask anyone wanting to hold  fund raising events for Cavan to please register with either of the trusts.

We would also like to thank all the people of Cornwall Cavan's home town of Bodmin for all the great work they are doing for the trust and the events that are going on to raise funds we have set up a trust in Cornwall it is

The Cavan Tommy Hoey Trust (Cornwall)

C/O Jen Gendall

6 Springwell Mews

Lovelane

Bodmin

Pl31-2QP               email jen.gendall@the-cavan-tommy-hoey-trust.org

 

We are looking for  sponsors at present as we will be setting up Cavan's new web site interested parties  contact the organiser@the-cavan-tommy-hoey-trust.org

The Palmerston Residents Association visited the Tommy Patton Memorial Park on the Holywood Road in East Belfast the park sits on the old playing fields of Ashfield School,the park is equipped with a play area for children.  Not very far away there is  another park on the Circular Road Belfast it also has a play area for the young children. We would like to take you back to our two photographs of the play area at Victoria Park, as you can see this park has inadequate facilities for children.  Amazingly it sits in the highest density area for young children, the area covers the Sydenham District which ranges from back to back housing with little or no gardens front or back. Sydenham has major health problems both physical and mental illness exists, alongside anti social behaviour and the area is rated by the DSD as an area of risk. The Palmerston Residents Association has seen Victoria park slowly wound down we have heard other groups say they want to save Victoria Park, some groups blame the deterioration of the park on aircraft passing overhead, we ask these groups to look at our photographs and judge for them selves. We have seen our park exploited by some groups  to advance their own agenda, the difference with the Palmerston Residents Association is we have no agenda only to improve the area for our community and get facilities to the area that will take children of the streets and away from antisocial behaviour and crime. The association see our area deteriorate with less and less green spaces for our children to play. we see more and more signs going up saying No Ball Games, No Skate Boarding,No Admittance Residents Only and no cycling .Children have a right to play under the UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD article 31 of the convention sets out the child's right to engage in play and recreational activities http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm.  We want our younger generation to have inclusive play and equal access in leisure opportunities including disabled children. we can see by our photographs how unequal the play facilities are in Victoria Park yet it is in an area of risk, we also see from our photographs the over flying planes could not have caused this deterioration of Victoria Park it is man made. We need to put the spotlight on the people who are responsible for this and away from other issues the association feels that our park should and must be brought up to the same standard of other capital cities. We need both council investment and business to invest in Victoria Park  we should  campaign and petition the members of the parks committee for improvements to the park and write to, email or telephone whatever it takes to demand the  MLA's act regarding Victoria Park Play Facilities for children. The association feels that the park is large enough for the council to act now, if they are concerned about the widening of the Sydenham By Pass that is no excuse just relocate it to a better position in the park where children will not have to inhale fumes from passing cars and lorries on the Sydenham By Pass. Use the site the play area is on for tree planting. We urge you to read our final issue on Victoria Park day seven why not take a look at our new blog site for our youth in the community visit http://palmerston-play.spaces.live.com/

The photographs show the model boating lake that was once a play area for young and old alike you would go to the park at anytime and parents with their children using this lake to sail model yachts, motor boats and  radio control boats.  This was a place were the community met, model boat clubs came from Bangor and East Belfast to compete against each other. This pond was always a place where you could go and catch up with the latest models that other enthusiasts had built.  Some were driven by steam and some by remote control the park was the hub of the community. You can see by the tree planning program that the Council has taken up that it now removes one of the parks vital assets for community building,the park works like an employer for the community it relies on the the community bring to it or it fails just like any other business. The community needs to bring their model boats to the park and use the lake to encourage other enthusiasts to do the same. In turn fathers and sons get together and bond.  The children then have something to look forward to. We see in other cities that they now recognise how important play is for young people it helps with mental illness it gives them community bonding, and a reason to go out of the house and play inspiring confidence in our younger generation.

Victoria Park has always been the hub of East Belfast It is even recorded in the Hansard report 17th April 1946 when Mr Beattie

ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether will immediately derequisition Victoria Public Park,situated in East Belfast, so as to restore to the working class people of the district their rights to make use of these grounds owing to this being the only recreation ground inside a built up area.

The Palmerston Residents Association now repeats the words of Mr Beattie and ask when is the Children of East Belfast going to be able to enjoy the park once more as children as they need to play also

        

The Palmerston Residents Association has fought long and hard to protect our environment we have saved many trees from destruction. We are looking at three photographs of the path up to the swimming baths that one time stood in all its glory, back then Victoria Park was the only park to have an outside swimming baths in Belfast. Many visitors came from all over Northern Ireland just to try the pool out, our first photograph shows the pathway looking down from the pool as you can see it is now covered with trees and undergrowth, although the view was not always like this there was a lawn and flower beds with a grass bank. It was kept that way because of the airfield and it also gave the park its own sun trap where people young and old would sunbathe. The park in those days was a community park for all the family and young mothers, you would have seen lots of children playing on the grass while their mums where having a picnic on the bank after visiting the swimming pool. Our second photograph shows the other side of the bank where you would have seen young people playing football and cricket this all added to the community feeling the park contributed to the area. The opposing teams at football and cricket made up from different areas of Sydenham all added to the atmosphere of a community. Our third photograph shows the remains of the outdoor swimming pool wall where so many families came for a day out of swimming and picnics. As our photographs show the planting of trees along the pathway and the other side of the bank has removed the community feel to this great park. We feel the council had no plan at all on how to build or upgrade a community park, in the planting of trees it failed to see how it would break up the community feeling the park once had.We see by the planting they would have achieved so much more by including many more species of trees more sympathetic planting would not have caused the problems the council now has, where  trees have to be lopped all the time to stop them from interfering with the flight path of the airport. We look at the park and see just how many family and community projects that could take place in the park ,you would have thought we would have had a much more improved park with areas for fun where children could come and play and meet other children. What about an adventure playground and a skateboard facility,the council seems to have lost its way in Victoria Park and missed a great opportunity to help the young people of the area.  The council has failed to involve the community in its planning of the park and include the needs of everyone young and old.  They need  to think about where the park is situated in East Belfast and why the park was built in the first place you would think that Harland And Wolff and Short Brothers and Harland would have given them a clue. The park was built for East Belfast to give its workers and their family's of the great industries some where they could go and relax and enjoy themselves. The council seems to have missed that vital point,Sydenham is classed as an area at risk it has jumped to this position and is now as bad as it was in  North and West Belfast. The Sydenham Area suffers from Anti Social Behaviour, Ill Health,Mental Illness,and Suicide in our young population. The deterioration of Victoria Park has taken a vital link away from our community the council must see that if they close down areas in the park it drives the young people into the streets and then into antisocial behaviour.

We ask you to read our next issue DAY 5

The Residents Association Has Been fighting for sometime to save the Sydenham Youth Hall we ask you to follow our story  on the issues we have uncovered            

Our photographs show the Band Stand, the Children's Play Park and what remains of the Boat House, we must ask why these facilities have been let run down at a time when anti social behaviour is ripe on our street. We hear quite often that our park was used as a drinking den and our young people destroyed it. Victoria Park has been there for many years and in its later life it had more facilities than it has today we see that our park is not very family orientated it has no toilets the Band Stand is always closed and I cannot remember when a band ever played there.  Our second photograph shows a children's play area but as you can see from our photograph it is not very inspiring or even adventurous enough to keep our children amused for any length of time, we see in our third photograph the remains of what was the boat house that was demolished only a few years ago. We must ask the council why this is happening and why its removing facilities from this great park or has it got another agenda? The Residents Association has been active trying to convince our MLA's and our councillors just how great an asset this park is to East Belfast, but our words seem to be falling on deaf ears. We see rate payers money being used to build facilities in the park only to be demolished or to have so many restrictions put on them that it becomes not viable for community groups to use.  Yet our councillors do not seem to realise that if the communities are to tackle anti social behaviour we need parks like Victoria Park for our young people to use. So we must ask again Who Is The Real Friend Of Victoria Park and the Community Who Use It? 

These are the latest photographs taken by Palmerston Residents Association of Victoria Park and the state of decline it is in. We can see from the first two photographs how the island has washed away with out repair and how the trees on the island are being let fall into the lake because the banks are not being rebuilt.
We can also see in our photographs how the lake is allowed to be infested by rubbish and plastic bags which may result in a hazard to one of our children who may try and remove this bike that looks as though it was dumped sometime ago. Once more the Residents Association has had to come to the aid of this great park.
We ask our councillors how can we gain respect from our younger generation  when they see how our council looks after one of our most valuable assets. We hear a lot about our young people and anti social behaviour yet the council lets this happen to one of their historical sites.
How can we expect our young people to have a sense of pride for the park when the council lets it fall into disrepair and locks everything. Every human being uses a toilet we ask who is the real friend of Victoria Park is it the Airport or the Council follow our articles every day this week and we will let you know

The Palmerston Residents Association can report the Council has once more closed the gate to half open as our photograph shows.
This photograph was taken on the 28th September 2008, we had hoped that the Council had at last removed the bar to make access through the gate for the disabled and young mothers with prams much easier.
We can confirm that the Council did open the gate to its full extent until a couple of weeks ago once more we have to ask the question who is the real friend of Victoria Park.
The Council restricts the community the full use of the park and makes it difficult for young mothers with prams and the disabled the right of entry to the Public Park by blocking the gate half open. we can also confirm that the toilet block has now been closed for approximately 13 years and is still locked to the public, even though an offical spoke to the chairmam of the Residents Association in June this year. At the time he stated he would try and do somthing to have the toilets opened but it was all down to the cost of having them cleaned that may stop them from being opened.
We ask the Council what price do they put on our childrens lives when parents  have to let their children go to the toilet in the bushes. We have to ask them do they care about our disabled and senior Citizens who also cannot have the use of the toilets.

These are the names of only a few of the brave men who served voluntarily in the 1914 to 1915 war for King and Country.  The Roll of  Honour shows the names of the sons of one of our great industrialist William Holmes Smiles of Westbank House on the Palmerston Road Sydenham Belfast Northern Ireland. William Holmes Smiles And Gustav Wilhelm Wolff Founded one of the biggest companies in the World The Belfast Rope Works in East Belfast, yet these two men who give so much to Northern Ireland are not Commemorated  anywhere in East Belfast. Gustav Wilhelm Wolff one of the the Founder members With Sir Edward Harland founded the Belfast Shipyard one of the Largest in the World yet these two men are not Commemorated anywhere in East Belfast the home of the Belfast Shipyard and the Belfast Rope Works.  Would it not be fitting to have Gustav Wilhelm Wolff and William Holmes Smiles Commemorated at the sites where they both lived in East Belfast Gustav Wolff The Den Station Road, and William Smiles Palmerston Road. It is a very sad sight to see the sons of William Holmes Smiles on the roll of honour yet know one knows  know their history. We must let them know just how great Northern Ireland was and how many great men actually lived here and who they were and what they did to improve so many lives for the people of Northern Ireland 

The Chairman Terry Hoey

The Palmerston Residents Association Smiles And Wolff Campaign

The Palmerston Residents Association say thank you to Northern Ireland Railways in agreeing to let the association erect one of their community notice boards at Sydenham Station Halt, and also to the association taking care of the station. The Residents Association have always been keen to look after Sydenham Station as we feel it is the shop window to Sydenham, we want to show our visitors that Sydenham is a pleasant place to live and a nice place to visit. We intend to plant flowers and in the summer months put up hanging baskets, we hope to make the station much more appealing to the members of the public that use the station to commute to work helping both Northern Ireland Railway and the Palmerston Residents Association get more commuters out of their cars and on to public transport. The residents association feels if the community look after their own station it will give them pride in having a show station on their doorsteps.  The Residents Association want the commuters to stop and visit Sydenham as it has a lot of places to see, including The Den Station Road where  Gustav Wilhelm Wolff once lived and the Smiles Family Home Westbank House that use to stand on the Palmerston Road. You can also see the tree lined hill that was known as Bunkers Hill named after the Battle of Bunkers Hill in the American Civil War, we also have the home of Stewart James Parker the play write, you can also visit St Marks Church and see where CS Lewis attended Church, we also have some great parks in the area including Victoria Park one of the oldest parks in Belfast all within walking distance of Sydenham Station. we have several Churches in the area that always have something going on. The Sydenham Methodist Church which stands at the corner of Station Road and Palmerston Road, the Salvation Army Headquarters stands just on the other side of the road from the Sydenham Methodist Church, if you walk a little bit further you will see the Church of Ireland on the Larkfield Road and St Marks Church on the Holywood Road. Alternately if you feel you would like to see what is going on in the community you can call at the Inverary Community Centre on Inverary Drive where there is something good taking place every day. Maybe you just want a quite walk so why not try the Tommy Patton Memorial Park. Sydenham is a great place to visit with lots to see, the Palmerston Residents Association take a pride in the history of the area and are proud to show it off. We hope to be including shortly to our attractions our community allotments, and if permission is given by the Belfast City Council its very first Farmers Market to be held in the grounds of the Church of Ireland on the Larkfield Road.  Once again we thank all the people who are supporting us, and the backing we have been given on a few of our projects including the tree protection orders on the trees at Bunkers Hill on the Palmerston Road. The spot listing of the Gustav Wolff Cottages at The Den Station Road and the support we have raised for a commemoration for The Smiles Family on The Palmerston Road, also Northern Ireland Railways for agreeing to help our community even further by showing the community that it respects all that it is trying to achieve by letting us take care of our visitors and making Sydenham Station one of the prime stations on the Network    

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