About the Project
This project was the result of a conversation with a young person who was the grandson of a local man who fought in the Spanish Civil War. Packy McAllister as he was known locally was a gentleman and never made reference to his time spent fighting Facism in Madrid. His grandson wanted to explore how his grandfather had taken part in this war and why he felt the need to leave the Falls Road as a young man to risk his life for people in another country.
This discussion led a small group of young people to set up the steering group who then applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund for some help. Through the Young Roots element of the Lottery Fund they were successful in securing the necessary costs to set up a project that would enable them to explore local people who fought this 'great fight'. The 'great fight' was how Mr. McAllister explained his role in preventing the Nazi's from taking over the world.
The project aim was then to 'record for posterity the names of local people who fought in the Spanish Civil War' and the objectives then were for the young people to learn about and explore the rationale behind the people who took part. It was also important for the young people to see why so many people from Ireland and especially West Belfast participated.
From my perspective as a youth worker, this was also an opportunity for the young people to gain new skills such as research, communication, organisational and social/life skills. This for the youth centre was an opportunity not to be missed to support the social and educational development of the young people, initially the 15 on the main group and the further 30 or so who helped and made a contribution, but we will explore how this project has impacted on the young people, their families and the community of West Belfast later in the booklet.
Want to know more about the war?
Please click here for an indepth background on the Spanish Civil War…