Background to the Research

• Rural issues have risen up the political and policy-making agenda in recent years. Action with Communities in Rural England and the Community Development Foundation collaborated in the production of this research in order to contribute to greater understanding of the issues being faced by those living and working in rural areas.
• This article outlines the experiences of people in adult education and how this spurred the establishment of a flourishing rural development project.
  

Research Approach

• The research is based on the case study of adult education classes set up in the area of Moortown on the Loughshore of Lough Neagh.
  

Main Findings

• The area of Moortown has a population of 1,500 people who live in scattered dwellings throughout the countryside with few areas of concentration. There is a mixed economic base, with a predominance of farming, fishing and small backyard industry. The community is close-knit and almost all are Catholic.
• Initially, woodwork classes were established and the response was high particularly by young men who saw them as a chance to start an apprenticeship. Gradually older people and women began to attend the classes.
• The WEA and the NI Voluntary Trust provided some support as the classes branched out into local history and craftwork as well as woodwork.
• The number of students increased, the classes grew and the rural influence on the agenda became more pronounced. This lead to the establishment of a Loughshore branch of the WEA, which led in turn to courses in art, yoga, creative writing, cookery, women's studies welfare rights and health. At its height there were 9 courses running with 300 students enrolled per year.
• In the late 1980s, the issue of the discovery of lignite in the area came to the attention of the local community. A small group of people in the history class decided to form a steering group to investigate the implications of the development of lignite mining in the area.
• Lignite Action was formed to protest at lack of information and consultation with regard to the lignite development. The campaign lasted for 6 years and after petitions, campaigning and lobbying of politicians, British Petroleum Coal withdrew from the area. Since 1988, a series of proposals put forward by Lignite Action have been accepted by the mining company and they now work in close consultation with local people.
• The action of the Lignite group led to the establishment of a 4-year community development project in the area. This project set out to maintain a broad-based approach which would integrate the social, cultural, economic and environmental concerns of the area and to encourage the statutory sector to meet these needs.

Conclusions

• In June 1990, the project was adopted by the Department of Agriculture and was funded though a pilot fund acquired from the European Commission to assist projects which might be developed as a basis for an integrated rural development programme for NI.
• In September 1990, the Loughshore Community Development Association management stood down and rural development in the Loughshore became the responsibility of Ardboe Development Action, whose projects are now well established. The project continues to grow and has an important influence on the whole community development scene in NI as well as on the future of integrated rural development.
• The relationship between local people and the statutory sector has improved considerably since the inception of the community development work in 1985. There are growing links between the two politically-divided communities.