Creggan: looking to a future filled with hope, energy and confidence

New book opens a fresh chapter on history of area and its people
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If there is one word that sums up Creggan and its people, it is: determination, writes Sean McLaughlin.

A byword for pain and hardship in its first half century, the area has over the past two decades been massively transformed and is now looking to a future filled with energy, hope and confidence.

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It is this sense of self-worth, self-regard and self-empowerment - all driven by a people with an unquenchable pride in the place they come from - that is underscored in a new book due to be published in the next few weeks.

A recent aerial view of Creggan.A recent aerial view of Creggan.
A recent aerial view of Creggan.

‘Creggan: The Next Chapter’ is the sequel to ‘Creggan: More Than A History’ which, since its publication 22 years ago, has gone on to become one of this region’s best-selling and best-loved local histories.

The new book picks up where its predecessor left off, celebrating the milestones of the area and the community.

But while the previous edition often found itself recording the dark days that marked Creggan in its infancy, the new account looks forward to brighter tomorrows.

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It reflects with pride on how swords have gradually been turned into ploughshares, and former military bases, like Essex and Piggery Ridge, have become hives of industry, recreation and community development.

'Creggan: The Next Chapter'.'Creggan: The Next Chapter'.
'Creggan: The Next Chapter'.

It promotes the diverse cross-community work of Creggan-based organisations and trumpets the cultural, social and artistic contributions of its sons and daughters to the wider world.

Importantly, it also highlights the numerous projects and initiatives put in place to nurture, encourage and up-skill Creggan citizens.

Editors Garbhán Downey and Conal McFeely believe that, in many respects, the work towards positive change started with the establishment of the Creggan Enterprises social economy initiative in 1991 and the subsequent opening of the Ráth Mór Centre in 1995.

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Even prior to the emergence of the peace process, the Creggan community itself had for many decades taken the lead in undoing the damage done by generations of chronic disadvantage, discrimination and conflict.

Garbhan reflects that ‘Creggan: More Than A History’ - which he co-edited with the late Michael McGuinness - recorded how community leaders, sporting associations, arts and media groups, trade unionists and human rights groups, schools and churches, had resisted marginalisation by developing their own society, and maximising its strengths, from within.

In many respects, the new book reaps the rewards of that crucial groundwork.

Today there are 60 businesses and projects employing 300 people at Ráth Mór. It is a complete village in itself, supporting everything from undertakers to a medical centre.

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Its supermarket was an exemplar of best practice during the Covid-19 lockdowns, setting up a free relay system to service thousands of vulnerable and housebound residents. The pharmacy established itself as a vaccine centre, while the taxi firm ran the home deliveries.

In the many offices and buildings across the Ráth Mór site, you will find publishers, film-makers, music-makers, designers, artists and carnival producers.

There are on-site crèches and playgroups for youngsters, while older children come across the street from the nearby schools to get their lunch in its cafes.

Teenagers in the Lifehack Project take the first steps to work or enjoy social activities, when they’re not fundraising for charity. While the 50+ and Older Men’s Clubs provide myriad activities – and comradeship – for the senior generations.

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None of this existed 30 years ago – and none of this would have existed without community determination.

Garbhan and Conal say that, in spite of all this progress, Creggan’s struggle is by no means over.

“Its population remains among the most disadvantaged on this island,” they say. “A job in Derry, if you are fortunate enough to acquire one, will earn you less than half of what you would get in Belfast, and about a third of what you what get in Dublin.

“Only one in seven school leavers can get a place in their preferred university course in the North West. And there is still a major challenge regarding gatekeeping and bureaucracy, and with accessing state funding for those who need it most.”

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For all that, says the new book’s editors, John Hume’s dream – that people in Derry would have the means and opportunity to study and earn their living in high-quality jobs at home – has never diminished.

They are in no doubt that a new generation of leaders has taken up the mantle to deliver that ‘bright, brand new day’, and Creggan, as always, is at the forefront of that campaign.

○‘Creggan: The Next Chapter’ is published by Guildhall Press.

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