Latest news with #EastBelfast
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Cllr Tracy Kelly to become DUP's first female Belfast lord mayor
South Belfast councillor Tracy Kelly is set to become the city's first female lord mayor from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). She is expected to be voted into the top position in Belfast at a council meeting on Monday night. It will make her the second female unionist to become the city's lord mayor. The late Grace Bannister held the position in 1981, and there is a footbridge in east Belfast named in her honour. The next deputy lord mayor is set to be west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Kelly, 47, is from the Donegall Road area of south Belfast and used to work in community development, which sparked her interest in politics. She is currently office manager at the DUP constituency office of MLA Edwin Poots, who is the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She previously worked for MLA Christopher Stalford, who died suddenly three years ago, aged 39. He had encouraged her to become involved in politics, and she was first elected to the council in 2019. "He asked me to run in that election," she told BBC News NI. "Him and constituents pressurised me into running in the 2019 election. I never thought I would ever sit in city council - never mind be lord mayor." The DUP has held the position of lord mayor in Belfast nine times, and among those to wear the chain of office were Nigel Dodds, Sammy Wilson and current party leader Gavin Robinson. Asked about being the first female from the party in the role, Kelly said: "I feel very privileged to be the first female. Women are now taking more and more leadership roles." She pointed out that the DUP has already had a female leader, Arlene Foster, who became first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly is the current deputy first minister. Looking ahead to her year in office, she said: "My aim as lord mayor is to ensure that nobody is left behind. "Over the years Belfast has evolved and changed dramatically, since the Troubles especially. "But there's communities out there that are disengaged from the city centre, they don't feel part of this change. "And there's also young people who are disengaged from education, employment and training. I want to reach out to them." Away from politics, Kelly is a football fan and supports Linfield and Liverpool. The outgoing lord mayor is Micky Murray of the Alliance Party, who described himself as the first "openly gay" first citizen in Belfast.
BBC News
01-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cllr Tracy Kelly to become DUP's first female lord mayor of Belfast
South Belfast councillor Tracy Kelly is set to become the city's first female lord mayor from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).She is expected to be voted into the top position in Belfast at a council meeting on Monday will make her the second female unionist to become the city's lord mayor. The late Grace Bannister held the position in 1981, and there is a footbridge in east Belfast named in her next deputy lord mayor is set to be west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). 'I never thought I would be lord mayor' Kelly, 47, is from the Donegall Road area of south Belfast and used to work in community development, which sparked her interest in is currently office manager at the DUP constituency office of MLA Edwin Poots, who is the speaker of the Northern Ireland previously worked for MLA Christopher Stalford, who died suddenly three years ago, aged had encouraged her to become involved in politics, and she was first elected to the council in 2019."He asked me to run in that election," she told BBC News NI."Him and constituents pressurised me into running in the 2019 election. I never thought I would ever sit in city council - never mind be lord mayor." The DUP has held the position of lord mayor in Belfast nine times, and among those to wear the chain of office were Nigel Dodds, Sammy Wilson and current party leader Gavin about being the first female from the party in the role, Kelly said: "I feel very privileged to be the first female. Women are now taking more and more leadership roles."She pointed out that the DUP has already had a female leader, Arlene Foster, who became first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly is the current deputy first ahead to her year in office, she said: "My aim as lord mayor is to ensure that nobody is left behind."Over the years Belfast has evolved and changed dramatically, since the Troubles especially."But there's communities out there that are disengaged from the city centre, they don't feel part of this change."And there's also young people who are disengaged from education, employment and training. I want to reach out to them."Away from politics, Kelly is a football fan and supports Linfield and outgoing lord mayor is Micky Murray of the Alliance Party, who described himself as the first "openly gay" first citizen in Belfast.
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Belfast: Connswater shark sighting was 'quite a surprise'
A man has said he "couldn't believe" what he was seeing as he went for a bike ride in Victoria Park in east Tuesday evening, Thomas Davidson spotted a 4ft-long starry smooth-hound shark swimming in the Connswater River where the waterway meets Belfast species of shark has been seen in other urban areas such as the River Thames and the River Mersey Patrick Collins, a marine biologist at Queen's University, said while "it's not something you see everyday, it's not something super unusual either". "In the past I would occasionally have seen several 2-3lb mullet follow the tide in, but on this occasion I saw a much larger shape in the water adjacent to Airport Road," Mr Davidson told BBC News said this shape was "too big to be a mullet", so he stopped to take a closer look."A dorsal fin slowly broke the surface revealing that familiar profile that looked like a shark," he said."I quickly took out my phone and started to video this slow-moving fish as it meandered left and right up and downstream, getting mobbed by a few gulls."I couldn't believe what I was watching."The shark continued swimming in this section of river for about 30 minutes before moving upstream into a shadow area and Mr Davidson lost sight of it. "I felt very lucky to witness such a lengthy sighting and was left curious as to how far upstream it might go," he Connswater River rises in the Castlereagh hills and runs northwards through east Belfast, getting wider until it reaches the sea at Belfast river route includes the Connswater Greenway walking route and flows past CS Lewis Square and Connswater Shopping Davidson said he will "continue to look out for it and others in the future". 'Probably having its lunch' This type of shark mainly eat crabs and small crustaceans, marine biologist Dr Patrick Collins section of the river in Victoria Park probably contained crabs, and so this shark spotted by Mr Davidson was "probably just having its lunch", he said it is "not very common to find smooth-hounds in cities, but they have been recorded in the last few years". "It's a little bit unusual if you're walking your dog to find one that close to the city, and that easy to see, but they're not a rare animal," Dr Collins continued."They're found fairly commonly across the UK and Ireland. It's not an unusual occurrence to have them close to an urban centre because there's sea water there. "It's a bit like seeing a deer in farmland."He added that this type of shark poses no risk to the public."Because of movies like Jaws and some other strange public perceptions coming from that, there's this idea that all sharks are dangerous animals - they're a type of fish."These animals pose absolutely no threat to us whatsoever."
