Latest news with #Tollymore
BBC News
03-08-2025
- General
- BBC News
Tollymore: Fears for future of mothballed outdoor activity centre
Sports enthusiasts have voiced their disappointment and frustration that Tollymore National Outdoor Centre in County Down will be closed for up to a year, while a review of the centre's future is carried Bryansford-based activity centre has been closed since January, following damage from Storm É NI, which operates the centre, said the current operating model was no longer financially sustainable and would result in "a small number of local redundancies".Kath Maguire, who trained as an instructor at the centre, and is founder of The Feel Good Factor, a multi-sports club for women, said her group had "really missed" the facility. Located on the outskirts of Tollymore Forest Park, the centre provides a range of courses in rock-climbing, hillwalking, canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, mountaineering and orienteering."The Tollymore staff team have been exceptional and supportive to The Feel Good Factor over the 10 years and we are disappointed at the redundancies for local staff," she said. "We are hopeful that a solution will be found to help this fabulous resource in the heart of Mourne thrive."I have been an instructor for 25 years, since getting my qualification there."Hopefully this will not see the centre closed on a permanent basis and it will be brought back stronger and much better used."Ms Maguire said the club had been invited to take part in the Sport NI review."I have sent an email to Sport NI saying I am concerned," she added."It is a facility we love and our community hub."Sport NI said the review would look at a wide range of options aimed at reimagining the role and function of Tollymore National Outdoor Centre "in a financially sustainable way, and ensuring it continues to develop our outdoors sector in an impactful and effective way". 'A brilliant place' Maxi Scullion, secretary of Gilford Youth Climbing Club, said she was disappointed, describing the centre as "a brilliant and unique place".She said more than 50 members had stayed at the facility two years ago and participated in a range of activities."We slept in the accommodation, used the climbing wall and high ropes, and also had some food there," she said."They supplied instructors to help with the climbing wall and the high ropes course that we did."We had a great time, a lot of the children in our group had never done a high ropes course before."The feedback was hugely positive, it was brilliant." Alliance Party assembly member Andrew McMurray said his first association with the Tollymore centre, was as a teenager learning how to later blossomed when he met his future wife Shalene there as a trainee got married at the centre in has since introduced his two children to the facility."You have to see these centres as living organisms, they are a residential centre, so there's always people about them, they are a 24/7 operation," he said."As a trainee, it is almost like a second home, to a certain degree."A lot of happy memories, and a lot of associations and I know a lot of other people will have similar memories, so it is very disappointing to see that it has got to this stage."McMurray previously worked as an instructor at the outdoor learning centre at Ardnabannon in County Down, which closed in 2017 and said staff facing redundancy should be engaged with in a "respectful manner".He highlighted the important role Tollymore played in training instructors and facilitating activities for clubs and schools."Tollymore National Outdoor Centre is the last remaining bespoke outdoor centre that trains coaches left on the island of Ireland," he said it was "incumbent" on Sport NI that whatever model it decided on was implemented Education Authority confirmed that after a review of its outdoor education facilities in 2017, the decision was taken to close the outdoor education centres at Ardnabannon, Bushmills, Killowen and Killyleagh "based on economic viability and proximity to other outdoor education centres". Shimna Integrated College principal, Steve Pagan, said he was "very concerned to hear about the challenges facing the centre".The school is near Tollymore and pupils are regular users of the centre."No less than many other schools across Northern Ireland, the centre has been a fantastic resource down the years, facilitating practical activities as part of examination courses, supporting our extra-curricular programme and providing essential staff training for the Duke of Edinburgh Award," he described it as a "tremendous asset". 'Exceptional waste of resources' The trade union Nipsa has expressed "deep concern and disappointment" at news of the review into the future of the outdoor said six staff had been identified as being at risk of assistant secretary Alan Law said it was an "exceptional waste of resources because the centre was deemed to be the jewel in the crown of Sport NI provision". Richard Archibald, interim chief executive of Sport NI, said "very regrettably" the organisation had started redundancy consultation with some of the centre's permanent added that while the centre was never intended to be profit-making, Sport NI had "a duty to ensure value for money for the public purse and for the whole sports sector".Sport NI said the centre generated an income of about £250,000 in 2024, while it cost over £1.3m to run.
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
How To Train Your Dragon: New film showcases NI's scenery
How To Train Your Dragon in Northern Ireland 15 minutes ago Share Save Robbie Meredith BBC News NI Education and Arts Correspondent Share Save Universal Pictures Hiccup befriends the young dragon, Toothless, in the new live action version of the animated movie How to Train Your Dragon in Northern Ireland was not without its challenges. Dragons tend to be pretty large, for one thing. That is according to the film's producer, David Cain. "When they animated, they would draw it just to the convenient size they needed it to be," he told BBC News NI. "But when you're working in real spaces, a large dragon is a large dragon and it takes up the space it needs." How to Train Your Dragon is the first live action version of the films in the hit animated series. Gerard Butler as Viking leader Universal Pictures Gerard Butler, one of the film's stars, as Stoick the Viking leader Directed by Dean DuBlois, it tells the story of how a human and dragon befriend each other, breaking generations of conflict between dragons and Vikings on the fictional isle of Berk. And Berk was created in a number of locations in Northern Ireland, including Belfast, Dunseverick Castle on the north coast and Tollymore Forest. Many visitors to Belfast's Titanic Quarter will have noticed the battlements of the Viking village, for instance, built just across the road from the Titanic Studios. The Sampson and Goliath cranes from the nearby shipyards towered over the set but the dragons left them alone. And the sets certainly impressed Gerard Butler, one of the film's stars as Stoick, the Viking leader. "Experiencing those sets that then are dressed and are lit and have torches on fire in the great hall, people get caught up in that energy and they believe in the story," he said in a behind-the-scenes film about the making of How to Train Your Dragon. BBC News NI spoke to How to Train Your Dragon's producer David Cain, just before President Trump's announcement that tariffs could be applied to films made in foreign countries. Getty Images Dunseverick Castle was one filming location How to Train Your Dragon began life as a hugely successful animated trilogy of films from Dreamworks Animation. And, according to David Cain, there are "all sorts of challenges" in turning an animated hit into a live action film, not just the size of the dragons. "You're trying to remake something that was loved and cherished and pay homage to the original and keep the original fans happy," he told BBC News NI. "While at the same time bringing something fresh and new to the table." Universal Pictures Director Dean DuBlois gives on set direction to Nico Parker In Belfast, the production spent several months in early 2024 filming at Belfast Harbour Studios and Titanic Studios. "We also built substantial sets on our back lot," David Cain said. "Obviously a lot of our work takes place on the mythical island of Berk and its village, so we built a lot of our sets outside for natural light and natural weather." Audiences in Northern Ireland will quickly recognize the rugged coastline of Dunseverick, where teenagers Hiccup - played by Mason Thames - and Astrid - played by Nico Parker - have a heart-to-heart talk in one of the film's key scenes. Hiccup befriends the young dragon, Toothless, challenging Viking certainties and the conflict with the dragons. Game of Thrones and Northern Ireland's reputation Universal Pictures Mason Thames as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Nico Parker as Astrid
