When Love Lurgan was formed in May 2024 the hope was to shine a light on all that was good about the town – celebrating a proud history and heritage, the people and the place.
And the hard-working 40 ‘core’ volunteers – led by directors Donagh McKeown and Isobel Hylands – have done that in no small measure.
Now a new chapter is about to be written with the launch next week of a special ‘home of our own’ in the form of a ‘hub’ in the centre of the County Armagh town.
Going forward then, the community will be the real winner with a fantastic venue from which all of the many elements of Love Lurgan’s goal-driven agenda can knit together as one.
Ahead of the launch of the new venue at 48A High Street, this Wednesday, Armagh I caught up with Tim Gracey, one of the Love Lurgan volunteers, to find out what has been happening and the myriad hopes for the future.
“Love Lurgan is a not-for-profit community interest company that’s trying to bring people together to celebrate all that’s positive about Lurgan,” explained Tim.
“Lurgan sometimes has a negative rap, as it were, and this is about the positive side to it.
“Our vision is to create a vibrant and inclusive platform for the people of the town, celebrating local culture, music, stories and community life.
“Part of our vision is to promote Lurgan as a tourist destination and over the years we have held walking tours of the town. People maybe living in the area don’t fully appreciate some of the gems in terms of buildings and structures that we have.
“We are also associated with Friends of Shankill Graveyard and now we have the ‘Love Lurgan’ radio station. At this stage it has only been operating, it hasn’t officially been launched, but it’s been broadcasting quietly while we get our ourselves together for a couple of months.
“Radio Lurgan is an exciting part of what we do. At present we broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays. Our aim is to showcase local music and stories, share community news, support learning and skills and bring people together through radio. Listeners can get us on Facebook and on the internet at www.radiolurgan.com.
“We now have the new premises and we’re going to use that for particular things within the community and we’ll work with the community to find out ideas for what might be needed.
“We intend to use our new premises for a range of public events. Among our initial plans are to hold a series of talks, with a variety of speakers, on the history of Lurgan and on its heritage and to have exhibitions. We also plan a series of ‘Open Mic’ events which will include acoustic music sessions and story-telling evenings.
“It would be a community space, but it’ll also be the base for everything that we do.”
Donagh McKeown, a director of Love Lurgan and presenter on Radio Lurgan.
At the minute, the team behind Love Lurgan have been working diligently and with great determination to pull it all together.
At the helm, meanwhile, are two who need little introduction to the good folk of Lurgan – Donagh McKeown, a broadcaster of some renown, who has been heavily involved in walks and tours of the town, and Isobel Hylands, whose active focus has been on the Friends of Shankill Graveyard.
During the course of the launch, an insightful new booklet will also be premiered which will add to efforts to help ‘share the love’ of Lurgan!
“Donagh and Isobel are both very much keen historians of the area and have been for a long time,” said Tim. “Our booklet ‘Lurgan Heritage Trail’ is an update on Lurgan’s first tour guide, which was written in the 1990s by members of Craigavon Historical Society.
“It’s a very user-friendly little book, which is written as if you were walking through the town and it highlights buildings and structures. It’s very interesting, very easy to read, very accessible and gives you information on things in Lurgan that certainly I didn’t know before, and we’ll be launching that as well.”
One of the most exciting aspects of what has been happening has been the recent addition of the new and dedicated radio station for the town.
It has already taken to the airwaves and the ‘reception’ so far has been brilliant.
While still in its infancy and with limited ‘hours of operation’, with the new base in place it is hoped to expand and build upon Radio Lurgan in the days and weeks ahead.
“The radio is based there too,” added Tim. “It has been broadcasting and will continue to broadcast at this stage. It’s broadcasting on a Saturday morning from 10 o’clock right through to evening time and on a Sunday morning from 10 o’clock right through to evening time too.
“At the minute we have a series of programmes. One of them, the anchor show, as it were, is ‘Talk of the Town’, and Donagh, a former broadcaster on Downtown, does that. We’ve got sport and we have music shows, country music shows, spiritual music shows, and that sort of thing, and we’re going to develop that suite of programmes as we get more into it.”
The public have been very appreciative of what has been going on and keen to support the ongoing work of Love Lurgan, getting behind initiatives that serve the interests of all and the town as a whole.
Said Tim: “People are very interested and very keen to cooperate and keen to talk. I think there certainly is a level of interest in what we’re doing and the idea of a radio station for Lurgan too is something that’s completely new and people seem to be warming to the idea.”
The launch on Wednesday is by invitation only, given the size of the premises, and how the new hub will best serve the needs of the community – as well as opening hours and use – will be key to discussions going forward.
“We’re still working it out,” added Tim, “but we want to launch it and invite people in and talk to them and listen.”
To keep up to date with what is planned and the work of Love Lurgan, check out the Facebook page here.
And for those people who will not be attending the launch but would like to find out more, it will be broadcast live on Radio Lurgan.
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