A PROJECT aimed at building resilience during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic is currently ongoing throughout rural communities in Fermanagh as they tell their stories of countryside resilience during lockdown, and reflect on past times and their hopes for the future.

Rural Housing Association and Community Arts Partnership’s Brilliant Resilience project, funded through The Prince’s Countryside Fund, aimed to build on existing traditional skills and interests, stories and heritage specific to this rural community.

The project creates space for conversation, and supports creative activity specific to Fermanagh’s rural culture.

Ongoing since March, the project will deliver creative capacity building workshops in order to maximise the resilience of participants and their communities through the medium of storytelling, crochet and photography.

Ruth Montgomery, Business Development Manager for the Rural Housing Association, said the project has been a real success so far, and that at times it was quite emotional to see people getting back out and meeting face-to-face after months in lockdown and isolation due to the pandemic.

“It’s been lovely, because like every other organisation in the world, we haven’t been able to do any face-to-face work, and you could really tell that when people were taking part in the project it was our first time of actually seeing people from their local area,” explained Ruth.

“You could see that the impact of it was so much more than it would ordinarily be because people have been so isolated.

“I know people suffered from social isolation and loneliness before the pandemic, but I think it was definitely exacerbated by it.”

The project will culminate in the production of a coffee book table, while there will also be an community exhibition in November after the project finishes.

Ruth was full of praise for those who were able to facilitate the different phases of the project through photography, crochet and storytelling.

The photography was of particular interest for those taking part, while the storytelling gave people the chance to speak about their experience during the pandemic, and even went back in time to further days gone by.

People either met through local groups or they registered individually and, looking back at some of the feedback and experiences of those who took part, Ruth added: “It was actually quite emotional, because you can see that some people would have loved going out to community group activities. And then, during the pandemic, that all ended, and they weren’t able to go.

“It was their opportunity to get back out and meet people again and you could see that difference.

“Lockdown was really lonely for a lot of people, particularly people that were living on their own, so I think for people to get back into a social setting, and start those relationships again, it was brilliant – it really did mean so much to them.”

This sentiment is echoed by Mary, the Chair of Teemore Women’s Group, who took part in the project: “It was very good to get people mixing again after lockdown.

“The photography workshops opened up new possibilities for us; it helped us realise that the simple things in life can give real pleasure and we are surrounded by such wonderful natural beauty in Fermanagh.

“The project helped us to find new interests, and the mixing, conversations and social aspect of the project was really needed after a very long period of lockdown.”

With the project set to run for another three months, Ruth is looking forward to more people taking part and she believes it reflects on the resilience of rural communities in Fermanagh throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They’ve been so brilliant at supporting each other. It was lovely to hear those stories of how rural communities come together,” Ruth added.