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Extraordinary stories of ordinary people who are changing the place where they live and creating new lives for themselves and those around them.
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The Belfast Bog Meadows
In the middle of Belfast there are fifty acres of ancient wetland which are now being restored to their former glory. On one side there is the M1 motorway and an industrial estate, on the other there is the Falls Road and the Milltown cemetery, but this oasis of green has survived the ravages of the twentieth century.
Chris Baines visits Belfast to find how communities from right across the political spectrum have joined together to clean up a place that was used partly as a tip and partly as an unofficial motorcycle scrambling course.
In 1989 The Friends of the Bog Meadows was formed as a group with the sole purpose of protecting and preserving this remnant of what was originally a huge area of bog land. In a city where consensus is rare, there has been support from all parties in turning what was once a wasteland into a haven for wildlife.
As Terry Goldsmith, Vice chairman of the Friends, says: "We look on this project as being something that can stand as an example of how communities can work together, how politicians can work together to develop something that’s good for everyone".
Local Resident Sheila McVeigh who used to play on the meadows as a child, and is one of the people that have helped to clean it up, states simply: "Look after it, preserve it with everything that we have, we own it."
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