Estate gives its verdict on BBC documentary
Ballysally Coleraine. PICTURE KEVIN MCAULEY PHOTOGRAPHY MULTIMEDIA
AN uneasy air hung over the Ballysally estate in Coleraine yesterday in the raw aftermath of BBC documentary The Estate.
Ballysally, which has twice the national average of people on unemployment benefit, is one of the biggest housing estates in Northern Ireland with around 3,000 residents.
Filming of the documentary saw cameras go behind closed doors to follow the lives of some residents over 12 months.
Yesterday, even though the documentary was the only topic of conversation, few were prepared to speak publicly about it.
As one resident said: “I thought it showed up all the bad things about Ballysally, or Ballyscally is maybe a better name now. It didn’t show up anything good or positive. And to be honest I am not going to put my name to this because I don’t want my windows put it.”
The Rev John Coulter, of Ballysally Presbyterian Church, said he believed the trailers for the programme angered Ballysally residents more than the programme which aired on Monday night.
Rev Coulter said he believed that the programme-makers did not gain the confidence of those bringing about positive change in the estate – and for that reason, those people did not consent to take part in the programme.
“There are great people living and working here. It is an area with a developing community spirit,” said Rev Coulter.
“From the start it was very clear that ‘people struggling’ was the story – at least that is how it appeared to people on the ground. In saying that, we have only seen one episode. It might even out and show more positivity as the series goes on.”
Catering assistant Louise Wilson, 35, who works and lives in Ballysally, agreed that local people were enraged at the trailer.
“The advert just made it look very negative but when I saw the programme I quite enjoyed it. It showed a range of people living their lives,” she said. “My sister-in-law is going to be in a later part of the series. She is a single mum at university who works a lot for charity.
“I have lived here 13 years and never had any trouble. Everything is handy when you are a parent and I was happy bringing my three children up here. I can say nothing bad about Ballysally.”
Jason Gibson, 26, from Macosquin, also a catering assistant in the Healthy Eating Cafe in Ballysally, said he thought the first episode “gave you a good insight into the Ballysally community”.
He added: “The reaction this morning from locals was quite negative. They said they had spent a lot of money developing Ballysally but the programme made it look as bad as it did 20 years ago. But then again, pictures don’t lie.
“There are seven more episodes to watch before we make up our minds. The ones who are criticising it should have stepped up to the plate and spoken in the documentary.”
Coleraine mother Niamh Owens said she believed the programme was “quite positive”.
“I know a lot of people who live in Ballysally. The programme didn’t make it look any worse – that is how it is,” she said.
“It is one of the poorer estates. There has been a lot of talk on Facebook saying it makes it look bad, but I think it just portrayed it as it is. I thought it was positive.”
Businessman Gareth Godfrey, 47, who owns Gareth’s Takeaway, said he believed the “good people of Ballysally were not shown”.
“I thought they didn’t show the good places in Ballysally. They only showed the bad areas and rundown buildings. There are a lot of good people in Ballysally.”
Meanwhile, Spanish teacher Julie Neill, 29, who works part-time in Ballysally Primary School, said the documentary wasn’t even mentioned to her in the school.
“I heard nothing about it – it wasn’t even mentioned.”
Last night, DUP MLA Adrian McQuillan revealed a meeting was held in Coleraine Borough Council to discuss the fallout from the documentary.
He said local politicians, church leaders, school heads and housing officials were in attendance.
“The outcome of the meeting was a sense of relief that the film was not as bad as we feared but that we want to put forward a more positive image of the estate. It could have been any housing estate anywhere. The programme focused on eight people - but more than 3,000 people live there.”
East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell said he believed the depiction of a working family in the documentary “was a more accurate account of Ballysally now compared to 20 or 30 years ago”.
“Hopefully, in the remaining episodes, it will show more of the working families who are trying to make life better. That is Ballysally now.”
Mayor of Coleraine, Alderman Maurice Bradley, offered a guarded response to the first episode.
He said: “This is a fly-on-the-wall documentary and, although it is based in Ballysally, it could have been filmed on any estate, private or public, anywhere in Northern Ireland, and the same types of problems, struggles, highs and lows etc, would be found.
“This has been one episode, there are another seven to go. I am not going to speculate about the content of those episodes, because quite frankly, I don’t know.”
A BBC spokeswoman said: “This is the first programme in an eight-part series capturing something of life on the Ballysally estate filmed over the course of a year.
“As the series develops it will give an insight into community and family life as events unfold during a particularly harsh economic period and is told for the most part in their own words.”
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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