The Men's Breakfast

SATURDAY 1ST MAY 2010 at 9am

This event was part of the Community Relations Week which ran from 26 April to 2 May and had the intention of bringing together men from all walks of life and communities to sit together, eat together and share their commonalities, to build bridges and improve community life.

Each year, Community Relations Week provides an opportunity for community and voluntary organizations as well as public bodies to highlight the way ahead and to lead the way to a more positive future where diversity is celebrated and welcomed and interdependence is taken for granted in our way of life. This year the Community Relations week was a platform to think about the future, an opportunity for this and the next generations as we shape a future free from sectarianism, racism and segregation. It signalled the time to change the conversation for ever, talking about how we live together, not why we can't.

This year SAVER/NAVER celebrated the event with a men's breakfast held in Markethill, bringing together young and older men who enjoyed an Ulster fry followed by a very challenging presentation from Mr. Kenneth Donaldson, a native of Crossmaglen, South Armagh, Chairman of the West Ulster Unionist Forum, which is responsible for furthering the aims/objectives of Unionists living in the South and West of Northern Ireland, ensuring that their voice is heard within central UUP policy making.

The breakfast was attended by men from a variety of backgrounds such a business men from Armagh and Markethill, retired missionaries, the CEO of a Monaghan based International NGO, an Ulster/Ireland rugby player, several ex RUC/UDR members and many members of the local community, all eager to sit together, listen and talk. Agreeing to a sit together is one of the first steps in S.A.V.E.R./N.A.V.E.R's long term plans to end the hold of fear and threat in our community and encourage and the development of a truly shared, fair and peaceful local community for all.

S.A.V.E.R./N.A.V.E.R. would like to thank all those who attended the breakfast and especially Mr. Kenneth Donaldson who gave up his Saturday morning to come and talk to the men.