Kilcooley Women's Centre Shared Island
Building Bridges Across the Island
Tuesday 8 September 2026 · Bangor, Ards and North Down
Kilcooley Women’s Centre was proud this week to welcome a visiting delegation from Dún Laoghaire as part of our Cross Border Shared Island engagement — work that is linking business, community and statutory partners to build lasting relationships between Bangor and Dún Laoghaire, and to deliver real impact for citizens on both sides of the Irish border. The ‘Shared Island’ work underpins and supports our ongoing cross community and cross border reconciliation work at a community level, by introducing more strategic links and opportunities
The visit on Tuesday 8 September was more than a visit. It was a practical day of looking, listening and connecting — two coastal cities that share a harbour heritage, a civic ambition, and a belief that collaborative working partnerships can change outcomes for women, families and communities.
Two harbour cities, one shared purpose
Bangor and Dún Laoghaire are natural partners. Both are maritime Cities with proud harbour identities, growing waterfronts, and a mix of community energy, enterprise and local government that shapes everyday life. They border the capital city, and have a unique dynamic community. Through the Shared Island agenda, Kilcooley Women’s Centre is helping to turn that geographic kinship into working relationships — not just conversations, but partnerships that can travel home with people and take root in programmes, services and civic life.
Our approach is deliberately three-stranded. We bring community organisations to the table with business and statutory partners, because the strongest cross-border work is the kind that is useful to citizens: training and enterprise, health and wellbeing, heritage and place-making, and the quiet work of trust.
That civic-and-commercial corridor is already taking shape more widely. Bangor Chamber of Commerce and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Chamber have signed a Shared Island Economic Partnership for 2026–2030. KWC’s role is to make sure community voice, women’s leadership and social enterprise sit inside that same conversation — so growth is shared, not just signed. We will link key policies which unite us such as the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls which is a key focus of both the NI Executive, UK and Irish Governments.
A day in Bangor: Harbour, Seafront, The Castle and Main Street
The Dún Laoghaire delegation was given a grounded tour of the city as it is now — and as it is becoming.
Bangor Harbour. Our visitors began at the water, where Bangor’s working marina and harbour still set the rhythm of the city. It was a fitting first stop: two harbour communities meeting first where the sea meets the street.
Bangor Waterfront | Belfast Region City Deal
The Seafront Development. From the harbour we looked forward to Bangor’s seafront regeneration — a major programme of waterfront renewal that is reshaping public space, visitor experience and local opportunity. Sharing how a city invests in its shoreline is also a way of sharing how it invests in its people.
Bangor Castle — Mayoral Reception. At Bangor Castle, the delegation was received at a Mayoral Reception by Councillor Craig Blaney. Civic hospitality matters on a Shared Island journey. It signals that this work is not only community-to-community; it is recognised and welcomed by local government, and it sits inside a wider civic conversation between two places.
Bangor Castle (City Hall) – Historic Sites, Houses, Castles & Buildings in Bangor, Bangor – Ards & North Down
The Old Market House, Main Street. The visit was focused on the heart of the city at The Old Market House, the historic landmark on Main Street now led by Kilcooley Women’s Centre at the forefront of social enterprise. Once a market house, courthouse, school, town hall and bank, the building is again a public place — for heritage, community, learning, co-working and enterprise. Showing our visitors this building was a way of showing what KWC stands for: taking what already belongs to a town and putting it back to work for citizens.
Bangor Visitor Information Centre
New links with the COIR Community in Dún Laoghaire
A particular highlight of this phase of engagement is the new relationship Kilcooley Women’s Centre has established with the COIR Community in Dún Laoghaire. That connection gives the Shared Island work a community home at both ends of the corridor — women and community practitioners who can exchange practice, open doors for learners and leaders, and keep the partnership living between official visits.
We look forward to a full year of engagement ahead: reciprocal visits, joint learning, and practical collaboration that links our programmes in education, health and wellbeing, social enterprise and community leadership with partners in Dún Laoghaire.
Shared Island work is at its best when it is specific. Not “North and South” in the abstract, but Bangor and Dún Laoghaire — two cities, two harbour communities, and a year of working together for the people who live in them.
Dún Laoghaire’s own harbour and pier tell a parallel story of a coastal town that lives with the sea at its door. That shared shoreline identity is part of why this partnership feels natural — and why it can last.
Things to Do in Dún Laoghaire With Visit Dublin
What this partnership is for
Kilcooley Women’s Centre has served women, children and families in Ards and North Down since 1995. We work from Kilcooley, Balloo and Bangor city centre, delivering training, health and wellbeing, childcare, social enterprise and community leadership. Cross-border and all-island engagement is already part of that story, including Good Relations and Reconciliation Fund programmes that support women as community leaders.
This Shared Island initiative with Dún Laoghaire builds on that foundation and widens it — joining civic, commercial and community partners so that collaboration is not a project on the side, but a working method.
Over the coming year we will keep the focus on impact: relationships that last, ideas that travel, and partnerships that make a difference to citizens in Bangor and in Dún Laoghaire.
Get involved
If you would like to know more about KWC’s Good Relations and Peacebuilding Work contact the team.
T: 028 9147 8292
E: info@kilcooleywomenscentre.co.uk
W: kilcooleywomenscentre.co.uk