Friends of Derry Walls holding Annual General Meeting

Friends, old and new, of the Derry Walls are invited to attend the group’s annual general meeting.

The event is taking place on Thursday, December 7, at 7 pm, upstairs in the Nine Hostages Coffee Company at the top of Waterloo Street.

This café is built on the site of Gunner’s Bastion (demolished 1810) and the contrasting stonework of the rebuilt and original sections of the city wall can be seen behind the café counter.

Niall McCaughan, chairperson of Friends of Derry Walls explained the group was a voluntary organisation which attempts to be the "voice of the Walls, raising ambitions for their care and presentation”.

Niall will brief the meeting on activities undertaken by the Walls Friends, making sure that the Walls are fully exploited as a resource for the city’s educational, cultural and economic development.

At the meeting, Manus Deery, Assistant Director,  Historic Environment Division, will outline how the Department for Communities has delivered on their Guardianship of the Derry Walls.

Mark Lusby, historical researcher and coordinator of the Walls Friends will update members on progress to produce an official guide to the Derry Walls. Mark will reveal some of the interesting facts which have been unearthed as part of the research for the book. 

Appealing for a good attendance, Niall also stated: “Over recent years, planning applications have been submitted for development within and adjacent to the Derry Walls, as well as inappropriate signage and the like, installed beside our historic Walls, many of which demonstrate a misunderstanding of the extent and significance of Derry’s Renaissance-era defences and townscape. Clearly, Derry’s Walls still needs friends,”