Friends of the Factories calendar donation to Stage Beyond

The Millennium Forum based Stage Beyond Theatre Company was “delighted” to receive a “generous donation” from Friends of the Factories.

At the presentation last Monday morning, Friends of the Factories presented Stage Beyond with a cheque for £570, raised through sales of their beautiful Shirt Factories Calendar 2025.

The collaboration celebrates Derry’s proud shirt factory heritage and the strong family and community ties shared between both organisations.

The funds will support Stage Beyond’s ongoing work empowering adults with learning disabilities through professional theatre training and performance.

Speaking to The Derry News, Dee Conaghan, artistic director of Stage Beyond said: “As we prepare to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2027, the support of Friends of the Factories feels especially meaningful.

“We are deeply honoured Friends of the Factories has chosen Stage Beyond as its nominated charity for The Shirt Factories Calendar 2025,” she added.

“Our organisations share close family ties and a proud connection to Derry’s shirt factory heritage - a legacy of creativity, resilience, and community.

Representatives of the Factory Girls with members of the Stage Beyond Theatre Company celebrating the donation of £570 raised from the sale of the Factory Girls Calendar.

“Our partnership is a wonderful reminder of the power of shared history and the strength of our local community when we come together to support inclusion and the arts,” said Ms Conaghan.

Stage Beyond chairperson, Bernie Shiels said the “absolutely brilliant” Friends of the Factories’ donation was “very much appreciated”.

“It was lovely that Friends of the Factories was thinking of Stage Beyond and we are just really, really thankful for the support,” she added.

Clare Moore from Friends of the Factories, who were at the cheque presentation described the Shirt Factories Calendar 2025 as “the loveliest thing for us”.
She added: “We never had a Factory Girls calendar before. It was the brainchild of Yvonne Norris, a member of our group, and we all went for it.

“All of our photographs are in there, past and present. Yvonne did it purely for charity. She did it for us too, of course, and we love it. I can’t even hang mine up in case I dirty it. I am keeping it forever.

“Yvonne decided whatever she made from the calendar would go to Stage Beyond, which is very dear to her heart,” said Ms Moore
Mary Doherty, another member of Friends of the Factories said the group might consider doing another calendar.

“The 2025 calendar was an unexpected success,” she added. “I think it would be great to have another one available, say before a factory girls’ dance maybe.

“We loved it. We never had a factory calendar before and to collect all the photographs - those from back in the day and the more up to date ones where we care campaigning - was fantastic.

“We were absolutely delighted when we saw the finished calendar,” said Ms White.

“Anyone who saw one, wanted one,” said Ms Moore. “I sent them all over the world. I sent them to Australia, America, Ireland, England, to all the people I knew from the factory, as well as relations and friends and they were all delighted with them.”

Cup of tea in hand, calendar mastermind, Yvonne Norris, said: “Friends of the Factories is a grassroots group and we are interested in sharing the legacy of the shirt factories.

“We are very limited in what we can do beyond the online platforms and beyond getting involved in communities,” she added.

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“We have done quite a bit of work raising the group’s profile through different projects. And we were thinking about how we could share the photographs, and we came up with the idea of doing a calendar.

“We then thought, if we are going to do that, let’s try and do it as a charity calendar. We managed to get it together in December and we were supported by a lot of people who donated photographs. Local businesses then said they would put the calendar in their shops and sell it on our behalf.

“Then, when we ran out of calendars, people said they would still like to donate because it was Stage Beyond.

“I have a personal connection with Stage Beyond, my brother has been here for a long time. It has been running since 2002 and we are very aware of the amazing work it does within this. So, with my mum, Sadie Harkin, being a former factory girl, we decided that was the right fit for the calendar proceeds.”