Ardboe Literary, Photographic and Historical Association (ALPHA)

Public benefits

a) advance education about the local history, photography, folklore, culture, and heritage of the area of benefit for the benefit of the general public; The people of the shores of Lough Neagh form communities which are unique in Ireland: a sizeable proportion of the communities comprises families who have made their living for many hundreds of

years from fishing on the largest lake in the British Isles. The benefit for the general public is that, through education and the dissemination of knowledge, they may gain a fuller understanding of the way of life, ethos, and history of the Lough Neagh communities. This benefit may be demonstrated by the invariable response of those who have be enabled to gain an understanding of the Lough Neagh communities e.g. by reading our published material or by accessing our archives. Subsequently people state that they had not previously known or grasped the complexities and long history of these communities. The intended beneficiaries are members of the general public. There is no harm nor potential for harm as a result of our research being carried out. No one gains a private benefit as a result of this purpose being carried out. b) to educate the general public by promoting awareness of, and research into, the history, photography, folklore, culture, and heritage of the area of benefit; The benefit is that the general public may further their education through accessing our research by a variety of means: by attending classes, workshops and talks which our association provides from time to time; by accessing our archived material via the Internet; by audio and visual means or in printed form. One demonstration of this benefit is that classes, workshops and talks are popular; another is that our website and internet community page, wherein collected material is freely accessible to everyone, are highly popular. The intended beneficiaries are members of the general public. There is no harm nor potential for harm as a result of our research being carried out. No one gains a private benefit as a result of this purpose being carried out. c) to carry out research into local history by collecting and recording information on all aspects of local folklore and history. What is the benefit that comes as a result of this purpose being carried out? The benefit that comes as a result of this research being carried out is that there is a permanent and expanding archive of material on all aspects of local history and folklore, which is filed and catalogued so that it may be accessed easily, and in this way this body of knowledge and information serves as an objective source in regard to the history of the Lough Neagh communities. How can the organisation demonstrate this benefit? One example of demonstrating this benefit is that our association drew information from the archive in 2012 and published it in book form. The publication of the book – Memories of Lough Neagh – was funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Esmé Mitchell Trust, and Cookstown District Council. The book proved to be most welcome not only with the Lough Neagh communities but by the wider public. The schools in our area of benefit make requests to use our material as part of their core curriculum studies as they recognise that our archived material is objective and accurate. Who are the intended beneficiaries? The intended beneficiaries are the people of the Lough Neagh communities and the general public. Is there any harm or potential for harm as a result of the purpose being carried out? There is no harm nor potential for harm as a result of our research being carried out. Does anyone gain a private benefit as a result of this purpose being carried out? No one gains a private benefit as a result of this purpose being carried out.

What your organisation does

We research catalogue and publish local history in all of its aspects