Saving Cairn Wood
I remember scrolling through Facebook as I often did, until something alarmed me. My newsfeed read, "Cairn Wood is going up for sale. It is currently for sale by Northern Ireland Water ( under Department for Regional Development) as part of the sale of Ballysallagh Upper reservoir." " NO IT'S NOT," I yelled loudly. Mum was extremely shocked, " what's wrong?" "The flipping idiots trying to take away my forest, that's what." No one had ever seen me this fired up or passionate before. My mum said "look maybe it's too late." " It's not, there's a way to save it and if there isn't, I will find a way," I shouted. Cairn Wood was at the centre of my childhood- my AWESOME Granda took me there when I was young- I remember climbing the river banks, building huts, swinging on a rope swing, eating picnics and so much more. Cairn Wood was our peaceful place, a refuge. It was more precious to us than anyone could ever imagine. I told Granda that he better be ready for a journey, an intense one. But he just replied, " I was born ready Katie." This was and is why I love my Granda- he doesn't let bad things happen without a fight, he's determined, he's courageous, he's intelligent and he never gives up and now he has taught me to be like this!
I was straight onto the petition that Andrew Muir had started and before you could have said "Let's Save Cairn Wood," I had clogged up everyone's newsfeed- you see in life some fights you have to take on and this was one for me! I marched out of our living room door with mum shouting "where are you going?" " To stop this complete and utter nonsense," I responded. There was no stopping me. Before I knew it, I was recognised as the "15 year old girl battling to save beauty spot, Cairn Wood." I felt like my life had well and truly begun... I was attending council meetings, I delivered a persuasive speech in front of a full school assembly at Nendrum College, I had an article published in the Chronicle, Chronicle Extra, the Spectator, which was awesome as this was my first published piece of writing and my dream had always been to be a writer. One morning, I woke up to a special mention on BBC Radio by the amazing Lesley Cunningham- I loved sharing my first campaigning journey with her. One of my best moments was protesting outside the council offices in Bangor- we stood there with our arms folded, not backing down and we even made the front page of the Chronicle!!
I had always felt strongly about social action, especially standing up for the environment, but the thing is I never actually had the courage to make a stand. Of course, people laughed and they doubted me, but you must seek your purpose- when God is guiding you, you must go wherever he leads you! Those who matter will lead, inspire and encourage you and those who don't will leave you.
If the vote didn't go in our favour, I dreaded to think what would have happened. I mean Lesley Cunningham and I had already picked the tree that we were going to live in! My campaigning journey was incredible! I remember Andrew Muir, councillor for the Alliance Party and Steven Agnew, the Leader of the Green Party pushing me towards the camera- this didn't seem real, politicians actually acknowledged me and they wanted the spotlight to be in me, not them. The fight was well and truly on and I knew that with people power we would win. Today, I am proud to say that I played an active role in Saving Cairn Wood- we did it!
Everyone, you can do the seemingly impossible, you must always follow God because He will call you out into all that you can be. You have to keep on fighting, just because people tell you that you can't, doesn't mean that you can't, it just means that they believe that you won't. So stand up for what you believe in, come on, join me in the fight for a better world! YOU CAN DO THIS! CHANGE YOUR WORLD, CHANGE THE WORLD, GO FOR IT!
I was straight onto the petition that Andrew Muir had started and before you could have said "Let's Save Cairn Wood," I had clogged up everyone's newsfeed- you see in life some fights you have to take on and this was one for me! I marched out of our living room door with mum shouting "where are you going?" " To stop this complete and utter nonsense," I responded. There was no stopping me. Before I knew it, I was recognised as the "15 year old girl battling to save beauty spot, Cairn Wood." I felt like my life had well and truly begun... I was attending council meetings, I delivered a persuasive speech in front of a full school assembly at Nendrum College, I had an article published in the Chronicle, Chronicle Extra, the Spectator, which was awesome as this was my first published piece of writing and my dream had always been to be a writer. One morning, I woke up to a special mention on BBC Radio by the amazing Lesley Cunningham- I loved sharing my first campaigning journey with her. One of my best moments was protesting outside the council offices in Bangor- we stood there with our arms folded, not backing down and we even made the front page of the Chronicle!!
I had always felt strongly about social action, especially standing up for the environment, but the thing is I never actually had the courage to make a stand. Of course, people laughed and they doubted me, but you must seek your purpose- when God is guiding you, you must go wherever he leads you! Those who matter will lead, inspire and encourage you and those who don't will leave you.
If the vote didn't go in our favour, I dreaded to think what would have happened. I mean Lesley Cunningham and I had already picked the tree that we were going to live in! My campaigning journey was incredible! I remember Andrew Muir, councillor for the Alliance Party and Steven Agnew, the Leader of the Green Party pushing me towards the camera- this didn't seem real, politicians actually acknowledged me and they wanted the spotlight to be in me, not them. The fight was well and truly on and I knew that with people power we would win. Today, I am proud to say that I played an active role in Saving Cairn Wood- we did it!
Everyone, you can do the seemingly impossible, you must always follow God because He will call you out into all that you can be. You have to keep on fighting, just because people tell you that you can't, doesn't mean that you can't, it just means that they believe that you won't. So stand up for what you believe in, come on, join me in the fight for a better world! YOU CAN DO THIS! CHANGE YOUR WORLD, CHANGE THE WORLD, GO FOR IT!
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