Welcome to Forthspring Inter Community Group

What is Forthspring?

Established in 1997, Forthspring Inter Community Group (Forthspring) is an inclusive and innovative organisation based in a shared space at the Springfield/Woodvale interface in Belfast. Forthspring’s participants come from the Shankill/Woodvale and Clonard areas of north and west Belfast. The Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency Multi Deprivation Measures 2017 report (available here: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/sites/nisra.gov.uk/files/publications/NIMDM17-%20with%20ns.pdf ) lists the Woodvale 1 and Clonard 1 Super Output Areas (SOAs) as the 8th and 50th most deprived SOAs out of 890 in Northern Ireland and 4th and 29th out of 174 SOAs in Belfast. 

We seek to enhance life opportunities and to enable sustained relationships within and across comunities through a diverse range of programmes and activities.

We facilitate and encourage many groups to use our space, from gardening groups to tea-dancers and we manage a strong portfolio of projects, including work with local primary schools and youth work. We also provide affordable childcare for local families. Our work promotes dialogue and relationship building between divided  communities along Belfast’s biggest peace wall.

Ambitious and sustainable partnership is key to our work, and we are thankful for the many stakeholders that work with us in order to achieve our mission.

We are always looking for volunteers to help with our various projects, so if you’re interested in getting in touch, drop us a message on the Contact Us page above or contact: director@forthspring.com – thank you!

Springers

Springers offers quality, affordable after school childcare during term-time and day care in school holiday periods. Springers provides an after-school collection service from Springfield Road Primary School and St Clare’s Primary School.

Youth Matters

Are you between the ages of 8-18?
We help young people reach their potential and become champions for change within your community.

MUMO

MUMO provides local schools and families with parent support and training, teacher training and holistic intervention programmes for children both during and after school.

Our Community Groups

Tea Dancers

A cross community group of older residents from Shankill/Woodvale and Falls/Clonard meet in Forthspring every Wednesday morning to dance. Some group members have been coming to Forthspring for over 20 years and have built strong networks of friendship and support.

Art Group

The art group meets twice weekly – on Thursday and Friday mornings. They have hosted numerous exhibitions and their beautiful art work is visible throughout Forthspring. They have their own space and fill it with creativity, art work and materials. They recently developed an exhibition for community relations week and have exhibited in other venues such as Conway Mill.

Gardening Group

Forthspring has a beautiful community garden at the back of the building. The garden is a fantastic resource for all the projects within Forthspring.