Trades and Occupations

Fergus Cleary, Belleek, County Fermanagh

John Doogan, Belleek, County Fermanagh  

Kate Rasdale, Belleek County Fermanagh

Belleek’s beautiful handcrafted pottery is one of Northern Ireland’s most distinctive exports and is valued and treasured by collectors throughout the world. Now celebrating is 150^th anniversary, the company has employed generations of workers in the small town of Belleek. Among Belleek’s 600 employees are potters John Doogan, who crafts woven clay baskets and delicate flowers; painter Kate Rasdale; and designer Fergus Cleary. www.belleek.ie

Michael John Dalzell, Customer Services

Gordon Donoghue, Management

Henry Johnston Elliott, Maturation

Kenneth Garvin, Distilling

David Alexander Gault, Transport

Elaine Harrison, Laboratory

William McKeown, Maturation

Shirley Elizabeth McMullan, Bottling

Agnes Rainey, Visitor Centre

Jeanette Wilmont, Bottling

Bushmills traces its heritage to 1608, when King James I granted the County Antrim town a license to distill whiskey. It has been an officially registered company since 1784, and many Bushmills families have worked for the company for generations. www.bushmills.com

Andrew Galvin, Strabane, County Tyrone

Joanne Haire, Strabane, County Tyrone

Once a major linen manufacturing center, Strabane was hard hit by the collapse of Northern Ireland’s textile industry. To address local unemployment, Northbrook Technologies established a call center in 1999, in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. Ironically, Strabane is famous for its heavy regional accents. Trainers Galvin and Haire will discuss their jobs, as well as the challenges of communicating with Americans.

David McVeigh, Belfast, County Antrim

Ian Ritchie, Newtownabby, County Antrim

John Robinson, Belfast, County Antrim

Founded in 1861, Belfast’s Harland and Wolff became one of the world’s largest shipyards and a mainstay of the local economy. Many families worked for the firm for generations. Famous for its ships, including the ill-fated Titanic, the firm still does ship repair and work for the offshore oil industry, but it is increasingly involved in the design and construction of innovative sustainable energy projects, such as offshore wind farms and tide- and wave-powered generators. David McVeigh has worked for Harland and Wolff since he was sixteen. Ian Ritchie works as a mechanical fitter, and John Robinson is a draftsman. www.harland-wolff.com

Nigel Spiers, Gilford, Craigavon, County Armagh

Jonathan Neilly, Banbridge, County Down

Made from the fibers of the flax plant, linen was introduced to Ireland during early Christian times. In 1854, Thomas Ferguson founded a linen mill near Bainbridge in County Down. Today, the firm continues to manufacture high-quality Irish linen in Bainbridge, much of it specially commissioned, or “bespoken,” linens featuring coats of arms of some of Europe’s most prestigious families and monograms of well-known celebrities. www.fergusonsirishlinen.com

Philip Holland, Craigavon, Portadown, County Armagh

Rodney Smyth, Portadown, County Armagh

Louise Stevenson, Ballygowan, Newtownards, County Down

Northern Ireland has been famous for the quality and sophistication of its weaving since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Ulster Carpets was founded in Portadown in 1938 when George Walter Wilson, concerned about growing unemployment among local linen weavers, founded a carpet mill to harness the skills of County Armagh textile workers. Still a family-owned company, Ulster Carpets is one of the world’s largest producers of custom-woven Axminster-style carpets. www.ulstercarpets.co.uk

John Quinn, Coalisland, County Tyrone

Tommy John Quinn, Coalisland, County Tyrone

Danny Donnelly, Dungannon, County Tyrone

Located in the center of Northern Ireland, Lough Neagh is one of the world’s largest sources of eels. Families of fishermen like Tommy John Quinn and his son John Quinn have fished Lough Neagh for generations and are steeped in the traditional knowledge and skills associated with eeling, as well as in the rich local culture of their area. A teacher by profession, Danny Donnelly is a respected local historian and has researched and published on Lough Neagh and County Tyrone.

Louise Lilburn, Dromore, County Down

Mary McCormack, Creggan, Omagh, County Tyrone

Joe McDonald, Belfast

John Rankin, Newtownards, County Down

Family farming has been the touchstone of Irish culture for thousands of years. Today, it continues to play an important role, but like so much else, it is changing. Farmer Joe McDonald from the Ulster Farmers’ Union is joined by dairy farmer John Rankin, award-winning cattle breeder Louise Lilburn, and “mixed” farmer Mary McCormack from the Sperrin Mountains. www.ufuni.org

John Gilliland, Rural Generation Ltd/Brook Hall Estate, Londonderry, County Londonderry

Mark McGuigan, Omagh College of Further Education, Omagh, County Tyrone

Alasdair McCracken, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Belfast      

Tim Volk, State University of New York/Syracuse, New York

Concerns about the environment and the future of agriculture in Northern Ireland led partners from very different backgrounds to develop an innovative initiative based on the unusual properties of willow. Londonderry farmer and entrepreneur Gilliland joined forces with scientist/mycologist McCracken, project manager/technical supervisor McGuigan, and forester Volk to explore raising willow as an environmentally friendly “biomass crop” for an alternative to imported fossil fuel. www.ruralgeneration.com