Members' Statements – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 10:30 am on 10 September 2024.
Brian Kingston
DUP
10:30,
10 September 2024
I rise to pay tribute to the life and work of Jackie Hewitt MBE, who made a massive contribution to community development in the greater Shankill area and beyond. When I commenced work for the Greater Shankill Community Council in 1997, Jackie was its chairman and a stalwart of the community. He was a key driver of Farset Youth and Community Development on the Springfield Road; Farset Enterprise Park; Farset urban farm; and the Farset international hostel.
It was Jackie who proposed that we establish the 'Shankill Mirror' community newspaper in 1999, which I managed for seven years. Jackie was a key board member and wrote most of the editorial columns at that time. The newspaper continues today. Along with Jackie Redpath, he established the Greater Shankill Community Convention in 2001, bringing together the entire community after a time of Division.
Jackie Hewitt was a key member of Ainsworth Community Residents Association and a local housing association. He had been manager of the Woodvale Youth Training Project and the Woodvale Action for Community Employment (ACE) project. He was also prominent in the Ireland funds, the Forum for Action on Substance Abuse (FASA) and the support group that was established to assist the families of those killed and injured in the 1993 Shankill bomb. He was instrumental in the cross-border Farset/Inishowen and Border Counties Initiative, which included a focus on remembering those who served in the First World War, including linking with the Mayor of Drogheda, Sean Collins.
Jackie was active in the Orange Institution, including serving as district master of Belfast No. 3 District for one year. He was also a key instigator of the Thiepval Memorial Loyal Orange Lodge No. 1916, promoting the memory of the Orange contribution at the Battle of the Somme. He was also active in the Cavehill/Oldpark branch of the Royal British Legion, assisting with and fundraising for two memorials to the three Scottish soldiers.
During my year as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2017, I hosted the Greater Shankill BEST awards at City Hall. I was delighted that Jackie Hewitt was selected to receive the lifetime achievement award. I had the honour of presenting the award to Jackie, who attended with his wife, Glenda.
At Jackie's funeral service last month, their daughter, Helen, led the tributes.
Among her memories was one of Jackie interrupting a family holiday to France in the 1980s, because he wanted to visit an old tower that was in a neglected condition. That, of course, was the Ulster Memorial Tower at Thiepval, which was officially opened in 1921 to commemorate the fallen of the 36th (Ulster) Division in the Battle of the Somme. Jackie established the Farset Somme Project, which successfully lobbied to have the memorial refurbished. Jackie was also instrumental in founding the Somme Association, which manages the Ulster Memorial Tower and the visitors' centre beside it. It owns Thiepval Wood as well as the Somme Museum at Conlig in County Down.
I send deepest sympathies to his wife, Glenda; their daughter, Helen, and her husband, William; Jackie's grandson, David; the entire family circle —
Edwin Poots
DUP
The Member's time is up.
Brian Kingston
DUP
— and Jackie's many close friends.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
