CU Go To Holy Land

Students' from Queen's Christian Union (CU) descended on the Holy Land area yesterday, in an effort to clean up the area for the local residents.

Over the past several years local residents have lobbied the University to take action against students' who were engaging in anti-social behaviour. The University has responded to these pleas in various ways including; the launch of the 'Don't turn into a monster after dark' campaign, the formation of a University committee to deal with student diciplinary matters, the launch of the Community Wardens and most recently the organising of St Patrick's day festivities.

John Martin, Social Action Co-Ordinator of Queen's Christian Union said: "The clean-up is the latest in a range of initiatives within Queen's and the Christian Union to help enhance community relations. Already we have had a fantastic reaction to our Street Reach programme which involves our students working alongside local residents and I'm glad to say today's work has also received a warm welcome. We will continue to work hard to ensure we can live in harmony with our neighbours and to roll out such programmes".

Equipment was supplied by Belfast City Council and the the CU managed to collect over 100 sacks of litter.

David Farrell, Chairman of the Holyland Residents' group said that "any proactive action to change the look of the Holyland area is welcome and appreciated by the community. People who give up their time to tidy up after others deserve all the praise they get, as there appear to be many who feel that showing a responsible attitude to the community that they live in is something that they do not need to be concerned about, perhaps it is because they do not really live there."