Sporting statues wear hearts

TRUST. Children's Heartbeat Trust NI, launched their 'Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve' campaign whereby they don a knitted heart on famous statues in each NI county to promote their cause. And for County Antrim the statues of both Joey and Robert were selected by the charity.INBM22-14 024SC.

In a unique and fitting tribute to children who have or have had congenital heart disease and to raise awareness of the illness – the most common birth defect among children born in Northern Ireland – statues across the province, including Ballymoney were brought to life on Friday with specially designed woollen hearts worn on their sleeves.

The hearts appeared on the statues of literature and sporting legends Joey and Robert Dunlop in the Memorial Garden Ballymoney.

They also appeared on the statues of CS Lewis (East Belfast), medical pioneer and inventor of the modern defibrillator Professor Frank Pantridge (Lisburn) along with golfer Nick Faldo (Enniskillen).

Two of Northern Ireland’s most famous peace statues – The Reconciliation Statue at Stormont and Hands Across the Divide in Derry – also wore the hearts.

Also with Newry Navvy, the Monument to the Unknown Woman on Belfast’s Great Victoria Street, the Flax Spinner in Sion Mills and the Gleaner, also at Parliament Buildings.

The special event took place on Children’s Heartbeat Trust’s ‘Wear Your Heart on your Sleeve Day’ and the statues wore hearts on their sleeves, designed and hand crafted especially for the campaign by local yarnbomber, Nora Borealis.

“This unique gesture is a tribute to children and young adults right across Northern Ireland who have suffered from heart disease.