Speaking to The CT, education manager Sandra Spence said: “It was a really great day. We really wanted to mark the beginning of the women’s centre 21 years ago.”

Shankill Women’s Centre formed in 1987, aiming to provide education for local women. Since then the centre has grown in success and popularity, offering women from the Shankill many opportunities in education.

The celebrations kicked off last Wednesday, June 25, with tours offered not only of the newly refurbished centre but also of the new building, Small Wonders.

The new building offers staff at the centre scope to expand their services, benefiting from two new classrooms as well as a new computer suite.

Sandra continued: “At 4.30pm the achievement awards were presented by Ann Carr, chairperson of community dialogue.

“A large marquee was used to provide a sit down meal while the women received their certificates.”

To mark the occasion a piece of glass art was unveiled entitled ‘The Humming Bird’, the original name of the centre. The work was a collaboration between the women and two artists from the New Belfast Artist initiative.

Shankill Women’s Centre offers a great range of courses from non accredited courses, including craft and ceramics, through to GCSE maths and English and access courses to university.

This year the centre has three women, aged 26-32 ,who have been given conditional offers at local universities.

“The centre has been involved in some very exciting projects in the past few years but to me the Messines course, focussing on cultural diversity and the Shared History course have been really enjoyable,” said Sandra.

“Through the Messines course a group of 36 women travelled to Belgium to learn more about World War One, while through the Shared History course the women learned alongside women from the Blackie Centre on the Falls Road.”

Sandra concluded: “We will begin our enrolment for September at the end of August.”

Councillor Nelson McCausland MLA spoke at the event. He said: “The fact that the centre was celebrating its 21st birthday shows how successful this centre is.

“The Shankill Women’s Centre does an amazing job helping women develop the skills to get back into education.”