North Belfast Students and Poet Niamh McNally Inspire Grand Central Poetry

At the heart of the busy Belfast Grand Central Station, a new permanent installation is stopping commuters in their tracks. Located near the ticket office, 'Moments in the Station' is a poem that captures the soul of the city, written not in isolation, but through the collective voices of our local children.

Over the past year, North Belfast poet Niamh McNally has served as Translink’s Poet in Residence. Rather than writing alone, Niamh spent months hosting workshops with 300 primary and post-primary pupils from schools across the city. Young writers from North Belfast schools, including Belfast Royal Academy and St Mary’s Primary School, joined peers from St Joseph’s, Donegall Road Primary, St Louise’s College, Blythefield Primary, and Fane Street Primary to document their observations of movement and belonging.

During these sessions, the station became a living classroom. Students were encouraged to notice the details that most travellers miss: the choreography of arrivals, the way light hits the new architecture, and the overheard fragments of daily life. They also explored the heritage of the surrounding area, mapping streets like Grosvenor Road, Sandy Row, Bruce Street, and Hope Street to understand how the station sits within the wider community.

The resulting poem, 'Moments in the Station,' describes the building as a living organism with 'terminal ventricles' and 'valve tracks.' It also introduces 'the Millie,' a fictional linen worker who represents Belfast’s industrial past, weaving the city's history into the modern world of digital departure boards. Niamh noted that the children’s precision and their sense of shared responsibility for the environment were key inspirations for the final piece.

For Niamh, the project was also a way to champion sustainable travel. A lifelong non-driver, she believes in the calm and ecological benefits of public transport. As her residency concludes, she is finishing her project 'People, Play, Space' and preparing for the release of her first poetry collection. For now, her work remains a gift to everyone passing through the concourse, reminding us that while a ticket gets us to a destination, words have the power to travel much further.