The inaugural meeting of the group was held in the Cramsie Room of Ballymoney Town Hall last Wednesday and at the meeting it was agreed to form a constituted group of language enthusiasts.

Commenting on the meeting, the convener, Gary Blair, said: "The notion for such a meeting was inspired by local people and language enthusiasts from the north Antrim area.

"I was only too happy to book the room and invite guests along to the meeting and the response was very encouraging. We had established writers and poets like Charlie Gillan and Charlie Reynolds, advocates such as Elizabeth McLeister who is engaged in translating the Bible into the Ullans leid as well as local speakers and activists.
"Some very noteworthy comments were made at the meeting.

"One was the place our leid has in society today and how those who speak Ullans have been misunderstood, misrepresented and stigmatised.
"Indeed, it got to a stage along the way that people were almost afraid to speak in their native tongue for fear of being regarded as being intellectually inferior.

"This is nonsense, of course, yet it is a fact that this happened. The group is unique in that it is comprised of Ullans speakers and is dedicated to promoting the language only.
"This may prove to include researching the works and lives of Ullans writers of yore and producing material written by the talent within the group.

"We agreed to call it the Ullans Speakers Association as we felt this best describes the members of the group and what we are about. An interesting observation from the meeting was that those present represented a diversity of age groups with senior members bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge and younger members bringing energy and enthusiasm.

"I think this will prove to be a very potent and dynamic mix".
The group adopted a constitution and went through all the necessary formalities required when forming a new body including an election of officers which went as follows: Alan Wright (Chairperson), Noel Anderson (Vice – Chair), Codie Murray (Secretary) and Gary Blair (Treasurer).

Mr Blair added: "This is about ensuring the Ullans Leid gets and maintains its rightful place in society today and doing everything we can to promote and protect the centuries-old language. As Charlie Reynolds put it; Some yins taak aboot it – whereas we taak it! So we will be busy from now on doing the work that needs to be done to put Ullans on the map in north Antrim and throughout Ulster."