Stratford production company restores historic sign honouring its Northern Ireland roots

Ballinran Entertainment founder and president Craig Thompson (right) and his daughter at the historic Ballinran Townland sign in Northern Ireland before it was restored.

By: Galen Simmons

A Stratford-based film and television production company has given back to the Northern Ireland community that inspired its name by restoring a historic roadside marker recognizing the village where its founder's family has lived for generations.

Ballinran Entertainment recently funded the restoration of the historic Ballinran townland sign in County Down, Northern Ireland, a symbolic project celebrating the company's more than 30-year connection to the area and its ongoing work developing productions with Irish themes

For company founder and president Craig Thompson, the project was deeply personal.

"Ballinran is the village in Ireland where my family comes from," Thompson said. "When I started the company, my grandmother had just passed away. I said, 'I want to think of a name for my company that has some meaning.'”

Thompson spent time in Northern Ireland as a child visiting cousins and other relatives, experiences he said created a lasting connection to the area.

"I had a real deep connection to the area," he said. "So, I said, 'Well, I'm going to call my company Ballinran Productions Limited.' Now it's called Ballinran Entertainment, but it's named after the historic village.”

The sign, located at the intersection marking the original town site, had faded badly over the years.

"I was there a couple of years ago and noticed that the sign had deteriorated," Thompson said. "I said, 'What would it take to get somebody to refurbish the sign?' So, we managed to get it refurbished."

The restoration was completed by local sign maker Iain Norris of JN Kilkeel and coordinated by Jenna Stevenson, managing director of County Down-based Nova. The restored sign was officially unveiled last week in a ceremony attended by Thompson's cousin, John Keown, and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chair Glynn Hanna.

The project had originally been planned to coincide with Ballinran Entertainment's 30th anniversary last year but was delayed while the necessary permissions were obtained.

"It's not a big project, but a symbolic one," Thompson said.

In a statement included with the announcement, Thompson said restoring the sign was a way of honouring both his family and the place that inspired his company.

"Restoring this sign felt like an appropriate way to honour our family heritage and give something back to the community that inspired our company's name," he said. "It is a small project, but one that reflects our appreciation for the people, history and traditions of this area."

While Ballinran Entertainment is proudly Canadian, Thompson said the company continues to maintain strong ties with Ireland and Northern Ireland through a number of documentary and television projects currently in development.

"We've had a close tie to Ballinran," he said. "It's really just honouring our family's heritage and the heritage of our name. We just felt it was a token of our appreciation and where our company kind of got its inspirational start."

According to the release, the restoration also reflects Ballinran Entertainment's ongoing commitment to strengthening cultural ties between Canada and Ireland through projects exploring Irish music, heritage, migration and cultural identity.