Description: The refurbishment of an old disused hall which was in bad repair, to give a bright, modern purpose built play centre, was the main aim of our project. Prior to the opening of our Playcentre, the Maguiresbridge Cross Community Playgroup (which caters for pre-school children aged 3-5 years) was housed in the Roman Catholic Hall which was also used for many other purposes, for example, bazaars, discos, youth club etc. This hall had therefore been a great bonus for the playgroup, but at the same time the group was together for over ten years and felt that the premises were too limiting for the range of activities that the playgroup wanted to do, for example, the playgroup needed bright and inviting premises for the children to stimulate their imagination. This unfortunately was not possible in our existing hall. A lease was acquired on a disused hall which was owned by the Church of Ireland.
With the assistance of fund raising, and various monies from trusts,
also the Rural Development grants and the funding from PSEPII,
we were able to develop the dilapidated hall into a bright environment
for the children. The major part of this funding for the project
came from PSEPII and without this major contribution, it is very
unlikely that the project would have succeeded since the group
would have had to rely very heavily on local contributions. The
Development Committee for the project has been drawn from both
sides of the local community and have worked together towards
a common goal. Having achieved the initial aim of the project,
the hall is now being used as a neutral venue for the newly set
up Women's Group. Indeed most of the members are original members
of the hall Development Committee. Our aim is to provide courses
and alternative uses for the hall and three one night talks have
already been set up for the Autumn with the members of both local
communities being invited to attend.
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