Hall the effort is worthwhile

The effort turned out to be well worth while for everyone involved in the re-opening of O'Raghailly Hall in Ballinagh on March 21. At noon that day boxer Andy Murray and trainer Brian McKeown performed the official opening of the hall as a youth centre, in front of the large crowd who gathered in the early spring sunshine. The hall looks fantastic after all the work, especially the wall where a team of girls painted a mural, putting in hours "on scaffolding on cold evenings, and the hands falling off them", as Foróige leader Jacinta Urbanski described it. One of the nine painters, Megan Smith said the mural portrayed the sports played in the area with the word leadership written at the bottom. The other eight members of the painting team were: Emer Cartwright, Amy Delaney, Rebecca Dunne, Shannen Gill, Saoirse McLoughlin, Michaela O'Rourke, Lorna Reilly and Tara Reilly. Ballinagh Foróige had a busy time on the hall re-opening weekend, starting with victory in the interclub X-Factor and a disco in the town community centre. They beat 10 other teams on an evening of fun for 450 Foróige members and 50 leaders - the judges were from Lacken and Monaghan so there was no chance of favouritism, despite Ballinagh's home advantage (joking!). The weekend wasn't all about fun either, as Foróige were out cleaning the roads around Ballinagh and the football field on the Saturday (the leaders thank the parents who helped and the members who worked so hard). Since Tommy Dunne, Raymond Finnegan, Therese Halton, Sylvia Lynch, Johnny McLoughlin, Avril Smith and Jacinta Urbanski started Ballinagh Foróige in September 2005 it has been busy and productive. There have been some changes in the leadership since - Karl Dunne, Catherine Gaynor, Irene Hatchett and Finola Smith have joined the team and some of the original group have stepped down - but its aims remain, and the principal one is to give the young people a focus and a way to enjoy themselves safely. The new-look O'Raghailly Hall will be central to that, and youth groups from Lacken, Ballinagh and Kilmore will use it. The Foróige club has stretched its wings too - last June they went to Alton Towers in England, and some of the 42 members are planning to go to the Delphi Adventure Centre in Mayo at the May bank holiday. They combined a bucket collection with their town clean-up to raise some money to pay for the trip. Members are also involved in the Albert Schweitzer leadership programme and Megan Smith was one of the nine who participated in the first running of it in Ireland, at Trinity College, Dublin last year. Sixteen-year-old Megan said 250 teenagers from Ireland, UK, Nigeria, Korea and America took part, listening to speakers and doing workshops "to encourage us to take an active role in the community" she said. "We had to do project and ours was the renovation of O'Raghailly Hall and the mural." The nine who did the course were: Bronagh Duffy, Darragh Urbanski, Emer Cartwright, Megan Smith, Michaela O'Rourke, Paul Smith, Paul Wilson, Shannen Gill and Tara Reilly. There is an AGM tonight, Wednesday, March 31, to form a committee to run O'Raghailly Hall and discuss plans for its use, which could take the form of a youth cafe. Ideally the premises will pay for itself, possibly as a venue for classes such as Pilates or grinds for school students. "We want to help young people in every respect," Jacinta Urbanski explained.