Almost €14k grant to revamp Kingscourt Community Centre

Suspended ceilings, an acoustic wall and insulated panels will be installed at Kingscourt Community Centre after almost €14,000 was granted to a revamp project.

The funding was awarded under the Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal District Discretionary Funding Scheme 2022. In total, 14 projects received funding.

Once again local elected officials to the area were tasked with divvying up a total sum of €100,000, with the funding for Kingscourt Community Centre also expected to help pay for the installation of a new energy efficient heating system, lighting, and a state-of-the-art intruder alarm system.

The decisions on where funding would be allocated through the Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal District was finalised by elected members at the former Cootehill Courthouse last week.

The largest single allocation under the Discretionary Funding Scheme 2022, a sum of €18,830, has been allocated to Bailieborough Development Association in order to match LEADER funding to finance the purchase of a road sweeper for the town.

Cootehill community garden

A sum of €10,000 was allocated to Cootehill Tidy Towns to assist in their continued process in establishing a community garden on a plot behind St Michael's Community Centre on the Fairgreen.

Already a polytunnel has been erected on the site and it's envisaged, once developed, the garden will provide a unique and centrally located public amenity space for use by all including local students, people attending the healthcare centre, and those attending Drumlin House.

Cootehill Town Team and the Cootehill Town Team (Economic Sub-Group) also received a combined sum of over €10,000, with €5,500 of that for the improvement of Cootehill Playground together with inclusive family seating.

The remaining €5,000 will be spent by the Economic Sub-Group on five tables and chairs to accommodate hot-desking and PC work in two upstairs rooms at the former Ulster Bank building on the town's Main Street.

The building has been empty since the bank shut its branch in the town back in 2017. The building was subsequently purchased by a local business owner.

Elsewhere sums of €8,000, €7,330 and €7,000 were granted to Loughanleagh & Muff Heritage Trust, Kilinkere GAA, and Kill Community Alert respectively. The Loughanleagh trust will use the monies to upgrade the picnic/Mass rock area on the mountainside, as well as commence works to create an amphitheatre and build a retaining wall to one side to form a seating area.

Killinkere will use its funding to upgrade kitchen facilities at the local community centre, and Kill CA will put the funding into replastering the walls at Corick graveyard. The group will also install a new guide rail to assist older more vulnerable people access to the graves.

Of the remaining projects granted funding, Ballyhaise Development Association received €6,500 to upgrade stage-lighting and chairs in the community hall; €4,500 to Bailieborough Shamrocks Community for the removal of 40 trees to provide additional space for an outdoor adult and youth exercise area; €3,500 to Lavey GAA Community to purchase an interactive digital white board; and €3,000 each to Lavey Strand Development Association, Laragh Sports Partnership, and Lavey Community Centre. The final three allocations will see works carried out to the old cottage on the N3; the preparation for a new shed to store tools; and the installation of security gates at the community park.