This article is from page 37 of the 2007-12-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 37 JPG
THE people of Miltown Malbay were celebrating last week.
Against all the odds they have built and developed a thriving family re- source centre and library during the past 15 years, and on Tuesday they celebrated the extended opening hours of the library.
Local musicians gathered to cel- ebrate in traditional west Clare style – with a few tunes.
As they played they tapped their feet in unison on the wooden floor laid by the late Willie Clancy, who was part of the community praised for its volunteering achievements.
Retiring county librarian Noel Crowley told those gathered in the
library, “If ye hadn’t put a gun to our head we would never have come in here. It was ye’re vision and suc- Te
He told the group that on the day he met the founders Cllr Christy Cur- tin and Michael Mahoney in the then derelict vocational school.
“Every window in the place was broken,” he said.
He told of a hole in the ceiling that a council worker proposed could be rectified within a drop ceiling of £6,000.
The local people had other ideas and working to a tight budget em- ployed a local plasterer to fill the hole for £300.
This he said was an example of a community working together and
volunteering to make a project a suc- TS
With the assistance of the county council, VEC and the HSE the com- munity have provided a centre with a library, youth reach, art classes, Clare VEC, social worker, money advice and budgeting service, home help organiser, community welfare officer, social and family affairs of- ficer, elderly care service, mini bus, dental team and child health practi- tioner.
The Spraoit Family Resource Cen- tre is also due to open early next year on the site.
Clare County Manager Alec Flem- ing said that he was amazed at the number of people volunteering to work on the project.
“In the 20th century it is getting harder and harder to get people to volunteer in the true sense of the word.”
Cllr Curtin said that the resource centre was still campaigning for a full time manager.
‘We have been to the ends of the earth trying to get support for fund- ing for a manager,’ he said.
“Our management is on a shoe SOME tTae POM UN leet la cone ;
“We will ask Eamon O Culiv to come down here and show him what a value for money model the West Clare Resource Centre is,” he said.