This article is from page 12 of the 2012-10-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
AFTER more than eight years of work and hard graft by the local community, a major redevelopment of the Corofin Community Hall will begin later this month after funding of € 300,000 was confirmed yesterday.
This funding, which has been made available by the Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) under the LEADER programme, will enable the local hall committee to activate a loan of € 200,000 from the Clann Credo social financing organisation in finance construction works.
The € 500,000 development will include a total modernisation of the building as well as the construction of new dressing rooms of the dramatic society, a storage area for the local show society and new dressing rooms and toilets facing out onto the Corofin Community Field.
Work on the site should be completed just in time for the Festival of the Finn to return to Corofin next May.
“When we were putting our application together we calculated that there were more than 50 community organisations – large and small – in the Corofin area and this will benefit all of those,” said Gerry Kennedy of the Corofin Hall Committee.
“We have a group like the Corofin Dramatic Society who won an All Ireland last year and have had to be nomadic – they have had to go to Lisdoonvarna and to Ennis to put on their plays instead of here in Corofin.
“This is going to be a huge relief to all of the local community groups. We are fundraising locally now with a 500 Club draw and it is over subscribed.
“There is actually a waiting list of people who want to sign up, so the local community has really supported this project,” said Mr Kennedy.
“We are hoping to start within a month. We still have to sign a lease with the diocese for the building and we have to finalise the paperwork with Clan Credo, but we will hopefully be able to make some real progress on the building soon.
“Our target is to have the centre up and running for the Festival of the Finn on the May bank holiday weekend next year, so fingers crossed.
“We have a great committee who have put in a lot of work to this over the years,” he added. Built more than 60 years ago, the Corofin Community Hall was the centre of activity for much of the local community until it fell into serious disrepair more than 10 years ago.
As part of the same Leader funding, Clare Camogie Board received € 181,000 in funding towards their development in Doora.