Finishing line in sight for new much-needed amenities in Wilkinstown

Work on a new amenity park for Wilkinstown to include a 720m walkway and cycle path, as well as a children's playground, has recently commenced.

Construction is already well underway on the extension to the community centre and the start of work on the amenity park is a huge step forward for the Wilkinstown Community Centre group in seeing their vision for the five-acre site realised.

In 2015, the group purchased the land adjoining the community centre for €91,000 with a view to extending the existing community centre building and providing additional car parking.

Tara Smith PRO of Wilkinstown Community Centre Ltd explained that the idea for the amenity park emerged when they started talking about what they could use the rest of the site for.

The amenity park itself will be four acres with a walkway, cycle path, adult gym equipment and a children's playground as well as landscaping, native hedging, wildflower garden and picnic areas. It is expected that work on the park itself will take 12 weeks to complete and if all goes to plan, it will be ready early in the new year. The playground is a different contract and this has recently gone to tender.

The existing car park was very small and one of the main priorities for the committee was to provide safe parking so people wouldn’t have to continue to park on the road. A new car park will provide 60 extra car parking spaces.

“We wanted a safe place for people to park and also an extension to make the building fully accessible. The meeting room is upstairs and we have a big hall downstairs. We wanted it all on one level and fully accessible," explained Ms Smith.

The shell of the 3,000 square feet extension has been completed and the windows are ordered but it is anticipated it will be March 2022 before the building will be ready.

The new function room has extensive glazing and has been designed to look out on the amenity park. The sports hall will continue to be used as a sports hall.

"It will be an intimate and cosy function room rather than a big hall, and it will have kitchen facilities, as well as three new toilets," explained Ms Smith.

When the Covid pandemic hit, the committee did not let this slow them down and they ploughed forward with their plans despite the challenges it brought.

“We have been working on this for the past two years. When we started applying for grants, Covid hit but we had to continue on with zoom meetings and emails and phone calls. We couldn't slow down, we had to keep going. There were plenty of times where we were standing in the car park, two metres apart shouting at each other.”

“We are delighted that finally, our vision is nearing completion. We can't believe it.”

The centre is entirely community run with no paid employees.

It is a real hub in the local community with many local groups such as active retirement, parents and toddler, whist and bridge, speech and drama, ALPS, Acorn AA meetings, badminton, Elite Productions, martial arts and Yellow River Drama group using it regularly. Until the pandemic hit, the very popular social dancing took place on the second Saturday of the month.

A farmers' market takes place on the second Saturday of each month.

The committee has secured a €293,000 Leader grant towards the extension, as well as a 15-year loan from Community Finance Ireland and a private €50,000 interest-free loan.

A €272,000 grant was secured from Meath County Council for the amenity park. The existing building also needs to be upgraded to bring it up to standard and that will cost in the region of €50,000. The entire project is costing upwards on €800,000.

Other items in the pipeline to be completed in the future include a multi-purpose all-weather games area and a pergola and barbecue area.

When completed, the park will link in nicely with plans for the Boyne Valley to Lakelands Greenway which passes through the village.

Meath County Council has plans to provide a bus and a new footpath on the community centre side of the road which will link the two walkways, as well as traffic calming measures.