Deerpark dream becomes a reality after a decade of hard work

Just over a decade after Carlanstown Kilbeg Community Development (CKCD) was founded, the group is thrilled to see their dream of the Deerpark Community Hub come to fruition.

The modern multi-purpose facility located in the Deerpark, Carlanstown, has an office, toilets, fully equipped kitchen and smaller meeting room downstairs, with a large activities room, kitchenette and toilets upstairs. A lift means it is fully accessible.

Work on the €600,000 project started in June 2020 and while construction was completed last Spring, Covid restrictions and case numbers meant the opening had to be put back a number of times.

In recent weeks the finishing touches were completed and CKCD was delighted to be finally able to welcome locals for a look around on their open weekend on 12th and 13th March.

"The reaction was overwhelmingly positive. People were delighted to see the community space there for everyone to use for whatever they need and want," said PRO Bernie Coghlan.

"It is a multi-purpose facility, regardless of age or ability, that is within walking distance of the main population and can be used by the local schools and pre-school."

"Our goal when we started out with the village renewal initiative 'Renaissance' was to have a community building, walkway and recreational area and playspace and never in our wildest dreams did we think that in ten years we would be opening a building like this.

"Deerpark Community Hub and the development of the park is a testament to the people of the area. No matter what fundraiser or event we held, they supported it over the years and came together and worked together. It really is a space that belongs to everybody."

The centre is already looking set to be a hive of activity with yoga classes, meditation classes and self defence classes booked in for April as well as several training courses including basic first aid, CPR/AED, mental health awareness, tractor safety awareness and manual handling.

They are also looking at setting up a bridge club and parent and toddler group and an online survey is still open with a link on their facebook page to give feedback on what activities and courses they would like to see in the hub.

It is also available to book for any private events like birthday parties or family occasions.

The total cost of the project came in at €600,000 and was funded from a variety of sources and grants.

A large chunk of the costs were covered by a LEADER grant of €300,000 from Meath Partnership and locally over €172,000 through fundraisers like Strictly Come Dancing and LipSync and the 'New to you' community thrift shop.

They also got a grant from LMETB/Solas of €38,000 for IT equipment and a Community grant of €32,000 from facebook. A Meath County Council grant of €18,000 helped to cover the cost of installing the lift.

The Hub will have full tele-conferencing and video conferencing facilities which means that courses could be run both in the hub and remotely.

CKCD was set up in 2011 after a small group met up to discuss the possibility of applying for funding under a new initiative by Meath Partnership called Renaissance which was all about rejuvenating villages. A committee was formed and they were delighted to be one of 10 villages in the county that were successful with their application.

"We started small. One of the first things the group did was clean rubbish from the approach roads and we filled two or three skips," recalled Bernie.

The experts who were engaged to develop the plan held a public consultation to find out what the needs of the village were and from that Bernie said three needs were identified- a safe play space for children to play, somewhere safe for recreational walking as Carlanstown is on the busy N52, and a community space to meet and have events.

Their community plan was completed and from there they started to work on delivering its objectives. It soon became clear that the Deerpark commonage owned by Meath County Council was critical to achieving their aims.

They began engaging with Council about getting access to the Deerpark, which extends to 38 acres. St Michaels GFC was also looking to develop sporting facilities on the site and the council agreed two leases with the two groups that allowed them to progress their plans.

A looped walk around the Deerpark was developed, as well as a children's agility course and a carparking area.

One thing Bernie said they realised early on was that you needed a certain percentage of funding of their own to put to projects and they came up with the idea of setting up a community thrift shop as a source of income.

The 'New to You' Thrift Shop opened in Kells in 2014 and is still going strong. It is in its third premises on Market Street and opens six day a week. It is staffed by one full time employee as well as local volunteers and TUS and CE workers.

"New to You has gone from strength to strength. The shop gave us the ability to save some money and for the first few years we also gave 10 per cent of profits each month to local groups in the Kells area until we began developing our community hub. We gave money to over 40 different groups," said Bernie.

They are also very grateful to former Carlanstown Group Water Scheme which donated residual funds of €40,000 that was instrumental in getting the Deerpark project off the ground.

In the coming weeks, CKCD also plan to open their coffee dock in a log cabin in the Deerpark and this will also help contribute to the ongoing running costs.

And CKCD are not finished yet. The Community Hub is just phase one of their overall plan and they hope to build a large multi-use hall in the second phase of their project.

For more information on upcoming events in the hub see www.carlanstownkilbegcommunitydevelopment.ie or find them on facebook.

To find enquire about private bookings or booking the hub for a class/course contact deerparkcommunityhub@gmail.com