Offaly village on track to hit huge fundraising target for incredible community centre

In a significant boost to their project, the Killeigh Community Centre Development Association (KCCDA) are reaping the rewards of the hard work which has been put into various grant applications over the past 12-18 months.

As a result, they are now well on the way to hitting a target of €1.2m which will fund the development of a much needed community centre for Killeigh Village.

This is reflected in a number of successful grant applications that have come to fruition over the past few weeks. Firstly, KCCDA were successful in securing a Sports Capital Grant (funded by National Lottery) of €150,000 to provide a multi-sports facility in the new Community Centre. Killeigh has always been closely associated with badminton and KCCDA hope to revive this tradition once the community centre is up and running.

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Just last week, KCCDA were further boosted by the news that their application under the Town & Village Renewal Scheme, for the provision of a remote working hub was successful and the maximum grant of €250,000 was awarded to their project.

The committee recognise the demand for such facilities in the area and as part of the refurbishment of the vacant Macra Hall in the village and provision of a community centre, Killeigh will benefit from a modern remote working hub. Providing such facilities will in turn, allow the planned community centre to become financially self-sufficient by maximising the use of the centre during the day, while still being flexible to accommodate community activities (multi-purpose).

Taking account of these grants; the letter of offer under the Rural Development LEADER Programme 2014 – 2019; and, our own fundraising efforts to date, KCCDA now have in the region of €750,000 of the €1.2 million funding required. KCCDA would like to thank the Offaly County Council staff; Offaly Local Development (LEADER); Tullamore Municipal Council; and, local councillors and TDs for their advice, support and guidance in getting us this far.

Essentially, the project has been ‘shovel ready’ since 2020 and once all of the necessary funding is in place, we will start the build. The funding of any community project comes from a variety of sources – grants, own fundraising and borrowings. The strategic aim of KCCDA has always been to maximise our own funds, through grant applications and fundraising, and to minimise borrowings. This, will future proof the community centre from the risk of servicing a large loan which can be unsustainable for a small community long term.

With other fundraising activities hampered over the past 2 years, KCCDA took a big leap to launch the Win a House in Enfield Campaign in early 2021 and we purchased a beautiful 3-bedroom house in the Royal Oaks residential development to raffle. Last Autumn, we announced that the winner of the raffle could either choose to become the owner of this fantastic new home or alternatively, take home a cash prize of €300,000! While we had hoped to be in a position to hold the draw in January 2022, we have now extended the date to December and will be relaunching the campaign with renewed vigour in the coming weeks.

It has been a long-standing ambition of many in Killeigh to provide the village with this much needed multi-purpose community facility and now, more than ever, KCCDA are determined that we will achieve our goal. For more information on the raffle and the community centre project, please visit www.winahouseinenfield.com