Work set to commence on new community centre in Offaly village

CONSTRUCTION work is set to commence as early as next week on the new community centre in Killeigh.

The committee behind the development revealed on Monday they had reached agreement with builder Allen Kenny to construct the community centre

“As a committee we are very excited and a little overwhelmed at finally hitting this momentous milestone but important to remember this is all for the wider community,” said committee PRO Martina Gorman.

The committee held their AGM recently at which Chairperson Maria Bannon gave an in-depth review of the past year's activities.

One of the highlights of the year was the approval of TVR Funding and a special mention was given to Ger Cleary on his excellent work as Treasurer for securing these grants.

Ciaran Dunne stated that the community centre will be suitable for all the community and not just for sporting activities, it will be a community hall, not a sports hall.

The PR group was congratulated for their continued success on the "People Of Killeigh & Beyond " campaign and the committee looks forward to perhaps a book being published next year. Martina Gorman extended condolences to the ones that have now passed but are very much part of the stories and a special mention of the late Phil Deering and Peggy Coonan.

The rebranding of the competition to Win a House in Meath with the draw date being extended until 19th December 2022 was the right decision in order to maximise the number of ticket sales in order to raise as much funding as possible.

Ticket sales are currently approximately 6,500 and Maria is confident another 1,500 should be sold by end of draw. Maria noted what a massive undertaking it was and thanked Theresa Kelly for all her hard work and effort as Project Manager.

The aim for 2023 would be to see the completion of the building work and to hold the next AGM in the hall. They would then look at reorganising the committee, ensuring that they never see the hall close in their lifetimes. She thanked the committee for all their hard work and also to Fr John for allowing the meetings to be held in the Parochial House.