Community groups praised

Community groups praised

8 April 2015

TWELVE local community groups have been presented with awards recognising their central involvement in the Downpatrick Neighbourhood Renewal programme.

At a community celebration event attended by over 120 people, held in Ballymote Sports and Wellbeing Centre presentations took place outlining the achievements of the 10-year programme.

Representing the Minister for Social Development at the occasion and presenting the community awards along with Down Council chairman William Walker, was Jerome Burns, who paid tribute to the work of the programme.

“There has been a huge amount of regeneration over the 10 years of neighbourhood renewal in Downpatrick made possible thanks to an investment of over £4.5M from the DSD Neighbourhood Renewal Investment Fund,” he said.

“The local community, through their involvement in the Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership Board, have made an important contribution to the process and have helped develop and shape the programmes that have helped to improve their area.”

The community awards acknowledged the importance of local community organisations identifying needs in the Neighbourhood Renewal Area and in driving forward better targeted services and support to deliver community, social, economic and physical renewal in the area.

During the celebration event, compered by Colm McAlinden, participants also heard from Nicholas McCrickard, current Partnership Chair and County Down Rural Community Network (CDRCN) Manager,  from community groups assisted through the Community Health and Engagement Programme delivered by CDRCN,  from Clare- Marie Dickson of SureStart delivering the Family Health and Wellbeing Programme,  from Debbie Trainor and Neil McGivern of the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB) delivering the Parents-Partners in Literacy Programme, from Louise Toner of South Eastern Regional College (SERC) delivering the Driving Your Way to Success employability programme  and from Joan Tummon of Down Business Centre delivering the #You Can enterprise programme.

Downpatrick Neighbourhood Renewal Co-ordinator, David Patterson, rounded up with a reminder of past projects, all having played a significant part in the regeneration of the area.