Former school could be a hub for Ballykinlar village

Former school could be a hub for Ballykinlar village

29 May 2013

THE former Kindle Primary School in Ballykinlar could become a major village hub, providing a range of services for local people, according to a local community group.

The Ballykinlar and Tyrella Community Association is keen to see the Commons Road building saved from dereliction to provide local people with a much-needed facility.

Association officials say they recognise they have a key role to play in sourcing funding to help meet the purchase costs of the building which is owned by the South Eastern Education and Library Board.

They want to work closely with Down Council to secure the future of the building and believe it could be utilised by education and health organisations to provide a range of services for local people.

Education officials have already indicated that if the former school was redeveloped, they would be prepared to lease part of it to provide a range of services for young people.

Mr. Nial Addis, the Association’s assistant secretary, said the group recognises it “has to bring funding to the table” to help meet the cost of buying the former school.

“We plan to explore every possible funding opportunity open to us to secure money to buy the building and help develop the former school to provide a major community hub,” he said.

“Senior citizens in the village meet in a former shop and there is no doubt that the Ballykinlar and Tyrella area is in need of a major community facility. Meeting in an old shop is far from ideal and while we have good sports pitches in our area, there is nowhere to host any other kind of activity.”

Mr. Addis believes the former school could be used by organisations like the South Eastern Trust and South Eastern Regional College to provide a range of outreach services in the area.

“We could have education classes for people, while the Trust could run some of its specialist clinics in Ballykinlar. While these are only ideas, I believe they could be developed if we can secure the building for community use.

“Our main priority is establishing a new community centre and we hope a bid we have made for funding to develop a new children’s playground in Ballykinlar will be successful. Hopefully there will be positive news within the next few weeks.”

Councillor Dermot Curran believes the community group deserves great praise for the approach it has adopted.

He added: “The Ballykinlar and Tyrella Community Association recognises that it must be at the heart of the process to secure the former school site to improve facilities for local people.

“Securing the building would be tremendous and help kick-start the social and economic regeneration of a part of the district which has been starved of major investment for years.”