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New £300,000 grant brings Community House project closer to reality
By: Wesley Atchison

THE eagerly awaited £1.8m Omagh Community House to be erected at the site of the town's bombing atrocity of August 15, 1998, has taken a step nearer reality with a major financial boost from the National Lotteries Charities Board.
The Board has just announced £2.9m of funding to charitable groups across Northern Ireland, with the biggest single slice of £311,567 going to the ambitious Omagh project.
Community House company secretary, Mr. Conor McGale, this week hailed the grant as a fantastic way to start the new year and would go a huge way in fulfilling this unique vision for the local community:'
And he also revealed that hopefully the scheme which already has the approval of planners would be going out to lender at the end of the month.
"It is hoped work will start around April," said an enthusiastic Mr. McGale. He is manager of Omagh's Independent Advice Centre at High Street, one of 14 voluntary and charily groups looking forward to being housed in the new premises.
The project is intended to establish a landmark building which will serve as a 'one-stop-shop' for the community and voluntary sector in the Omagh District Council area. Three private landowners will retain premises on the ground floor of the building, fronting mainly onto Market Street.
Representatives of the community groups will serve on the Community House Board of Directors, while the management of the overall building will be in the hands of representatives of the Community House, Omagh District Council and the private landowners.
"The building and its impressive Foyer of Reflection, which will front onto Drumragh Avenue, is a shining example of community, business and statutory sectors working together for the overall good of the town," said Mr. McGale. "If it had not been for the co-operation and goodwill of the properly owners and the council, the scheme would not have been possible."
The building will be four-storeys high, including the attic, and it will fill the gaping hole presently visible at Market Street and also extending round the corner onto Drumragh Avenue, the site of the old public toilets. The riverside area is to be utilised to further enhance the scheme.
The building is set to be a lasting memorial to the victims of the worst single atrocity in the history of the Troubles.
The architects for the project are Mr. Peter Dolan, of McBride Dolan Partnership and Mr. Barry Gallagher, of ADP Architects, both Omagh based.
Mr. Dolan said that they would like to see work on site as soon as possible.
He said that despite the tragedy of what had gone before it was an exciting project with quality materials being used in the building.
He also said that a lot of thought had gone into the Foyer of Reflection part of the building, as it was seen as very important.
Echoing Mr. McGale, he said they intended to go out to tender at the end of the month.
Mr. McGale also confirmed that funding of £333,000 for the project had already been received from the Ireland Fund of America.
That was being backed up by £100,000 from the Ireland Fund of GB, as a result of the charity premiere of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, 'The Beautiful Game'. And he also said that £165,000 had been approved by Omagh District Partnership, as well as the latest Lottery funding boost.
"We have made two other applications to possible funders and we are confident that these will come through and help make up the current shortfall," said Mr. McGale.
The Community House will provide a wide range of services for the disabled, young, elderly, single parents and ethnic minorities.
Said Mr. McGale: "It will serve as a centre for hope, reconciliation and peace for the community."
He added: The Lottery donation will go a huge way in fulfilling this unique vision for the local community, as well as enabling the public to have access to a number of vital services within the one location."
Ann McLaughlin, director of the National Lottery Charities Board in Northern Ireland, said: "We are pleased to be able to make a contribution to the hard work and dedicated service offered by so many here in Omagh and throughout Northern Ireland." Indeed 26 groups across the Province are to benefit from the latest round of Lottery grants helping a wide range of people including deaf groups, youth groups, groups for older people, groups of carers, community groups and homeless people.
Another local group to receive much welcome funding is Omagh Women's Aid, which is to receive £100,617, and, according to a spokesperson this week was needed for its very survival.
The Lottery Board said that with the money awarded the group aimed to offer local women greater access to a wide range of training opportunities. The grant, over two years, would help employ an education worker and creche worker and contribute towards general running costs.
Cathy O'Neill, the group's education worker, said that the grant would prove very useful and was needed to keep the organisation going.
The group has been in operation for three years and is based in the Market Street Arcade above the Benetton premises.
"It would have been an awful shame when the group is up and running that it would have had to be taken away.
"This grant has made a real difference to us and we are very pleased," she said. "If we are to reach the type of women who need our services we are forced to keep charges to them down, so we have to largely sustain ourselves."
She also said that because the group was now going to expand its range of training it would like local tutors to make themselves known.
There is also a women's refuge in Omagh, which, the group sees, as essential in 'offering a safe haven for women'.
Another group to benefit from the latest round of funding is the long-established Age Concern group in Castlederg.
It has received £74,828 which will allow it to provide a rural outreach advice service to increase the benefit uptake of older people. The grant, over two years, is for salaries and general running costs, according to the Lottery Board.
The group has been in existence since 1989 and for the past two years has an office in the new Derg Valley Care premises just off the town's Main Street.
Meanwhile, also in North Tyrone Strabane and District Citizens' Advice Bureau is to receive funding of £98,122.
The aim of this project is to help disabled people with advocacy and advice services. The grant, over three years, is for salary and running costs.