History of Killeen Community Playground (by Martina Fadden)
Members of Killeen Community Playgroup attended a meeting of Early Childcare Services with the HSE in Claremorris in October 2006. It was proposed at that meeting that in the near future all playschools in the country would be required to have a suitable outdoor play area for pre-school children in order to comply with Pre-School Regulations. We were very conscious at this time that we only had the use of the small green area at the side of the Community Centre in Killeen adjacent to the purpose build Playschool building and we were unable to put any permanent fixtures or fittings for the children to play with on this site. We thought it would be a nice idea if we could incorporate a play area for the pre-school children adjacent to the Community Centre and also allow it to be used as a playground for all the other children in the area. However, on further enquiry we learnt Pre-School Regulations did not permit an outdoor play facility for pre-schoolers to be used by anyone else other than pre-school children. We had to go back to the drawing board. In 2007 Killeen Community Playgroup became a Limited company, ie Killeen Childcare and they applied for a grant of €32,500 (based on their child numbers) from The Department of Health and Children to construct an outdoor play area for the children of Killeen and the surrounding areas. This grant was processed through Pobal and was completed in 2009.
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In order to establish a public playground in Killeen that was accessible for all children, in January 2007 a group of local people came together with Councillor Austin Francis O’Malley to see if there was any way we could raise funds to provide a public playground in Killeen. Austin Francis informed us that in order to apply for funding for this type of venture we first needed to acquire suitable land for this project. At this meeting Killeen Playground Committee was formed with Councillor Austin Francis O’Malley as Chairman, Colette Gibbons as Treasurer, Louise Jennings as Secretary along with Rosaleen Gibbons, Martina Fadden and Eugene Needham. Our Committee became a Sub-Committee of Killeen Community Council and we worked in conjunction with them on this project.
Luckily there was a plot of land adjacent to the Community Centre that was suitable for a public playground and an outdoor play area for the pre-school children. (Here we would like to acknowledge local landowner Christy Gibbons and his wife Vivien, firstly for selling the plot of land to Killeen Community Council for this project and secondly for all the help and support they have given us during the completion of this project. Now the enormous task of raising €40,000 locally to buy the plot of land began. Fundraising began in earnest. We had a Race Night in Joe Macs Bar in Louisburgh, Wellington boots were placed in all the local establishments like the Ocean Lodge in Killadoon and in all the local pubs in Louisburgh to raise funds along with a quiz night to name a few. €15,000 was provided by Killeen Childcare Ltd for their share of the land to construct their outdoor play area. A monster raffle was held in the Ocean Lodge with tickets for the raffle sold far and wide. Councillor O’Malley was instrumental in the selling of these tickets due to his many connections far and wide. After much hard work we finally achieved our target of €40,000. Finally in Spring 2009 Killeen Community Council had the funds to purchase the land required for both projects.
Luckily there was a plot of land adjacent to the Community Centre that was suitable for a public playground and an outdoor play area for the pre-school children. (Here we would like to acknowledge local landowner Christy Gibbons and his wife Vivien, firstly for selling the plot of land to Killeen Community Council for this project and secondly for all the help and support they have given us during the completion of this project. Now the enormous task of raising €40,000 locally to buy the plot of land began. Fundraising began in earnest. We had a Race Night in Joe Macs Bar in Louisburgh, Wellington boots were placed in all the local establishments like the Ocean Lodge in Killadoon and in all the local pubs in Louisburgh to raise funds along with a quiz night to name a few. €15,000 was provided by Killeen Childcare Ltd for their share of the land to construct their outdoor play area. A monster raffle was held in the Ocean Lodge with tickets for the raffle sold far and wide. Councillor O’Malley was instrumental in the selling of these tickets due to his many connections far and wide. After much hard work we finally achieved our target of €40,000. Finally in Spring 2009 Killeen Community Council had the funds to purchase the land required for both projects.
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The next hurdle consisted of securing funding to build a public playground on Killeen Community Council’s newly acquired land. We then applied to South West Mayo Development Company (Leader) for funding to build the playground. Leader would provide 75% of the funding and we had to find the other 25%. We are very grateful to Gerry O’Neill, Sabina Trench and Catherine McCloskey from South West Mayo for all the help and support they provided during our application process. We were all very conscious we had fundraised already in our small rural community and we really didn’t want to go back to local people again looking for money. After many meetings and much discussion it was decided to seek assistance from Mayo County Council under the Dual Funding Scheme. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Peter Hynes, Martin Keating, Peter Gill and Simon Wall from Mayo County Council for their advice, support and financial commitment to this project.
Westport Credit Union came to our assistance by way of providing bridging finance for this project. We would like to thank Francis Gavin and Michael Gormley for all their help.
Westport Credit Union came to our assistance by way of providing bridging finance for this project. We would like to thank Francis Gavin and Michael Gormley for all their help.
It was a huge achievement for us to secure funding of just under €100,000 for a project of this nature in our small area. Work started on the playground in June 2011 and in early July it was ready and open for use by the general public. This is a very modern state of the art playground that we are so proud to have in our local area. It is a major asset to this very scenic and tourist area of West Mayo. Not only does it serve our local children, but the many tourists that visit Killeen.
Today we are so proud of what we have achieved as we look back on our journey which started nearly 5 years ago. Cllr. Austin Francis O’Malley was particularly supportive of this project since it began and we will always be sincerely thankful to him for all his help and support in our local area.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Killeen Community Council former chairman Jim O'Malley and especially Padraic McNamara, current Chairman for all the wonderful encouragement and support he gave us (the sub-committee) , throughout the duration of this project.
Today we are so proud of what we have achieved as we look back on our journey which started nearly 5 years ago. Cllr. Austin Francis O’Malley was particularly supportive of this project since it began and we will always be sincerely thankful to him for all his help and support in our local area.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Killeen Community Council former chairman Jim O'Malley and especially Padraic McNamara, current Chairman for all the wonderful encouragement and support he gave us (the sub-committee) , throughout the duration of this project.