Community project Gone to the Dogs

THIS Saturday sees a special fundraising event for St John’s Community Hall, Ballyvaughan. Gone to the Dogs is an evening of greyhound racing, featuring many local dogs, at the Greyhound Stadium in Galway.

Organisers are hoping it will be a night of fun for the community, while raising much-needed funds for the upgrading of the community hall.

“The building is a landmark in the village over many years. Having opened its doors in 1854, it has been in continuous use ever since, firstly as a national school until 1948 and afterwards serving as a meeting place for the many activities in the parish.

“In the 1980s, the hall was in a very bad state of repair and the then parish priest Fr Tom Tarpey, together with a newly formed hall committee, decided to do something about it,” explained one committee member.

First the ownership of the hall was transferred from the Galway Diocese to the community by way of legal trust, with eight parishioners as directors. Then a major fundraising campaign was undertaken by the hall committee and the local ladies’ club using the funds to renovate the hall to a good standard at the time.

President Mary Robinson officially opened St John’s Hall on January 27, 1992.

“The hall has been in constant use ever since by the various clubs and societies in the area. But over the past few years, many problems have arisen in various areas of the hall, leaving it lacking in the modern demands and expectations of the regular hall users. Thanks to Leader for funding, the recent revamp of the hall had left us with a debt of €17,000 and this single fundraiser has the potential to clear this debt in full,” he went on.

Urging people to come out and support Gone to the Dogs, the chairperson acknowledged the “hard work of the fundraising committee, the generosity and good will of the people of North Clare, South Galway and beyond who have left us well on our way to achieving our target”.

“Our beautiful cosy hall is now home to Ballyvaughan Community Library and is available for a variety of other uses, such as meetings, small conferences and all kinds of social gatherings that may or may not need the use of the newly fitted out kitchen,” he added.