Slane youth cafe opens
The official launch of Slane Youth Café, a permanent, purpose-built facility for the youth of the village has taken place.
A large community group were in attendance to welcome Elysha Brennan, the Rose of Tralee, who cut the ribbon and declared the premises officially open.
Slane Youth Café took a major step from the drawing board towards reality when a donation of €30,000.00 was received from the joint partnership of Henry Mountcharles and MCD in 2013. The Marquess Conyngham attended with his daughter Tamara alongside representatives of MCD and were presented with the Club’s official hoodie as a token of gratitude for their financial commitment to the project.
Proudly in attendance were the members of Slane Youth Café who delighted in showing visitors around their new facility. They performed for the assembled guests and happily took selfies with the Rose of Tralee, Elysha Brennan!
Nicola Byrne, Chairperson of Slane Youth Café said “I am delighted to say that I was overwhelmed by the support and sign up from the start.”
She said they were one of a few lucky groups nationally to be awarded a €50,000 grant for the youth café from the Department of Health and Children and they got some small grants from the Lottery and the Children’s Hour Project.
'On top of this we had generous donations made by family and friends of Stephanie Kinahan Scallan. Stephanie was one of the first adult volunteers, a founding leader in this project and sadly lost her battle with cancer in June 2013 at the age of 34.
“She would have loved today and been so proud of what a group of determined people delivered against the odds,” said Nicola.