Ballivor playground committee seek council support
A recent funding announcement of €50,000 from Meath County Council's capital budget has been a major boost to the Ballivor playground campaign and the committee is hoping that the project will also be successful in obtaining national funding under the Town and Village renewal scheme.
The Ballivor Playground Committee gave a presentation the Trim Municipal District councillors last Friday seeking support and told how they had already fundraised €10,000 towards the playground, most of this from clothes collections organised by chairperson Sue Davis over a number of years.
Ballivor has been campaigning for a playground for many years and tributes have been paid to Ballivor GAA Club for providing the site to allow the project proceed.
Ms Davis explained that they have two plans drawn up for the playground - the first cost €140,000 and they brought it down to €110,000 to make it more “doable”. If extra funding becomes available, she said they would love to go with the bigger design.
Danielle Whelan told how the population of Ballivor was 1,727 in the 2011 and has gone up since then. “We have more children and there is nothing for the children. The playground will be of huge benefit, there is a huge demand for it.
“We hope that with everybody's help this time next year, we will be cutting the ribbon. We have been doing a lot of fundraising and are very grateful to everyone who donates.”
Ms Davis said: “I've been collecting bags of clothes to sell on. Even when we didn't have land I kept collecting. I always felt it would happen. It brought in six or seven thousand and the rest came from discos.” “We will be continuing fundraising and we will be seeking grant funding and welcome any other monies,” said Ms Davis.
Come along and support the next fundraising disco on 27th June
Ms Whelan explained that they have a facebook page where they keep people updated on the project and share details of fundraising events and that people can also message them through the page if they have ideas.
Councillors were very supportive of the project and have agreed in principal to discuss providing funding towards the project from their discretionary fund, which comes from property tax.
Cllr Joe Fox thanked Sue and Danielle for their work and paid tribute to their “can do” attitude. He also paid tribute to Ballivor GAA for providing the site. “The site was the major issue, I was involved in negotiations with the GAA on the site. I would like to pay tribute to the GAA. They came up with a site when other institutions in the area turned us down. They deserve the credit.” Cllr French also paid tribute to the club.
Cllr Caroline Lynch congratulated the committee on their fundraising, which she said can be really difficult. “Every community should have a playground. Ballivor has a huge amount of young families and children. Well done and keep up the good work”.
Cllr Enda Flynn said the design of the playground is very important that they choose the right equipment, and also the issue of security as they had seen other playgrounds where there had been vandalism.
Director of Services Des Foley complimented the committee for their work and that it was a good model of how a playground facility can be provided where the community and council work together to make it happen.
“There is money in the capital programme which is a start and the local fundraising is a major boost. It will be one of the 15 projects going forward from the county for the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, which is a national funding allocated and these have to be submitted by the end of June and if there is a funding allocation it has to be spent by next June,” explained Mr Foley.