This article is from page 29 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
THIS week sees the culmination of a long road strew with paperwork for a north east Clare group and their little Od tNaxone
Minister Brian Lenihan will be the VIP on Friday at the official opening of the Lough Graney Kids Corner community creche, childcare and af- ter-schools facility.
The facility was purpose built after sucessfully securing a building grant of €1 million and a further €94,000 for equipment.
“We started several years back in the national school, where we had a playschool in a spare room,” said Kathleen McNamara, Secretary of the childcare committee.
“We applied for and got a staffing erant, which meant we were able to expand to pre-school and after school care. That grant was a major cog in the wheel. It gave us the opening to keep going forward.”
What followed was “a mountain of paperwork”, said Kathleen. “We had forms everywhere. It was never ending but when you see the benefit to the community today, it was well worth it.”
Now the facility operates out of a state-of-the art purpose built home at the back of the school, with fifty children being catered for.
The structure is child-friendly, tim- ber framed with underfloor heating and wood floors for little feet.
“We don’t just sit around keeping an eye on them. We are very activ- ity oriented. While we do homework with the children, we also have peo- ple come in to do activities like gym- nastics and crafts. We do a cookery class for children which is very pop- ular. There are lots of things like that that parents just don’t get time to do with the children anymore.”
And the youngsters are not the only ones who benefit from the new build- ing. There are regular community classes in the activity room such as (0yeeF
“When older people come here for a class, they get to mix with the chil- dren,” said Kathleen.
The staff even offer a summer camp and a birthday party facility, where children can celebrate their big day without parents having the hassel of having to bring gangs of children to their homes or drive their own miles to a party.
Built by a local builder, to a design
by architect, Peter Sheils, the child- care centre will soon have it’s own website and open days are planned for new parents and their children. Welcoming the official opening, lo-
cal councillor Pat Hayes said the fa- cility is “a really valuable part of the infrastructure of the area and a re- source for the entire north east Clare area. We can be justifiably proud to
have an important facility like this”.