WATERGRASSHILL PREPARES TO HARVEST FIRST FRUITS WITH MAGNIFICENT ARTS CENTRE
Watergrasshill is this month preparing to reap the harvest of what it began to sow way back in 2002, with the opening of the First Fruits Arts Centre in the village now just a matter of months away.
Work at the new centre, based at the deconsecrated Church of Killaspugmullane, has seen the building restored and reinvented and the final push has began to get it open, maybe even in time for festive celebrations.
“We are hoping to get the centre open to visitors before Christmas, but, realistically, it could be early in the New Year. Once we get the seating in we won’t be long,” committee spokesman, Barry Curtin told The Avondhu.
CULTURAL NEEDS
“The centre is designed to meet the cultural needs of the community. Of course there will be drama and music productions but it is also designed to cater for demonstrations and lectures, to work as a cinema, for workshops, for weddings, really there are endless possibilities of what it can do,” he added.
The Church of Killaspugmullane was built in 1836 but a church is likely to have existed on the site in some form since 1798. It is unlikely, however, that it has ever undergone such a transformation.
The total bill for the project is coming in at €520,550, a figure that includes an estimated €28,500 in voluntary labour and materials, fundraising worth €130,000, grants from the Avondhu Blackwater Partnership totalling €202,000 and a bank loan of €120,000 that was taken out by the Watergrasshill group to help finance the project.
Published:
Friday 30th September 1:06pm
