Upgrade of Glasson Heritage Centre moves a step closer

The committee of Glasson Community and Heritage Centre has in recent days been notified by Tailte Éireann that its longstanding efforts to secure registered title for the centre have been successfully achieved.

The immediate benefit of this is that it enables the committee to apply for much-needed funding to carry out a structural upgrade of the centre.

The committee said it wished to acknowledge the contributions of all who have assisted in enabling this outcome, in particular Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer' Moran whose assistance and guidance was vital in achieving registered ownership of the centre for the Glasson community.

Minister Moran commented: "I am delighted to have assisted in moving this project along and I am looking forward to assisting the centre with their funding application. This is key heritage infrastructure at the heart of Glasson and requires upgrading."

Glasson Community and Heritage Centre was built in 1844 as a schoolhouse and continued to fulfill this role until the 1960s. The building was used for a number of years afterwards, mainly as a boxing club for young boys from Glasson, Tubberclair and the surrounding areas.

By 1991 the building had become derelict, when a group of local people from Glasson came together to restore the old schoolhouse while remaining true to its original architectural features.

Following seven years of fundraising, and with labour supplied by FÁS, the building was restored and officially opened by Mary McAleese, Uachtarán na hÉireann, in 1998.

Since then the centre has been used by the local community for a variety of social, cultural, and educational activities while also acting as a polling station for local and national elections.

These activities have enabled the centre to meet the costs of providing light, heat, insurance and maintenance, along with all the other costs associated with meeting the needs of the user groups.