CYMS Hall
A meeting will be held to discuss the future of the CYMS Hall in Monasterevin. The venue is the parish office on Tuesday next, 21 April at 8.30pm. The meeting will also look at exploring fundraising ideas to clear existing bills. A previous meeting in January gave a mandate to the trustees and the committee of the CYMS Hall to investigate the possibility of selling the property. The meeting will also address the issue of funding that investigation. At the January meeting Donal Fitzpatrick of the Monasterevin CYMS Committee outlined the possible alternatives for the future of the hall to those in attendance. “The fact is that to make the CYMS Hall, which is a listed building, fit for use of any type would require a huge investment. And the question of what use it could be put to that would repay any investment that might be made is a hard one to answer. That is why we have thrown it open to the people of Monasterevin,” he said. Mr. Fitzpatrick went on to add that the committee are starting from a position of debt of €13,000 which is owed to the parish and to solicitors for work done and the only thing of value in the hall is a snooker table which hasn’t been used for seven years. A guesstimate by an engineer suggested that a minimum investment of €500,000 would be needed to make the hall fit for use. He added that raising this amount of money would be a massive undertaking and suggested that unless a viable project was introduced to the hall which would make a substantial return on the investment, then the idea would not be entertained by any lending institution. After some discussion it was decided that the committee should investigate the possibility of selling the hall and whether the money raised from the sale could be put towards the proposed new recreation centre.
Youth Club
There was a presentation of certificates to those who have completed a course on volunteer youth leadership. The club also received a grant last week from Kildare County VEC of €1,500 to help towards the setting up of the club. The youth club committee held an information night in the town last Tuesday night to inform the public on where the project is at and to hear suggestions as to how it should proceed. Chairman of Monasterevin Youth Club, Pat Balfe told people that a lot of progress has been made since the project was first mooted last year. “A number of people got together on 18 November last year to set up a youth club and included among us were local Garda Billy Delaney and PP Fr Liam Merrigan. Since then we have all been garda cleared and we have all completed this training course which was run by KYS in order to ensure the smooth running of the club.” Mr Balfe went on to add that the group are starting from scratch and said that the €1,500 grant from the VEC is a huge boost. “We have secured the use of the parish office as our base for the foreseeable future and we are obviously delighted with that. However in the long term it is not the ideal venue going forward and we are looking to secure premises which we can call our own. It would be no less than what the kids of the town deserve so if there is anyone out there who has a building that we could use then we would be more than delighted to hear from them,” he said.
Mr. Balfe went on to add that the aim of the group was to provide a safe and secure, alcohol and drug free environment for the school going children of the town. “At the start we will only be able to accommodate 15 kids per night, but with time, we would like to expand it further to all students between first year and sixth year in the town. That is dependent on getting right building and the right facilities to put into that building. The club is open to young people who live in the town not just those who go to school in Monasterevin. Looking to the future Mr. Balfe said that the next step will be to look at the various suggestions which have been put forward for the club. “The kids will decide what goes into this club. A key thing will be the ownership of decision making within the club because it is their club,” he said. The public meeting heard that a pool table, a table tennis table, a play station and a TV and DVD player are among the items being considered for purchase for the club.