'Dunkerrin is on the move'

Celebrating 50 years of local community centre

A series of events is planned over the next couple of weeks to mark the Golden Jubilee of Dunkerrin Community Centre.

Built at a cost of more than £10,000, the centre was officially opened on December 9, 1973. It has been the heart of the community ever since, hosting a variety of events, in particular social dancing, cards and onstage drama.

To celebrate the last 50 years, a big night of social dancing is planned at the centre this Saturday, November 25. There will be a monster progressive 45 card drive with €600 guaranteed prize money on Friday, December 1. And for three nights - Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday, December 2, 3 and 6 - Dunkerrin Drama Group will stage a special comedy production of Jimmy Keary’s ‘Finders Keepers’. These nights will be preceded with a show of photographs documenting Dunkerrin Community Centre down through the decades.

The Dunkerrin Community Centre story begins all the way back in 1966 when Fr Eddie Kennedy founded a local youth club. There were no recreational facilities in or around the village at the time, and “there will never be anything in Dunkerrin” was the apathetic view expressed locally, according to Pat Sheedy of Clashagad, Chairman of Moneygall GAA.

The youth club set about a series of fundraising events towards providing a community centre. These were well supported by the people of the parish and surrounds, and the Legion of Mary, Macra na Feirme and ICA subsequently joined in the effort.

A meeting was held at the Legion Room in Dunkerrin on November 27, 1970. Arising from this, a committee was formed comprising of Rev Fr Greene (President), Sean Sheedy (Chairman), Joe Douglas (Vice-Chairman), Mick Doyle of Ballymoheen (Secretary), Jimmy Fitzpatrick (Assistant Secretary), Paddy Byrne and Mrs Delaney (Joint Treasurers), and also Willie Carroll, John Tierney, Noel Whyte, Mick Keeshan, Eddie Whyte, Mrs Mick Doyle (Castleroan), Mrs Noel Carroll, Mrs Maher (Ballinakill), Willie Comerford (snr), Patsy Hoolan, Mick Toohey (Summerhill) and Mrs Maher (Castleroan).

The committee came up with the idea of holding a fundraising festival inspired by Dunkerrin’s famous old arches. The 21 arches were erected by Francis Rolleston in 1757 as an area for local tradesmen to sell their wares to those passing through Dunkerrin, which was once an important confluence for people travelling between Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Galway.

The first in what became the famous annual ‘Festival and Sale in the Arches’ was held on June 6, 1971 and it proved to be a resounding success. There were vintage and contemporary amusements, open-air dancing, and sport. The festival brought to Dunnkerrin the largest crowds it had seen in living memory. In conjunction with the three festivals, a very successful raffle was organised. Members of the Dunkerrin and Moneygall community travelled to towns and villages within a 60-mile radius to sell tickets, and there were generous contributions of gifts made from people near and far.

All of this fundraising yielded a profit of over £4,000, which included £360 from the funds of the original youth club. The Department of Local Government was at the time making amenity grants available to local authorities to provide community centres, and the Dunkerrin committee considered itself fortunate in having as its representative Dan Hogan, who procured “a very liberal allocation” from Offaly Co Council.

Landowner Paddy Byrne made a site available for the centre at a “very nominal figure”, and the building was duly completed in 1973.

It proved to be an immediate success and was used regularly for dances, concerts and other parish functions. It was extended three years later to include the stage area and meeting room. As well as the very successful Foróige youth club, badminton was played at the centre in the ‘70s and ‘80s, with a very vibrant club set up. A progressive 45 card drive was started up on Friday nights and it continues to the present day. The building was re-roofed in the early ‘90s. A fully-kitted kitchen and additional furniture was added in 2007, allowing the venue to become a valuable hospitality centre for the parish, being used regularly at funeral times and for other occasions.

In 2011 and 2012, Offaly Local Development Company helped arrange an extensive €50,000 refurbishment of the centre with a new heating system and insulation.

Fifty years on from the opening of the centre, the words of the aforementioned Pat Sheedy still carry relevance in warning “not to become complacent now that centre has been built. Indeed, its greatest challenge lies before it…

“The centre has been built and now it is up to the whole community to put it to the best possible use. Dunkerrin is on the move: let us keep it that way.”

The committee would like to thank Offaly LDC for its funding and advice over the years, and also the local members of the Church of Ireland.

The social dancing and card nights both start at 8pm. Tickets (€10) for the Dunkerrin Drama Group show can be booked at Byrnes Post Office. Phone 0505 45208 or 087 6847647.