Westport Town Hall re-development on schedule

Westport Town Hall re-development on schedule


A number of consultants have already been appointed in connection with the planned €2 million re-development of Westport Town Hall.
The local fundraising drive is also going well and, while a second phase of door-to-door collecting is planned before the end of October, it is hoped to reach the target of €500,000 by year’s end.
Westport Town Council architect, Mr Simon Wall, who is doing extensive work on the project at the request of the town manager, Mr Peter Hynes, told The Mayo News that, following a very competitive tender process, three consultants had been appointed, mechanical and electrical engineers, structural engineers and quantity surveyors.
“We are currently in the process of appointing a specialist theatre consultant and, in order to get this absolutely spot on, I have visited similar projects in Donegal and Dublin with members of the St Patrick’s Drama Group,” said Simon. “We are confident that through mutual co-operation and consultation we will make the right appointment,” he said.
Mr Wall also confirmed that full tender documents are at an advanced stage of preparation for the Town Hall project.
Chairperson of the restoration committee, local businessman Noel Kavanagh, said the initial target date set for the commencement of work was early 2010 and he remained hopeful that this target could be met.
“Quite a few pieces of the project jig-saw remain to be put in place but, thankfully, everything is going well. I am most grateful to committee members and voluntary fundraisers for the amount of time they have given to the project to date and, hopefully, this will continue until we reach our local contribution target of €500,000,” said Mr Kavanagh.
The completed hall will be used solely as a community facility, an arts and cultural centre at theatre level, and several multi-purpose rooms to cater for local groups and people of all ages. Professional management will be employed to run the centre.
The main partners in the project are The Restoration Committee, Mayo County Council, Westport Town Council, St Mary’s Parish, St Patrick’s Drama Group and an anonymous benefactor, all of whom have pledged substantial funding to the project.
Much of this support is conditional on the local contribution target of €500,000 being met and phase two of this fundraising campaign will take place shortly. Already donations and pledges from some local businesspeople, community groups and households have edged the local contribution towards the €350,000 mark and committee members remain confident that the balance of €150,000 can be achieved over the coming weeks.
Mel Kenny is Director of the fundraising campaign and he told The Mayo News that the campaign is going very well and generating a positive response from the majority of households and businesses.
“Noel Kavanagh is dealing with local businesses and my brief is to bring the house-to-house campaign to finalisation. We stalled the campaign for a number of weeks over the holiday period, but we are now arranging to call back to householders who pledged support or who weren’t at home when we first called. This will be done over the next few weeks and we are asking people to give the most generous amount they can afford to this very worthy local cause,” he said.
If householders would prefer to hand in their donations, they can do so to their local collectors, Fr Francis Mitchell or Fr Micheál Mannion at St Mary’s Presbytery, to Noel Kavanagh, Shop Street, Westport, or to Mel Kenny, Director of Fundraising. Further information from 098 26300.