COMMUNITY CENTRE IS VITAL
ALISON COMYN TALKS TO IVAN FERAN ABOUT THE GREAT AMENITY THAT HAS BEEN ON THE GO FOR 50 YEARS
TUCKED in off Scarlet Street, yet moments from the centre of town, the Dermot Kierans Community Services Centre will shortly celebrate 50 golden years at the heart of the Drogheda life.
The chill of a biting December day may be grim, but the interior of the centre is warm, bright and inviting, as manager Rita Lambe and Chairman Ivan Feran greet the regular visitors to the day care centre.
Yet, the bustling activity and social life offered to those who attend is just a small part of the many vital services offered – mainly free of charge – in this unassuming building.
“We welcome about 120 visitors to the daycare centre per week, where we serve them breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, and they enjoy activities like arts and crafts, bingo, singing or specially tailored exercise programmes,” explains Rita, who has spent 33 years working her way through the organisation. “We’re open Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm, and offer our guests other services like hairdressing and chiropody, but also a social outlet, that can combat isolation and loneliness, which can happen in later life.”
The daycare centre was the brainchild of the late great Dermot Kierans, for whom the centre is named, and six others; Fr Crowley, a parish priest many years ago, Sr Anne Brady from the Daughters of Charity, Gerry Clarke from the Red Cross, Mary Kealy of the Soroptomists, the late Gerry Kiernan from the Saint Vincent de Paul and Seamus Yelland from the Order of Malta.
It was always the vision of the directors, and primarily Dermot Kierans and his then assistant, Canon Jim Nelson, to build a state of the art Daycare Centre and an opportunity arose to sell the building to the borough council who needed extra space, and the proceeds from that together with some additional funding was used to build the daycare centre near to the Cottage Hospital, as the entrance to Scarlet Crescent.
A State-of-the-Art Daycare Centre was opened in 2006, housing the many other services that are provided.
The objective of the daycare centre is to keep the elderly in the community engaged and active, but a while range of other services are available to everyone who needs them.
And the new chairman of the board of management Ivan Feran hopes that everyone in Drogheda will make the most of this unique facility, open to all.
“The aim of the whole centre always has been to provide a space for volunteers, and our main objectives are still to encourage and promote service to the community, by the community of the town, by the provision of the daycare facility for older people and social services to the wider community,” says Ivan, a local solicitor.
Ivan’s passion for the centre actually began when he spent a week there for work experience in TY!
“It was 1998 and the centre was in Fair Street at the time, and I interacted with the clients, playing bingo and buzzing around on the bus with them; I really loved it,” he recalls.
“I never forgot it, and when I came back from Dublin to open a law practice in Drogheda in 2009, I wanted to get involved in something charitable, and thought of here.”
The centre originally operated from Valhalla, the original red brick building on Fair Street before a move to Villa Maria, which was sold to them from the Daughters of Charity with a 15 year interest free loan. The daughters of charity also assisted the Daycare Centre by providing matrons to help out.’
Initially wanting to offer free legal advice, fast forward ten years, and Ivan is heading up the board and hoping to keep the centre open for the whole community.
“Our free legal advice is still one of the most popular services, where we have a clinic every fortnight, where people can access the help and advice of over 20 local solicitors, free of charge,” explains Ivan.
“It is a fabulous service and people are often in financial difficulty, and think they can’t afford a solicitor, and we can give them a steer.”
Another free and popular service is the mediation service.
“We have a panel of trained mediators from the community come in, and they can handle everything from marital breakdown to disputes between neighbours,” adds Rita.
“It is always better to hold off a visit to court if possible, and these matters can often be resolved with our experts with as little distress as possible.”
The bright, warm and welcoming daycare centre is always a hive of activity, and Ciaran the bus driver is a well-known man about town, collecting and dropping home the older clients who visit the centre daily.
As well as offering a social outlet, combatting loneliness and isolation, visitors are kept busy with a range of activities, and facilities. Provision of meals, Showering, hairdressing, complimentary therapies, art and craft classes, computers classes, Bingo, Music, Skittles and Quiz, and annual art exhibitions.
Drogheda and District Charity Chest weekly draw has €1,500 in prizes - 1st Prize €1,000, 2nd Prize €80, 3rd Prize €60 and seven Prizes of €30.
There is a growing need for more and better services as the pressures of today’s society take there toll. We welcome financial contributions no matter how small.
You can support the Centre: 1. Contributing directly to the Centre funds. 2. Subscribing €2.00 per week to Drogheda & District Charity Chest.