Five fly flag for Wexford in Good Causes Awards
FIVE Wexford organisations are through to the regional stages of a competition to reward ‘good causes’ around the country.
Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford’s Acquired Brain Injury branch, Wexford Harbour, Craanford Community Field Committee and Sports Complex, and Tara Villa Childcare in Barntown are the County Wexford winners in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards.
They will represent Wexford in the South Regional finals in September, competing for a place in the National Finals in Dublin on Saturday, November 3.
• As Wexford winner in the Arts
& Culture category, Wexford Arts Centre - the oldest regional arts centre in Ireland - has been lauded for delivering a vibrant contemporary arts programme for all ages in Wexford since 1974. The centre supports over 2,000 artists, has an Emerging Visual Artist Programme delivering a programme for over 8,000 direct participants, and hosts over 40,000 visitors to free exhibitions and talks per year.
• Wexford Harbour, county winners in the Heritage category, created an online set of seven charts and maps of Wexford dating from 2015 back to 1655, with the help of National Lottery funding.
• Tara Villa Childcare, set up by Vanessa Brazzil, is the Wexford winner in the Community category, recognised for establishing a place locally where parents can go with their children to sit and watch them play and also be able to interact with other adults from the community.
• Wexford’s Health & Wellbeing category winner is the local brance of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, the leading provider of community based neuro-rehabilitation services for people who have acquired a brain injury in Ireland.
• Flying the flag for Wexford in the Sport category is Craanford Community Field Committee/Craanford Sports Complex. This small rural community organisation worked hard to fundraise for a new sports complex, built ‘ by the community for the community’ with the help of over 100 volunteers.
Six winners will emerge from the South Regional finals to join 30 other regional winners at the national finals. Each national category winner will receive €10,000, with the overall Good Cause of the Year receiving an additional €25,000.
Broadcaster and entrepreneur Bobby Kerr, Chair of the judging panel, said ‘ The competition is fierce in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards. The standard of entries is really impressive. I congratulate all of the county winners and look forward to seeing Wexford competing in the Regional Finals next month.’
This is the first year of the National Lottery Good Causes Awards, open to any community project, club or individual who had received National Lottery funding between 2014 and 2016.
Nearly 30 cent of every euro spent on National Lottery games – or over €619,000 per day –goes back to ‘good causes’ in the areas of Sports, Arts, Culture, Heritage, Community, Health, Youth and the Irish Language.