Presidentsetto openCastlemaine Centre

June 1995

THE visit of President Robinson to Castlemaine on Friday, July 7 to officially open the new Community Centre will mark the start of a weekend packed with carnival entertainment.

The weekend is being organised by Castlemaine Community Care and the Community Council to raise funds for a bus which will be used to bring the area’s senior citizens to and from the new centre.

“We’re trying to revive the carnival in Castlemaine,” Community Care Secretary Margaret Wrenn said. “We want to buy a bus for the elderly because the area is so big. Transport is a big problem.”

To provide the new community centre, the old prefabricated building which functioned as a hall was refurbished at a cost of £30,000. The new facilities include a purposebuilt day care centre and a kitchen and laundry to be run by the community care group. The community council will have a separate main hall.

About 40 senior citizens in Castlemaine and Milltown currently avail of the laundry service and up to 100 visit the day centre. A core group of 10 members of community care coordinate the services with the help of volunteers from the parish.

Funding for the new centre came from People in Need, the Department of Social Welfare and the Southern Health Board. A door-to-door collection in the parish yielded £6,000.

Labour was provided by FAS, and two caretakers are funded by FAS. The main hall is put to a variety of uses including meetings, line-dancing, kungfu and VEC classes. Fifteen workers are currently using the centre under a job opportunity scheme.

The carnival weekend will feature sheep shearing on Saturday; a field day on Sunday with a ‘ Taste of Kerry” demonstration, open tug-of-war, sports and a craft fair in the community centre; a disco on Saturday and dances on Friday and Sunday. There will be busking in the village through the weekend. An open-air harhecue will be held on Saturday.