We are just concluding our recent quarter of a million euro project at our grounds. This has been a marvellous addition to our grounds. This provides an ECO park, Spectator facility and floodlit community walkway. It is great to see so many people using the floodlit community walkway and young people using our facilities during the lockdown.
The project has been run by our club development committee with the support of Sligo Leader, Sports Capital, Clann Credo, Sligo County Council, caravan park and our park trustees. Strand Celtic has a very hard working development committee who have worked hard on project development, project management, project finance, fund raising, maintenance plans and insurance. They also get their hands dirty as demonstrated recently when spending several mornings putting up all the new company signage in conjunction with our Grounds Committee. If you are interested in getting involved then call Damien on 087 686 0096.
We are particularly grateful to the team at Sligo Leader. In addition to the funding approval process through Leader and approved by Sligo LCDC they provided constant guidance and support on our grant application and payment processing. The project could never have happened without them.
Local firm Arken were successful with the contract. You will see have seen their team working regularly at the park prior to lockdown.
Our project is now concluded:
- new extensive sewage and waste water system installed which was vital to keep park open
- new solar power system in place on clubhouse to meet our energy needs
- new energy friendly training lights system installed
- new fence on caravan park road in place
- Footpath which is part of community walkway installed with lighting on caravan park road with support of Sligo County Council
- community walkway installed and operational
- spectator facility completed
- refurbishment of senior playground with edging and new wood chipping.
- new dugout bases in place and dugouts relocated with fencing repaired
- new solar powered scoreboard in place
- new area for pitch cuttings to be stored in a cleaner manner and where they can be easily taken away on a regular basis
- new rainwater harvesting system installed
- new pitch sprinkler system operating from rainwater harvesting installed
- Refurbishment of astropark to address safety issues.
- cycling stands for storing bicycles
- new recycling bins
- New advertising signs up on the standside with more to come
In addition to the main project we took the opportunity to upgrade the senior playground with new wood chippings, timber surrounds, repair of the surrounding grass area and other remedial works. This cost in the region of €4,000 and was not eligible for any funding support and had to be met directly by the club. We also had to refurbish the astropark to address safety issues which cost €10,000,which was kindly sponsored by Harmac Medical.
Remember we have taken out significant loans to improve the park so we would urge you to support our 50/50 draw for less than the price of a coffee per week!.
With the additional works and the impact of COVID on our bank payments and bridging finance we have taken on a substantial additional financial cost at a difficult time.
To illustrate some simple costs the wood chippings for one are of playground are €750 for which no grants are available. A new wire for the zip wire will cost circa €1900, again not grant aided. This is outside the cost of major parts of our project for which we have a loan of €55,000. We really need all our park users to get behind us and support us where possible in these difficult times.
We have secured 120 members to whom we are very grateful. We need 200 members to sustain our park and our debts and maintenance of our facilities. You can join on-line or our 50/50 draw committee will be in touch regarding the draw.
You can join the 50/50 community draw here ...
https://strandceltic.clubifyapp.com/products/1881/purchases/new
PLEASE SUPPORT ITS YOUR PARK 👍
