Many came to childcare centre's expansion opening

Despite the atrocious weather this afternoon there was a large turnout of parents and friends of the Kilcullen Community Childcare's official opening of its new after-school rooms, writes Brian Byrne. The attendance included the new Kildare South Independent TD, Dr Cathal Berry.

The facilities are in the upstairs section of the building, which had not been completed when the Centre opened in 2014.

Speaking before the scissors-armed children present shredded a ribbon to mark the occasion, KCCEC chairman Caryl Traynor thanked everyone involved in the project.

He outlined the historical background of the Centre, which was located in prefabs before the present building was provided, after much effort on the part of volunteers. "It was a place where the roof had to be patched whenever the weather was like it is today," he noted.

He recalled also that when the new building was provided, it was financed 75pc by the Kildare Leader Partnership and the balance by local fundraising and a social finance loan. "But for this phase of the development, we were able to finance 75pc of the work ourselves, and we are grateful to Kildare County Council for providing the balance from their Community Fund."

The chairman said the Centre now caters for well over 100 children, and has a staff of 15. "And we are looking for further staff, including a caretaker."

The completion of the new areas means the service has a dedicated room for after-school children and also enabled the Centre to offer a new breakfast club and increase capacity in both after-school and pre-school services.

Children using the service are provided with hot meals at breakfast and dinner and have designated areas for homework, dining and fun activities. They have had an input into the design and decoration of the room and were very proud to show their families around their home away from home.

The next project on the agenda of KCCEC is the expansion of the back area of the centre into a garden. The land ear-marked for the development is part of the area owned by the CPC nuns and leased by Kilcullen Community Centre Ltd, and KCCEC is very grateful for the cooperation and generosity that are making this next phase of development

As well as an all-weather outdoor play area, the garden will have a sensory corner, an outdoor kitchen, fruit and vegetable planting and lots of space for the children to explore and develop.

Caryl Traynor praised the centre’s amazing staff and thanked them for their exemplary care and education of the children. He thanked the project manager, builders, CPC nuns, local representatives and the wider community and the families of the children for their continued support of the service.

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