MULLAGHMORE TENANTS ASSOCIATION was formed in 1979 soon after the completion of the MULLAGHMORE housing estate by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE). The CONSTITUTION was adopted at a public meeting on the 11th of March 1980 in Killyclogher Parish Hall, Omagh, Co Tyrone.
The original aim of the association was to act as a voice for the tenants in dealing with the various statutory agencies and that remains one of its primary functions. In the past we have campaigned for a local post office, a better postal service to the area and a footpath to the local school, all of which proved successful.
However, it soon became clear that the people of the area needed more than just a voice and the group began to explore ways in which to expand and develop its activities. Having no premises of its own, the association made various approaches to the statutory bodies for funding to build a Community Centre but due to the economic climate at that time, sufficient capital was unable to be raised.
There then followed a brief period when people became demoralised and the group became for the most part, inactive. However, the core members still acted as a voice for the area at meetings with the statutory bodies until in the late 80’s, when the Castleview estate was completed. People once again became interested and aware of their surroundings and the group re-ignited itself into life. At this point, Mullaghmore and Castleview Tenants Association was born.
Around this time, the association asked the NIHE if they could help by providing the use of one of their properties that had been vacant for sometime because of the reluctance of people to live in a house where a small baby had died. This request was granted and in 1990 a Community House at 1 Knockshee Park, was officially opened. This Community House was one of the first NIHE properties to be given to a community group anywhere.
Initial hopes of providing a great range of services soon evaporated when it became clear from meetings with the various statutory bodies that we would get little or no help from them - the main reasons given as, not enough room, too many stairs and targeting the wrong age groups etc. etc.
After this, many of the committee members who ran various activities on a voluntary basis in the forlorn hope that they may get some professional help, simply gave up the ghost.- the most disappointing casualty being the After School Club which had 80 members and ran five evenings per week.
Since then the group had been restricted by lack of finance and volunteers to running small events and clubs. A once thriving committee with twenty plus active members had been reduced through lack of encouragement by the authorities charged with the duty to the welfare of the community, to a small but close knit core of dedicated volunteers trying to provide as much as they could with the limited resources that they had at their disposal.
As most of the committee members had full-time jobs and families of their own, we felt that we were almost at the limit of what we could provide without a larger building which in turn would mean the involvement of more people who had expressed a desire to help provide activities if we had suitable premises.
Because of our need for more room we approached the NIHE again in 1996 to see if they could lend us another house in which to hold our educational classes. Thanks to them and Omagh District Partnership Board, we now had the extra room we needed in the short term. However, the longer term prospects dictated that if were to thrive as a community, we needed a Family Resource Centre as a matter of urgency. The total breakdown of law and order that was witnessed in the area in 1998 made that priority even more urgent. ( The Sylvia Flemming murder ).
The committee of Mullaghmore & Castleview Community Association (MACCA), undertook to carry out a community survey in 1996 with the help of the NORTHERN IRELAND TENANTS ACTION PROJECT, (NITAP).
During and after the conducting of the survey, many ideas were put to the committee regarding our area and what was needed to help our community prosper in a social, economic and cultural sense.
MACCA decided that it should put the bulk of these ideas into a project outline and approach the various statutory and voluntary agencies and see if the project was viable and if we could attract funding.
MACCA then went about getting the support of OMAGH DISTRICT COUNCIL, on whose land the bulk of the project would be sited. A meeting with JP McKinney, Chief Executive, of ODC in 1997, resulted in our receiving a grant of £2000, towards the cost of a feasibility study and the leasing of the land for a building for ninety nine years at a nominal rent.
Our next task was to go out and seek as much information as possible about the various minor projects within the scheme and make sure that each part could be included if the correct infrastructure was in place. To this end we contacted various agencies and indeed, individuals with special knowledge of our proposed plans. i.e., NIHE, DANI, WHSSB, NITAP and many more too numerous to mention, but equally helpful and encouraging.
During the time that this work was going on, we were successful in attracting funding for various other projects which ran in our community houses including a cross community project in conjunction with the HOSPITAL ROAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION.
Mullaghmore estate has several green areas that are little more than swamps. One of those areas form a triangle of land at the front of Knockshee Park and borders the Old Mountfield Road and Circular Road.
The community, through our survey, decided that this blot on the landscape should be utilised for the benefit of all. To this end MACCA set about the task of putting together a package of plans that would include environmental regeneration, education, training, employment, childcare, youth activities, facilities for the elderly and infirm, sporting facilities, cultural and artistic facilities.
During the intervening years Mullaghmore Tenants Association has grown and adapted to the changing times. It went on to become the Mullaghmore and Castleview Tenants Association in 1989. The Mullaghmore and Castleview Community Association in 1996 and finally, the Mullaghmore and Castleview Community Association, a charitable company limited by guarantee, in 2000.
The most important part of the project, the Family Resource Centre, is now in place. It has taken a lot of work, over a 20 year period and many people have given their time and effort to see this part of the project come to fruition.
This part of the project started in February 1996 and was developed from the initial 14 page Project Outline which came about as a result of the survey. Although it has been redefined on several occasions the mainstay of the project was and is a Family Resource Centre as the focal point for the community.
Our next task was to provide the facilities that the community had requested in our latest (Oct 2001) survey, which were a computer suite, a safe play area for the children and an all-weather multi-sport pitch.
I am pleased to report that we have now got these facilities up and running.
In Spring 2003, with help from Enterprise Ulster, WELB, the Training Women Network and the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation we managed to get our computer suite set up and in August 2004 we went ‘on-line’ with the Internet being installed.
These computers have been requested by all age groups for different reasons. The younger people wish to do homework and just enjoy the experience. Older people want to get on the internet and learn about computers and possibly take in a course or two. Other people of all ages are a bit scared of the whole IT thing and would relish a chance to get on a computer just to see what all the fuss is about.
In the summer of 2004, with a lot of help from the Big Lottery Fund, GroundWork NI and Omagh District Partnership Board/LSP we managed to get a few more of our projects completed. We now have an all-weather Multi-sport pitch with floodlights and a great new play area for the children.
We also tidied up the entrance to the park where we have a new entrance feature commemorating Tyrone’s’ All Ireland win in 2003. We have a stone entrance feature with the Celtic markings of the Sam Maguire cup on it and we have planted trees representing the Tyrone team. One of those trees was brought forward as a mark of respect to player Cormac MacAnallen who tragically died in 2004.
Of course the inscription has been updated to include the All-Ireland win of 2005.
The original aim of the association was to act as a voice for the tenants in dealing with the various statutory agencies and that remains one of its primary functions. In the past we have campaigned for a local post office, a better postal service to the area and a footpath to the local school, all of which proved successful.
However, it soon became clear that the people of the area needed more than just a voice and the group began to explore ways in which to expand and develop its activities. Having no premises of its own, the association made various approaches to the statutory bodies for funding to build a Community Centre but due to the economic climate at that time, sufficient capital was unable to be raised.
There then followed a brief period when people became demoralised and the group became for the most part, inactive. However, the core members still acted as a voice for the area at meetings with the statutory bodies until in the late 80’s, when the Castleview estate was completed. People once again became interested and aware of their surroundings and the group re-ignited itself into life. At this point, Mullaghmore and Castleview Tenants Association was born.
Around this time, the association asked the NIHE if they could help by providing the use of one of their properties that had been vacant for sometime because of the reluctance of people to live in a house where a small baby had died. This request was granted and in 1990 a Community House at 1 Knockshee Park, was officially opened. This Community House was one of the first NIHE properties to be given to a community group anywhere.
Initial hopes of providing a great range of services soon evaporated when it became clear from meetings with the various statutory bodies that we would get little or no help from them - the main reasons given as, not enough room, too many stairs and targeting the wrong age groups etc. etc.
After this, many of the committee members who ran various activities on a voluntary basis in the forlorn hope that they may get some professional help, simply gave up the ghost.- the most disappointing casualty being the After School Club which had 80 members and ran five evenings per week.
Since then the group had been restricted by lack of finance and volunteers to running small events and clubs. A once thriving committee with twenty plus active members had been reduced through lack of encouragement by the authorities charged with the duty to the welfare of the community, to a small but close knit core of dedicated volunteers trying to provide as much as they could with the limited resources that they had at their disposal.
As most of the committee members had full-time jobs and families of their own, we felt that we were almost at the limit of what we could provide without a larger building which in turn would mean the involvement of more people who had expressed a desire to help provide activities if we had suitable premises.
Because of our need for more room we approached the NIHE again in 1996 to see if they could lend us another house in which to hold our educational classes. Thanks to them and Omagh District Partnership Board, we now had the extra room we needed in the short term. However, the longer term prospects dictated that if were to thrive as a community, we needed a Family Resource Centre as a matter of urgency. The total breakdown of law and order that was witnessed in the area in 1998 made that priority even more urgent. ( The Sylvia Flemming murder ).
The committee of Mullaghmore & Castleview Community Association (MACCA), undertook to carry out a community survey in 1996 with the help of the NORTHERN IRELAND TENANTS ACTION PROJECT, (NITAP).
During and after the conducting of the survey, many ideas were put to the committee regarding our area and what was needed to help our community prosper in a social, economic and cultural sense.
MACCA decided that it should put the bulk of these ideas into a project outline and approach the various statutory and voluntary agencies and see if the project was viable and if we could attract funding.
MACCA then went about getting the support of OMAGH DISTRICT COUNCIL, on whose land the bulk of the project would be sited. A meeting with JP McKinney, Chief Executive, of ODC in 1997, resulted in our receiving a grant of £2000, towards the cost of a feasibility study and the leasing of the land for a building for ninety nine years at a nominal rent.
Our next task was to go out and seek as much information as possible about the various minor projects within the scheme and make sure that each part could be included if the correct infrastructure was in place. To this end we contacted various agencies and indeed, individuals with special knowledge of our proposed plans. i.e., NIHE, DANI, WHSSB, NITAP and many more too numerous to mention, but equally helpful and encouraging.
During the time that this work was going on, we were successful in attracting funding for various other projects which ran in our community houses including a cross community project in conjunction with the HOSPITAL ROAD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION.
Mullaghmore estate has several green areas that are little more than swamps. One of those areas form a triangle of land at the front of Knockshee Park and borders the Old Mountfield Road and Circular Road.
The community, through our survey, decided that this blot on the landscape should be utilised for the benefit of all. To this end MACCA set about the task of putting together a package of plans that would include environmental regeneration, education, training, employment, childcare, youth activities, facilities for the elderly and infirm, sporting facilities, cultural and artistic facilities.
During the intervening years Mullaghmore Tenants Association has grown and adapted to the changing times. It went on to become the Mullaghmore and Castleview Tenants Association in 1989. The Mullaghmore and Castleview Community Association in 1996 and finally, the Mullaghmore and Castleview Community Association, a charitable company limited by guarantee, in 2000.
The most important part of the project, the Family Resource Centre, is now in place. It has taken a lot of work, over a 20 year period and many people have given their time and effort to see this part of the project come to fruition.
This part of the project started in February 1996 and was developed from the initial 14 page Project Outline which came about as a result of the survey. Although it has been redefined on several occasions the mainstay of the project was and is a Family Resource Centre as the focal point for the community.
Our next task was to provide the facilities that the community had requested in our latest (Oct 2001) survey, which were a computer suite, a safe play area for the children and an all-weather multi-sport pitch.
I am pleased to report that we have now got these facilities up and running.
In Spring 2003, with help from Enterprise Ulster, WELB, the Training Women Network and the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation we managed to get our computer suite set up and in August 2004 we went ‘on-line’ with the Internet being installed.
These computers have been requested by all age groups for different reasons. The younger people wish to do homework and just enjoy the experience. Older people want to get on the internet and learn about computers and possibly take in a course or two. Other people of all ages are a bit scared of the whole IT thing and would relish a chance to get on a computer just to see what all the fuss is about.
In the summer of 2004, with a lot of help from the Big Lottery Fund, GroundWork NI and Omagh District Partnership Board/LSP we managed to get a few more of our projects completed. We now have an all-weather Multi-sport pitch with floodlights and a great new play area for the children.
We also tidied up the entrance to the park where we have a new entrance feature commemorating Tyrone’s’ All Ireland win in 2003. We have a stone entrance feature with the Celtic markings of the Sam Maguire cup on it and we have planted trees representing the Tyrone team. One of those trees was brought forward as a mark of respect to player Cormac MacAnallen who tragically died in 2004.
Of course the inscription has been updated to include the All-Ireland win of 2005.
Another project on the go at the minute is the Compost/ Community Garden. This project has been funded by Omagh LSP and is used by groups such as the Leonard Cheshire Trust, MACCA Youth Club and local schools.
The Centre and Community Garden were visited by Margaret Ritchie MLA Mininster for Social Development on the 26th August 2008.
What we have been able to provide so far;
Children’s Play Group
Children’s After School Club
Children’s Disco
Children’s Summer Scheme
Community Garden
Parent & Toddler Club
Youth Club
Snooker & Pool Club
Craft Club
Line Dancing
Irish dancing
Karate Club
Drama Club
Woman’s Group
Senior Citizen Functions
Educational Courses
Computer Suite
A Safe Play Area
An All-Weather Multi-Sport Pitch & Floodlights
The following organizations helped along the way;
Dept Social Development (Special Programmes Branch)
Central Government
Omagh District Council
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
Omagh District Partnership Board/Omagh LSP
Rural Development Council NI
Forum for Rural Associations
Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust
Enkalon Trust
Cadbury Trust
Lloyds TSB Trust
Women Caring Trust
BBC Children in Need
Fund for Ireland
Western Health & Social Services Board
Western Education and Library Board
Groundwork NI
The Big Lottery Fund
NI Tenants Action Project
Local Business
and not least the Local People
Compiled and up-dated 1996-2008
By MACCA
