Members of the Beleek Carers Group who have recently opened a new community hall
EXACTLY one year on from being set up, the Belleek Community Carers Group (BCCG) has secured a lease on a premises to use as its base.
The BCCG was established in September 2014 to provide support and leisure activities for all unpaid carers in the village of Belleek, its surrounding areas, and in neighbouring Donegal towns such as Ballyshannon and Bundoran. Secretary of the group Therese Love said they had recently secured a premises on the village Main Street, which will be called the Belleek Community Hub.
“It’s a very exciting development,” she said. “We plan to use the premises as our base for all meetings, activities and fundraisers, but also to help promote community health and development by connecting people and resources as a group of volunteers in a non-profit way.
“We aim to establish the base as an out-reach venue for many charities, so that the Belleek/Garrison community can avail of advice and services offered by many charities on their own doorstep.We have already secured support from a few charitable organisations, who are going to provide a variety of services in the building for the community.”
The group have also recently been awarded £7,655 from the National Lottery “Awards For All” fund, which they plan to use to deliver a full year’s worth of educational, leisure, health and well-being, first aid and advice workshops and courses to improve the members quality of life by helping them become more aware, increasing self confidence and learning new skills to help them cope with their own individual situations.
“We are extremely grateful for this award and are wish to thank everyone who helped us with the application process,” said Therese, who added the BCCG had also received financial support through community fundraising such as pub quizzes and raffles, as well as grants from Carers NI and the Callaheen Wind Farm project.
In just one year, the BCCG has attracted 104 members, who avail of support services and who meet once a week for two hours.
Among the variety of services the members benefit from are advice workshops, relaxing reflexology sessions, cookery lessons, arts and crafts demonstrations or just a listening ear.
“It’s been a rewarding year packed with recreational and leisure activities, as well as informative meetings on many aspects of support for carers,” said Therese.
“The group was set up in recognition of a need that was identified during village consultations and the resulting action plan.
“Belleek is a rural location on the periphery of services and it is difficult to access these services and activities without travelling forty minutes each way to Enniskillen, if access to own transport is available. But if relying on public transport this time increases significantly.”
Therese added: “Carers can often find themselves isolated from the community, and so can greatly benefit from increased social interaction promoting positive mental health and a better quality of life for those taking part.”
For more information visit the Belleek Community Carers Group or the Belleek Community Hub on Facebook.
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