Parkmore residents welcome Community House and Allotment scheme

By JACQUELINE HOGGE TEN years of hard work and effort will pay off next week for the residents of Tuam's Parkmore Estate when Minister for Housing and Planning Willie Penrose will officially open a Community House and Allotment initiative in the area. [private] The house, which has been handed over to the residents' association by Galway Co Council, will provide a venue for the community to avail of a host of community services. With over 200 houses, Parkmore is the largest council-owned housing estate in the county and the community house represents an investment of €50,000. The house, No 124, will provide a base for local residents and the wider community for community meetings, events and training, as well as a focus for horticulture training and landscape planning for the estate. Teresa Kelly, secretary of the residents' association, said the house would offer a focal point for the community and give residents a greater sense of ownership. 'Everyone in Parkmore is looking forward to this day. We first came together as a committee back in 2001 and it is fantastic to see it come to fruition,' she said. 'We hope that will we be able to support our community in Parkmore by bringing services here instead of people having to go into town to access a service.' The community house, which is one of three in the county with others in Athenry and Ballinfoyle in Galway city, already is facilitating adult IT classes, with 28 people attending weekly sessions there. The house is also being used by the HSE's Family Support Unit, and it is hoped to establish an outreach Citizens' Information service as well as a jobs club service. Prior to opening the house next Monday, October 17, Minister Penrose will launch the Community Allotment project in the estate, which has been developed in conjunction with Western Traveller Intercultural Development. Council owned land has been given over to the community as part of an ongoing programme of estate enhancement, aimed at increasing community sustainability. The purpose of the allotment is to provide families and individuals with fresh vegetables at an affordable price and help families who are under pressure with the current economic climate to reduce the cost of food purchases whilst continuing to eat healthy foods. The project follows on from a pilot allotment at the Tuam Community Childcare Centre that is based in the estate. Martin Ward of Westtrav said the pilot programme has been proven to be great value for money. 'Crucially it has also meant that children attending the crèche have a much greater awareness of where food comes from and have benefited from having access to healthy and nutritious low cost food,' he said. 'We have also had some chickens on site, which has helped the child care project in its attempts towards greater sufficiency through the supply of free-range eggs. 'In the next six months we will be making up to 30 allotment spaces available and we hope to increase that up to 100 over the course of the next couple of years to meet the needs of potential gardeners in schools, community groups or individuals.' Both the community house and allotment projects are collaborations between local community groups, Tuam RAPID and other statutory partners. [/private]