New Community Hub Moves Forward In Newcastle

Plans for a new community hub in the County Down seaside town of Newcastle have been boosted with a new investment.Local centre Greenhill YMCA has secured a grant of £500,000 from the Mourne, Gullion & Lecale Rural Development Partnership (MGL) to bring the project forward.Greenhill YMCA hosts, on average, 26,000 young people every year, from 34 different communities providing services ranging from Peace building to Vocational Training. The new centre will help the centre add to its extensive list of activities.The funding will contribute to the construction of a multi-sport, leisure and community hub housing a wide range of facilities including a multi-function hall, workshop area, café and kitchen area, locker rooms with unisex shower and changing cubicles, and a teaching pool with shallow water so participants can train in water safety awareness.This investment was from the Basic Services Scheme of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs’ (DAERA) Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme (NIRDP) 2014-2020 under the LEADER approach with local people making the decisions on funding.The multi-use community hub is due to open in Autumn 2020.