Donabate Parish Hall Committee has been busy over these COVID times with restoring and refurbishing the Parish Hall and fitting it out with new furnishings. About half of the total cost of these works was generously grant-aided by Fingal County Council, the Department of Rural & Community Development and the Fingal Local Community and Development Committee (LCDC) under the Community Enhancement Programme 2020, the Community Facilities Remedial Works Scheme (Non FCC owned), the Covid-19 Emergency Funding Round 2 and the Community Activities Funding Scheme. These grants enabled the hall to be repainted, new floors to be put down, the old floor in the main hall to be restored, a new storage container to be bought and new tables and black out blinds. The Parish Hall Committee has put up the other 50% towards the cost of the works, which has been a considerable outlay during these difficult Covid times.All these improvements to our local Parish Hall are to the benefit of the entire community on our Peninsula, as it offers an upgraded space for mainly community, cultural and civic activities to take place in a warm welcoming environment. In order to satisfy a wide range of needs and activities from community to commercial, the Parish Hall Committee has produced a template for a Yearly Programme. This will have Weekly Activities (e.g., dance, cards, music) and will also have Blocked Activities whereby weeks will be set aside a few times in the year when weekly activities will be suspended to cater for other cultural and community activitie (e.g.exhibitions, dramas, films, craft fairs and cultural camps). Current users have been contacted with regard to their needs and wishes within this new framework. There will be a number of times available for new users; so if you wish to express interest in using the facility please contact Bernie and Fr. Pat Reilly ASAP email Parish Office: stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com with the name of your organisation or group, what activity or event you are involved in, what days and times you are interested in or blocks of time for an event. (Requests can only be taken in writing). If you want any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact the Parish Office on 01 8434574. We look forward to better times when we can return to “normal”!