Got That Community Spirit?

You need hands…

atest press release from Greystones Family Resource Centre, issued on Sept 27th 2022.

But we’ve been chasing our tail these past seven days, so only getting this out there now.

We are currently hosting a series of competitions through our catchment area of Greystones, Delgany, Newtown Mount Kennedy, Newcastle and Kilcoole with the common theme of community.

As this is Social Inclusion week, we are keen to open it up to all ages so all age groups can demonstrate their understanding of the work community through art, TikToks or photographs.

The series of competitions is also to celebrate and acknowledge 20 years of Greystones Family Resource Centre. The organisation was established in 2002 by members of the local community and was run from the Holy Rosary, St Killian’s. This was in response to the needs of marginalised families and individuals, in particular young people and the elderly.

The service moved to Burnaby Court in 2008 where its core services provide low-cost counselling and play therapy, Rainbows programme for children and many activities for children and families during the summer.

Operating out of Burnaby Court hasn’t been without its challenges. Greystones FRC in the past has used other spaces within the community where we can accommodate bigger groups (Dr Ryan’s, Kilcoole Community Centre, Nazarene Church) as Burnaby Court is not big enough to facilitate all our work.

Although we now also run groups and work from a temporary premises in Charlesland, our concern is that for communities that are growing so fast, there will be more of a need for an FRC and a lack of a community-owned space in the midst of lots of new development and expansion of the community.

We are delighted to be celebrating 20 years and are looking forward to marking this occasion with everyone who has joined us on this journey so far while also looking forward to an exciting future.

With the theme of community, those October competitions include Art for 4th-6th class (pencils, markets or paints on an A4) collected from your school on Thursday 20th; Photography for people aged 18+, sent to [email protected] and with a closing date of October 14th; plus a Schools TikTok challenge for a 15-second clip showing what community means to you (closing November 14th, consent required, with entries to [email protected]).

You can find out more about the competitions – and about Greystones Family Resource – on 0877514578 or [email protected].