Church group gets £50,000 Lottery grant

The money will enable the group to make improvements to its venue and save money during the recession thanks.

Moyraverty Parish is among 32 groups across Northern Ireland awarded grants totalling over £732,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Energy Efficient Venues programme.

The programme, which is now closed for applications, offers Lottery cash to local groups to carry out improvements to their community venues so they make savings on their heating and lighting costs and cut down on their spending.

The church group has been awarded a grant of £50,000 to insulate and draft proof its hall. It will also upgrade its heating, install water and heating controls and put in energy efficient lighting.

Rosaleen Conway, a member of the Parish Finance Committee, said the hall was well used but the existing heating system was not sufficient to keep the building as warm as it should be.

She added: “The hall is 40 years old and is widely used by the community. The windows are very poor and need replaced. Our radiators are inefficient and we want to install in new ones that will give out a lot more heat.

“We plan to put thermostatic controls on the heating and hot water, and to put in zoned heating so we can heat the areas of the hall we need without having to heat the whole building.

“The insulation, windows and draft proofing mean all this heat will be locked inside the parish hall. This means the organisations that use the hall, including a youth arts and drama group, a local bowling club, speech and drama class, and various dance classes, will find it more comfortable.”

“We also hope to see a big difference in our energy costs and any money we save will be put back into the hall. The changes will also make the building more environmentally friendly.”