THE Falls Community Council (FCC) has notched up another year of achievement as the group finally got the keys of the newly refurbished St Comgall’s – a project which they have been working on for 20 years.
 
Sitting down to reflect on the last 12 months Falls Community Council’s Director, Gerry McConville described the opening of the new facility as a fork in the road, setting the organisation on a new journey. 
 
“We are still continuing to provide services as normal,” he said. “We provide support for groups of low capacity, for example we have a partnership with St James’ and Ulster Wildlife where we are running a three-year programme to help support the farm and the development of the Bog Meadows.
 
“We have an advice service which is particularly poignant at the moment during the cost-of-living crisis, which is particularly challenging because people are struggling.”

The Falls Community Council also run a community safety project and provided training, recruited around 60 volunteers in partnership with the Upper Springfield Development Trust, Sally Gardens and Falls Residents' Association to work across all aspects of community safety.
 
The organisation also runs a good relations project which provides anti-sectarianism training and brings young people from across the city together to talk about what challenges them and to encourage them to embrace diversity.
 
“We have had young people from West Belfast meeting with loyalist bands and we have had young people from the Shankill attending GAA games at Croke Park,” Gerry continued.
 
“We would also do a lot of work with ethnic minorities and new citizens arriving in Ireland to explore their culture and we arrange a series of talks which challenge people to facilitate dialogue around issues of contention.
 
“In the past we have held talks on paramilitary disbandment, the FICT report, Brexit and the Protocol and we recently held talks in the Shankill Library and Ballymacash discussing the Easter Rising and what was happening within the unionist community.
 
“That was fascinating as we were engaging people who would not normally engage with Easter Week as it is looked upon as a republican event.”

In addition to this, FCC also run a music technology project in Conway Mill which includes a recording studio to provide training in the music industry.
 
Gerry told us that the biggest challenge this year came when they got the keys to St Comgall’s – the old primary school on Divis Street.
 
“Falls Community Council, through the work of Eileen Howell, Marie Maguire and some others who are still active within the Falls Community Council, came up with the idea of buying St Comgall’s and redeveloping it into a community space.
 
“We continued that work and eventually thanks to the Executive Office and the Social Investment Fund (SIF) and the Belfast Investment Fund through Belfast City Council, we got the £7m to redevelop it.
 
“We started the work and then Covid hit but we managed to continue on.
 
“We took possession of the keys on 30 June. Until that point, we were promised that we would get additional support to run the building and then it transpired that we weren’t getting the additional support and we would have to do it ourselves.”

STREETS: Each of the seven corridors have been named after streets in the area which no longer exist
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STREETS: Each of the seven corridors have been named after streets in the area which no longer exist

Gerry said that the Falls Community Council had never intended to move into the building, but they had to make the decision to move in and run the building as an additional project.
 
“After 20 years of battling to get it open, when we got the keys, I was in the hospital getting a knee replacement.
 
“St Comgall’s is a new direction for Falls Council and we are adapting our business model to align with that as well.
 
“We have lettable space with a number of small units left which people are viewing at the moment.
 
“Among our tenants are Elite which make Irish dancing costumes, we have Stephen Farnham from Wrapped in Belfast who has a shop in Castle Court, we have a tuition company, and we also have Féile an Phobail moving in in the new year which will be exciting.”

The office space is being let through Ortus and Gerry told us that while Falls Community Council are transitioning into a community enterprise, there is a deficit in the skills that they have and what they need.
 
Among the many features of the building, the seven corridors have been named after streets within the local area which no longer exist. Once fully operational St Comgall’s will also feature a bistro serving drinks and treats for locals and visitors alike.
 
“We have three spaces where we can run public events and have recently got our conference license which allows us to sell food and alcohol then we are also about to get our entertainment licence,” he continued.
 
“Our main thing is our conference facilitates and in the new year that will really take off.”

The Falls Community Council are working with the Balmoral Hotel to cater for events which will take place in their spaces.
 
“The Balmoral Hotel know the value of the project for local people and have bought into our vision and see this as a way to give back to the locol community,” he added.

BLACKBOARD: Once fully operational, the building will also include a bistro
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BLACKBOARD: Once fully operational, the building will also include a bistro


 

Gerry said that they plan to work in partnership with the local residents' association to run a series of events including a residents' open day to showcase the redevelopment.
 
“St Comgall’s was as strange school because not only was it a school, it was used as a social hub for the area.
 
“The memories that people have are fascinating and people have an emotional attachment with the school.
 
“Last week we had a lady who was about to turn 90. Both her and her son had attended the school and she told us that it was one of the happiest moments she had recently because every time she turned a corner, a new memory came back.”
 
Gerry told us that the organisation will be launching a new ‘Friends of St Comgall’s’ in the new year to keep people informed of the work that is going on.
 
“Next year will be exciting, it will be a challenge and all of our staff and administration team have gone above and beyond their jobs to make it happen.”