By Cianna McNally
A capacity crowd turned out on Saturday last to celebrate the reopening of the newly refurbished Ulster Canal Stores in Clones.
The event was largely blessed with good weather although maybe there was a certain irony displayed when the heavens chose the exact moment the ribbon was being cut to open!
Minister for the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys and Northern Irish Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Michelle O’Neill jointly officiated at the reopening of the building.
This facility is part of the Clones Erne East Blackwater Rural Regeneration Project which received over €1.65m of INTERREG funding. The funding allowed for the upgrading of the Canal Stores existing facilities. The Ulster Canal Stores now boasts a new bistro and coffee shop and is home to Clones Lace. A permanent Clones Lace exhibition and shop can now be found in the new Cultural, Tourism and Heritage Centre.
The Canal Stores now offers group tours to and from the centre, and will host drama and music evenings, parties and functions, together with photographic and craft exhibitions and educational and hobby classes.
Clones Development Society was granted funding through the Social Protection Community Services Programme run through Pobal to employ four people to support the services now being provided in the Canal Stores and to develop new services and initiatives for this area. These four jobs are in addition to the six positions also funded by the Community Services Programme at The Peace Link facility.
The Clones Erne East Project is being delivered by lead partner Monaghan County …
