The former Presentation Sisters Convent in Killina, Rahan is set to be developed into a community resource centre, following a successful bid by a local steering group to lease the building and grounds.
The Killina Presentation Convent closed its doors in 2019, after 202 years of service, leaving a large empty property with extensive grounds, which generated interest from a number of groups, aware of its development potential.
A group of local parishioners came up with the idea of setting up ‘Killina Presentation Resource Centre’ and a steering committee was established. The committee put forward a detailed strategic plan to the Presentation Sisters, proposing to develop a resource centre to provide high quality facilities and a range of activities accessible to all sectors of the community.
In July 2020, the Presentation Sisters notified the steering committee that their application had been successful and work is now underway to set up a board of management and to further develop plans for the venture.
Among the facilities proposed for the venue are meeting rooms, work hubs, social services, arts and entertainment, training and education, therapy, exercise and relaxation, waking services, a heritage museum and a community shop and café.
The grounds boast a unique walled garden and orchard which will be used to provide
community allotment programmes and training facilities for social and horticulture groups.
Funding for the project will be drawn from a range of grants along with a variety of fundraising drives, with the Killina Presentation Resource Centre envisaged to be self-sustainable once it is fully operational. Noel Keyes, Chairman of the Killina Presentation Resource Centre Steering Committee, commented: “We are very grateful to the Presentation Sisters for believing in our vision for a new resource centre at the heart of our community. We have watched all of the businesses and services around Rahan close their doors, down through the years, and we were determined to save the last public building in our parish and to develop a facility that present and future generations can benefit from and be proud of. We realise that there is a lot of work needed to get the Killina Presentation Resource Centre up and running and that we will need a lot of support from the community, which I am very confident will be forthcoming.”
