Lottery boost to transform east Belfast childcare facilities

A parish hall in east Belfast will be transformed into a state-of-the-art childcare centre thanks to a lottery windfall announced today by the New Opportunities Fund.

East Belfast based charity Oasis Caring in Action Limited has been awarded a grant of £227,991 to renovate the hall off the Castlereagh Road into an early years childcare centre. Part of the lottery cash will also be used to build an outdoor play area for children.

The grant is the largest awarded to date under the Building Quality Childcare programme which will invest £6 million into supporting the capital costs of projects across Northern Ireland which mainly meet the needs of pre-school children.

Commenting on the windfall, Project manager Andrew Dornan said: “This is fantastic news as it will allow us to build on our success to date by expanding the childcare services we offer while offering things like disabled access and a new outdoor play area.

“We are also delighted that the New Opportunities Fund has seen the importance of what we do by investing in vital childcare services in some of the most disadvantaged areas of east Belfast.

“It also means that even more parents will be able to avail of childcare and therefore go out to work which is excellent news in an area that has only 31% employment at present.”

Today's grant means that the centre will be able to offer a wide range of childcare for local families as the new centre will incorporate day care, a pre-school playgroup, out of school hours service as well as family support.

The centre will target the four wards of inner east Belfast which are in the top 10% most disadvantaged areas of Northern Ireland

(MB)