Birr Community Online

The planned re-opening of the Birr Swimming Pool this weekend has been delayed until July 7th. The newly refurbished pool will be officially opened by Tainiste Brian Cowen.

After many months of refurbishment and a fund-raising campaign to raise €350,000 Birr Swimming Pool is set to re-open on Saturday June 30th. The fund-raising campaign is still short of the target by €69,000. On Saturday 30th June it is planned to have a VIP cut the tape to officially re-open the Pool, it is proposed to keep the Pool open over the weekend to provide an opportunity for the general public to have conducted tours of the premises and see the refurbished Pool facilities (e.g. the Jacuzzi room, Sauna room, Steam room, new gymnasium, treatment room, multi purpose room, kiddies pool, new changing village, first aid room).

The pool will open for business early on Monday morning July 2nd and a full timetable will be published shortly. Pricing and membership are still currently being reviewed.

Visit their website for further details.

The Birr Swimming Pool Committee were told by Sports Minister O’Donoghue last Thursday that they are to receive a grant of €60,000 to assist with the purchase of new equipment for the gymnasium in the Birr Swimming Pool. The fundraising campaign is still underway, the total raised so far is €205,000 which is made up of the following:

• Birr Credit Union - €50,000
• Birr Town Council - €115,000
• Envelope Donations from households in the Birr area - €40,000

The Birr Lions Club are planning a major sponsored walk on May 20th with a target of raising €35,000. Details of this event will be available shortly to the community.

Grants Engineering of Crinkle will be donating a wood pellet burner valued at €40,000.

The AGM of the Birr Swimming Pool Committee was held in Dooly’s Hotel on March 1st and it was announced that the pool will re-open to the public in June.

So far the committee has received €50,000 from Birr Credit Union, €115,000 from Birr Town Council, €35,000 from Birr Lions Club. A wood pellet boiler worth €40,000 is being donated by local businessman Steven Grant of Grant Engineering Ltd. The committee has also applied to the National Lottery for funding of the gymnasium. The target for local contribution is €350,000. Households in the area received letters in February asking for donations to the fund.

Birr Lions club will be holding a sponsored walk on May 20th to raise funds and there will be further fundraising during the Irish Game Fair scheduled for August 25th-26th in Birr Castle.

At their monthly meeting on February 12th, 2007 Birr Town Council agreed to provide 5% of the overall cost of the refurbishment and extension of Birr Swimming Pool. This would amount to €115,000 which would be almost one third of the €350,000 that has to be provided as the local contribution.

Councillor John Carroll who successfully tabled the motion said after the meeting that this contribution together with the €50,000 received from Birr Credit Union, was a huge morale boost to the committee and reduced the amount to be collected to €185,000.

Households in the area have now received a letter requesting donations.

A Letter from our Chairman
As you are probably aware we are presently carrying out major refurbishment to existing swimming pool facility and also constructing a new gymnasium.

The cost of the project is €2.33 million (this includes the cost of equipping the gymnasium).

We have already secured €1.98 million in grant aid but we are still required to raise €350,000 locally.

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