History of KFRC

In 1973 Kilnamanagh Estates (Brennan and McGowan) started building the biggest private housing estate in Europe. Up to that point housing on the scale of Kilnamanagh was undertaken by the Local Councils. Kilnamanagh was a departure from Council building and in retrospect is probably one of the reasons for the housing crisis we face today. The completion of the estate took 6 years and was finished in 1980’s with the building of the Treepark area of Kilnamanagh.

However there were difficulties and in 1975 a resident’s association was set up to fight these difficulties, one being the tendency to build more houses than allowed under planning. There was also a tendency to build on “open green space” so the Association were very active. However the Association did not confine themselves to these mattes but got involved in the social side of things for the residents and were very active in organising events such as Cycle Rallies, Summer Projects, estate clean ups etc. Outdoor tennis and basketball courts were provided by the council and clubs were formed. It became apparent that something else was needed and the idea of building a community centre was floated around 1979 and work towards providing one started. Fundraising was started and in 1985 Kilnamanagh Family Recreation was incorporated and took over from the KRA. A Memorandum of Incorporation and Articles of Association were adopted.

Though the main aim of the Association became the building of the Community Centre sub committees were set up to continue the work of the KRA. The following committees were set up. Other committees set up at the time were a Finance Committee who oversaw the fundraising and other financial matters.

A weekly collection was set up and identification of sites within Kilnamanagh suitable for a centre were identified. Eventually the one which the centre now stands was chosen and planning permission was sought. A weekly collection was set up and with the help of very dedicated team of supervisors and collectors and over £320,000 was collected locally.
We borrowed £60,000 from Dublin County Council and contracts were signed with Gibson Builders to construct the centre. Building was started in September 1989 and despite some difficulties was officially opened by President Patrick Hillery on July 7th 1989.This was followed by three weeks of celebrations with social events in the newly opened centre. We continued the weekly collection and ran the centre on the Socio Economic Model with all funding going back into the centre’s development and providing activities at a vey affordable rate.

The Centre was built in 1988-9 opening on the 7th July 1989. The building was built by raising almost £400,000 locally through a weekly collection. This collection continued for almost 20 years following the opening and was the main source of income enabling us to operate in a Socio Economic Model and not for profit in accordance with our Articles and Memorandum. The ownership of the Centre was vested in South Dublin County Council.

The Centre was very successful and the need for further facilities was evident from the mid nineties and the Executive Committee set about building this extension. As a means of funding the project and also providing further facilities for our aging members we included an application for a bar and a Day Care Centre. It was a requirement under our Articles of Association that we got the permission of our members to include a bar in the development and we received this at an EGM called for this purpose. The extension was built with the help of a mortgage from Clann Credo, the Social Investment Bank amounting to €500,000. The extension was opened in 2007 and included a member’s bar and the Day Care Centre as mentioned.

History of Kilnamanagh

Kilnamanagh is a small townland situated in the Barony of Uppercross nestling in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. It got its name from St Kevin who founded a monastery there back in the eighth century before he upped and moved on to Glendalough. Kilnamanagh means, in English, The Church of the Monks. It was pastureland and farmland that was held by the same families for over one hundred years. However, if you travel to Kilnamanagh via the Greenhill’s Road, you will be struck by the embankment that has developed along the roadway. The area as well as being prime farmland was also the source of the sand used to build Dublin over the centuries. The embankment road is a result of the sand being excavated over the years.

In 1971 all this was about to change when two young builders from Co Mayo set upon building the biggest private housing estate in Europe at the time. They earmarked Kilnamanagh as the site for this ambitious project and set about acquiring the land for the project. Building started in 1972 and when building finished seven years later 1700 houses were built, making it the biggest private housing estate in Europe.

Birth of the Resident’ Association
People started moving in to their new houses in 1972 and almost immediately problems started with the builders. That is another issue worth researching in itself for the moment I will leave it to those in Dublin Castle. They seem to have stronger stomachs. Because of these problems a Resident’s Association was formed to fight on issues concerning the new house owners.
They were quite successful in doing this and were a very committed group of people and they soon turned their attention to improving the social and recreation needs of the number of children who were by now starting to grow considerably.

Summer Festival and Social Fabric

One of the most successful endeavours they undertook was to have an annual Summer Festival or Summer project as they were called then. This was so successful that people came from all over Ireland to look at how it was organised and run. It ran for six weeks and catered for over 3,000 children at its prime. Another big event in the social calendar was the annual Cycle Rally to Glendalough to raise funds for the church and schools. So even at an early stage there was a very strong community spirit.
There was something lacking though, and that was identified quickly as a community centre. This was in 1981 and a sub-committee of the Residents Association was set up to pursue this.

Community Centre Sub-Committee

As you can imagine the same enthusiasm that went into the other social events now poured into this project. A meeting was called in the school; and the residents were asked to support the project. This support was readily forthcoming and a collection system was set up where a pound a week was collected from each household that joined in. A network of collectors covered each road and a team of supervisors oversaw the collection and brought it centrally where it was counted, receipted and then banked.
A team of architects were hired to draw up plans for the building and planning permission was sought. This was a long drawn out process and it was 1985 before the Local Authority identified a site and planning permission was finally lodged…
The cost of the building was to be in the region of £600,000 and this was going to be met by grants of £2000, 000 and the rest raised locally

Birth of the KFRC

It was necessary because of a project this size that the Residents Association wind up and be replaced by a Limited Company and this was done in April 1985 when the new company Kilnamanagh Family Recreation Centre Limited was incorporated.
This company had an executive committee of twenty-six people with five of them elected as officers. The committee split into several sub-committees: Building charged with overseeing the building project, Finance who looked after the finances, Activities who researched the needs of the local clubs and associations, Environment who took over the old duties of the Residents Association and finally Membership who looked at how membership would be structured. So the stage was set for the project to be completed.

Completion of Project

In 1989 after a lot of hard work the building was finally handed over and opened by President Patrick Hillery in July of that year. The opening was something that people still talk about, as there was a two-week celebration with a show each night attended by all the members. It was a good foundation and set the stage for the future.

Ongoing Management

When the centre opened the Executive Committee was re-structured and new sub-committees were set up.
Finance: Handling all financial affairs
Development: Looking at further developments that would enhance the facilities.
Activities: Charged with allocating the facilities.
Environment: Assuming the role of the old resident’s association.
Procedures: Developed the rules by which the organisation ran.
Discipline: As the word says dealing with disciplinary matters.
Functions: Arranged and ran all fundraising events.
Youth: Ran and promoted all youth activities. Discos etc.
The executive committee were very busy supported by the sub-committees and met twice monthly to manage the centre. The Procedures Committee is a particularly interesting one as their brief is to record and update all rules and decisions taken to ensure the smooth running of the centre. This book is updated periodically and is in a sense the Bible on running a community centre or indeed any organisation that has a committee. When others come to visit the centre with a view to building their own they go away clutching their copy of Procedures. I enclose a copy within.

Impact

From the start the centre had an impact on the local community and was seen as the most successful centre built and run. The Local Authority would direct any budding group along to Kilnamanagh to sees how it was done there. Indeed people came from all over the country and Kilnamanagh became a model for others to copy.

But it was in the impact it had on the locality that was really the success. In the area of sport, for instance, Kilnamanagh won the Dublin region of the community games 7 times out of the first 10 years of opening. Athletes trained in the centre went abroad on athletic scholarships and year after year national champions came through the ranks. The centre became a staging post for youngsters interested in pursuing careers in acting, dancing, radio, nursing just to mention a few. It’s true to say that the objects for which the centre was built were fulfilled.

The Future

The committee then embarked on an ambitious project to build an extension that will provide further facilities. This time the aim was to provide for the future as the demographics of the area has changed dramatically. The area now has an aging population with most residents over 50 years of age. The new extension provided a Day Care Centre that caters for the needs of those in their golden age.