As Irish Cultural Centre reopens after almost four years

The Irish Cultural Centre is planning a St Patrick's Day party on 17 March to celebrate reopening in its redeveloped building.

The centre on Hammersmith's Blacks Road reopened at the end of last month after being closed for almost four years.

Over £640,000 was required to transform the interior, with funding from the Irish Government, a partnership with Shepherds Bush Housing Group and a fundraising campaign which attracted help from Riverdance star, Michael Flatley among many otherss.

"I would like to say thanks for the support that we received from the Irish Government, which gave us financial support, but also would like to mention Shepherds Bush Housing Group, which enabled us to have this new building and 24 apartments leased to them, built on top," said Irish Centre board chairperson Jim O’Hara, "They were key to our success.

"It feels wonderful to be back again. Particularly to be back in the new building, which is light, airy and modern. Everyone has been really complimentary about it. The old one was a bit tired."

To mark its reopening, the centre was visited last month by Irish Government Minister, Joe McHugh and Irish Ambassador, Dan Mulhall.

Mr O’Hara said despite the reopening, the centre is still looking to raise a further £250,000 to help complete the refit and hoping the local community will offer its support.

"We’re engaged in the fit-out of the centre. We’re still fundraising, as there’s a lot of work still to be done to get it to the standards we want to have," he said.

You can read about the fundraising campaign here.

On St Patrick’s Day, the centre is opening its doors to a celebration of music and dance on 17 March with a traditional ceili featuring live band Ceili Max. A few tickets are still available.

There is also a full programme of events, including music, talks, dance, a film club, courses in Irish language and instruments and activities for kids.

To find out more about donating to the centre, contact general manager Collette Macklin on 020 8563 8232, or email gm@irishculturalcentre.co.uk.

For tickets to the St Patrick’s Day ceili, or to find out more about clubs and events at the centre, visit the website.

10th March 2017