|
|
Drung chapel’s €1.2m makeover
24.03.09
THE people of Iskaheen
and Upper Moville will come together on Sunday for
the rededication of St Columba's Church, Drung,
following a €1.2m renovation.
Parish priest Fr John Farren said the reopening of
the 138-year old chapel would be a special day for
the area following the one-year long refurbishment
project.
Bishop Seamus Hegarty will be the main celebrant
while every priest in Inishowen and former priests
of the Iskaheen and Upper Moville parish have also
been invited to attend.
The church closed on Easter Monday last year and all
church services including funeral masses were
temporarily relocated to Quigley's Point Community
Centre. |
 |
Fr Farren said while he
was very grateful to the centre's management
committee for the use of the building, parishioners
would be glad to get back into their chapel.
"As a parish we are very grateful to the management
committee of Quigley's Point Community Centre who
were very, very accommodating to us. But it will be
good to be back in our church," said Fr Farren.
He explained that the congregation, which now stands
at around 5,000 people, had almost doubled in size
in the last ten years during the construction boom,
with many people moving from Derry and other places
to the area.
Fr Farren said he hoped parishioners would be
delighted with their newly-refurbished church
following an almost "gutting" of the original
building.
"Because St Columba's is a listed building, all the
materials had to be replaced as close to the
original style as possible.” This included Bangor
blue slates on the roof, and a replacement timber
floor. A brand new oil-fired central heating system
and new tiles in the aisles have also been installed
while there is also a new extension to the sacristy.
"All the sanctuary furniture is marble and the
wooden altar has also been replaced with marble.
Some of the timber beams had also to be replaced
because of dry rot and wood worm," added Fr Farren,
who has been parish priest at St Columba's since
2002.
The local parish priest said the memory of the theft
of the Bangor slates in the early days of
reconstruction had been firmly put behind them and
the building now had a “clean bill of health”.
Meanwhile, he thanked parishioners for their ongoing
generosity in raising funds for the renovation. He
said when VAT was included the total cost would be
close to €1.2m but that they were "more than
half-way there". "We'll be fundraising for another
while yet but the people have been very generous so
far and we are more than half-way there." |
|
