Old church transformed into family centre
by Mick Hall
The lord mayor of Belfast Pat McCarthy last night officially opened a new family centre at the site of one of west Belfast’s best known landmarks - the historic St Matthias’ ‘tin church’ on the Glen Rd.
The Glen Community Family Centre, which is being run by local residents, will now be used as a meeting place for groups and parents to run community support programmes.
The project has received financial support from EU Peace II funds and Belfast City Council, while local business have also contributed £14,000 (€20,500).
A decision to transform the listed building was taken after a meeting between the clergy, local politicians and the Glen Road Residents Association (GRA). The Catholic Church has agreed to give the building over to GRA and will begin leasing it out next year.
GRA sectretary David Irving told Daily Ireland he was delighted with the support shown for the project. The church, originally built by the Church of Ireland at the turn of the century, was given to the Catholic Church in 1970 after it had been long made redundant as a Protestant place of worship after demographic changes in the area.
The church had been designed to resemble the western ‘frontier churches’ of 19th-century America. The building had lain disused for over two years after a new chapel was built alongside it.
