Bittersweet as Drumquin Handball Alley is demolished

The end of an era in Drumquin as the historic Handball Alley has been demolished to make room for a new car park for the youth centre.

The Handball Alley which was used by all members of the community for sport, youth centre games and even as an office space was demolished on Monday.

The facility has been derelict since 1998, and had became unusable in recent years.

The alley will now be replaced by a ground floor car park to provide eight car parking spaces to enhance accessibility and parking provision for the newly refubished Drumquin Community Youth Centre.

Frankie Donnelly who is involved in the project said it was a bittersweet occasion.

“There was nostalgia around the village about the Handball Alley being demolished.

“It has been derelict for over 20 years, and a bit of regeneration is overdue at that site.

“People have good memories of the use of the Handball Alley but not in the last twenty years.

“The condition of the Alley was directing and beyond use.”

It is an exciting time in Drumquin as the village is undergoing a £500,000 regeneration project with a new community gym being built.

The concrete for the indoor gym was poured on Tuesday, and it once built, it will be a state of the art facility.

Mr Donnelly continued, “On another location, we are building a new community gym.

“We are demolishing the handball alley to provide car parking for the community centre which has just reopened.

“The community centre underwent a major refurbishment.

“We are replacing the handball alley with a new community gym in a new location beside the playing fields and pitches about 300 yards from the site of the Alley.

“There has been increased demand for health and fitness activities, so we decided to embark on this project.

“It is an exciting time and there is a lot of things happening.

New community centre, new community gym, a car park and some brightening up of that end of the village,” concluded Mr Donnelly.