The Colgan Hall Community & Resource Centre has served
as a key community hub for the people of Carndonagh and the surrounding area
for over 100 years – providing a focal point in the heart of Inishowen for
various community, business, educational, cultural and heritage events.
The Hall & Resource Centre is named after
John Colgan, a Franciscan friar born in Priestown near Carndonagh c. 1592 who
was an accomplished hagiographer (biographer / historian) – including of
Ireland’s three national saints: St Patrick, St Brigid and St Columba / St
Columcille. A fresco created by Emmanuel di Como c. 1670 of John Colgan adorns
the wall of St. Isidore's College in Rome.
The Colgan Hall was built in 1914 – following 20
years of local fundraising – and is one of the best examples of the ‘Celtic
Revival’ in the North West. The building was designed with an ‘Irish Romanesque
feeling’ and boasts circular windows in the gable end interlaced with the
famous 7th century ‘Carndonagh Cross’.
For over a period of 55 years, the Colgan Hall
operated as a Parochial Hall, Technical School, Diocesan College and for one
year as a Community School. During the First World War and up until the early
1970s the Hall hosted plays, concerts, operettas, recitals and feiseanna – as
well as having a cinema that provided entertainment for thousands of local
people before the widespread adoption of television.
From the mid-1970s onwards, the Hall went into
steady decline, until when in 2007 a newly established ‘Management Committee’
(now comprising of 9 Directors) took over the running of the facility.
Through the ‘Community Services Programme’ the
Colgan Hall also employs a full-time supervisor and two part-time caretakers.
There are also additional Tús workers and ‘Community Employment’ participants
who assist with events and activities in the Hall.
Over the past decade, the Community &
Resource Centre has grown from strength to strength – with an annual footfall
in excess of 65,000 – hosting successful events including drama productions,
musicals, comedy shows, bingo nights, exhibitions, public interest meetings and
heritage events. The centre also now has excellent meeting rooms and training
facilities to suit the needs of the local community – providing audio-visual
equipment and temporary office facilities including hot desks with broadband
access.