Bangor Old Town Community Association was founded after a public meeting held in the Marine Court Hotel on Monday 24th of February 2003. This was the result of work carried out by a steering group set up in October 2002 to investigate whether there was a need or desire for a residents association in Bangor Town Centre. At the inaugural meeting, representatives from the PSNI, North Down Borough Council, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, the Town Centre Management, the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust, the Northern Ireland Tenants Action Project and some 45 local residents, were present. After hearing speeches from Stephen Dunlop about the role of the Town Centre Management, and from Inspector Galbraith PSNI, the public floor was opened to discuss key issues of concern. From these discussions it was deemed appropriate by those present, that a community association be formed to tackle a number of highlighted issues.
Under our constitution the Association was established to:
2:1 “ …provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of live for said inhabitants”
2:2 “ to establish or to secure the establishment of a Community Centre and to maintain and manage or to co-operate with any local statutory authority in the maintenance and management of such a Centre for activities promoted by the association …”
These facilities being important in the association’s role of:
“providing or securing the provision of social services, educational and recreational facilities and practical assistance” and to “organise and assist in organising meeting, lectures, classes and exhibitions and publish or assist in publishing reports, periodicals, recordings, books or other documents or information” for the benefit of local residents.
we are presently working on an ambitious project to fulfill our aims and would like the public to give us their views as to what community facilities they would like to see started in the town.
Feel free to email your ideas to me, we will also be accumulating data from a scoping exercise to take place on saturday 6th in the Flagship Centre, anything reasonable would be welcome
