It’s been a busy time in NICHS.  We have moved, yet again but this time just within the North City Business Centre.  We were quick to pounce when the offices became vacant across the corridor and were lucky to speedily secure the tenancy.  Our new home is much bigger with individual office space and a large area for meetings, small workshops and training events  (also the all important tea breaks!!).  There is no doubt everyone feels much happier and we hope this will be our home for a long time into the future.

At the end of  September Will Pegg left his post as Community Partnership Manager as our funding from the International Fund for Ireland came to an end, with no alternative income being found. Will had celebrated 20 years with NICHS in July and NICHS will be a much poorer place without him.  Wills greatest legacy with NICHS is the pioneering tripartite programmes he ran from the early 90s involving young Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland with young people from  underprivileged communities in Dublin.  At the time there were no other projects running this type of programme which was innovative and very exciting.  It served to put NICHS on the cross-border map.  Will continued to lead cross-border programmes and through his work many border counties built up strong relationships which have been sustained even up until today.  Will also established an office in Dublin which made the cross-border programme easier to run.  Will is already greatly missed by all the staff.  We would like to take this opportunity to wish him well in the future.  We are certain it won’t be long before he is making his mark on some new project. 

It still remains a very difficult time to raise funds.  We are however, grateful to those who continue to see the value of our work and have the faith to support it in a tangible way. 

 Thank you to the G and E Pollitzer Charitable Settlement, the Ardbarron Trust, BBC Children in Need, St Mary’s the lesser Church, Cambridge, the William A Cadbury Charitable Trust, The Paget Trust, the J C Green Trust and the Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust.