How people power made charity's new home a reality

The founder of a Belfast charity for children with additional needs says "people power" has helped their dreams of new premises come a step closer.

Sólás looks set to start building in 2025 after the local community combined with a recent cash injection from Westminster filled a funding shortfall.

The charity also received a gift of £500,000 from a wealthy businessman who had heard of its funding issues on BBC NI's Sunday Politics programme.

The fundraising, along with an £800,000 grant announced on Monday by the government, means Solás is now well on the way to being able to build a new premises, which will cost £2.5m.

This time last year, Sólás was told £800,000 of earmarked Belfast City Council funding for its new home had been reduced to £308,000.

Following the cut in funding, the charity questioned whether or not the project could go ahead.

For those that use the services, they say they would be lost without the charity.

Emily Gallagher, whose 16-year-old son Oisín, who is autistic and non-verbal, has been attending Sólás since he was four, said families relied on it.

Emily said that without Sólás the family "would be very much on our own, it would be school and then isolation".

"We don't go to the park the same as other typical parents with their typical kids and so these charities are so important," she said.

"There is nowhere else for us to go."

Sólás provides services for up to 300 children from mobile buildings on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast.

It runs early learning classes, after school groups and youth clubs for families.

Across the city, the charity provides care for up to 1,500 children and young adults.

Sólás prides itself as being a charity rooted in the community and according to the charity's founder and managing director, Joan Henderson, it was the people of south Belfast who helped it move towards getting its much-needed new home.

She describes the community response as phenomenal.

"I don't think, even in our wildest dreams we expected to have made so much progress in such a short period of time," she said.

Donations poured in from fundraising events including tea mornings, sponsored hikes and exhibitions, events organised by local football, GAA clubs and businesses.

Several donations were also bequeathed to the charity.

Ms Henderson said the new state-of-the-art building on the same Ormeau Road site would provide a safe and inclusive space in the community for children and young people with disabilities.

The building is due to replace the temporary mobile cabins that the charity works out of.

She said the money raised, alongside the government boost, means the project can go "full steam ahead".

She said the team was "delighted" to hear about the funding approval.

"We are over the moon and are indebted to the local community - the support is very heartening," she added.

The extra UK government funding of £800,000 has come from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The government said it was part of a plan to boost local communities.

"We are delivering on our plan for change by saving these vital community assets to provide important opportunities for working people and their families," Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said.

"These projects represent what is so special about communities across the UK – bringing people of all ages together, providing vital support and giving them a sense of purpose and belonging."

It is one of 10 projects in Northern Ireland given funding.

The others are:

• Accidental Theatre, £566,000
• Canal Boxing Academy Sports Hub Ltd, £282,445
• Friends of Loughmacrory, £250,000
• Market Development Belfast Ltd, £300,000
• Mourne Mountain Rescue Team, £539,587
• Rathfriland ABC Community Hub, £94,400
• R-Space Gallery, £240,000
• Silverbridge Harps Community Resource Centre Ltd, £300,000
• Upper Springfield Development Trust Ltd, £277,715