To celebrate the official opening of the newly renovated community centre in Knocklong, there will be a Gathering weekend starting on Friday, August 23.

The centre will be officially opened on Friday, August 23 at 8pm with John Lonergan as guest speaker and it will also mark the journey that the people of Knocklong are about to embark on, as they will be developing their recent community socio economic plan in association with Ballyhoura Development and LIT Tipperary.

“For the present residents of Knocklong, they can be proud of themselves on what they have achieved as a community, especially the saving of their community centre by means of digging into their own pockets and donating what they could. The community plan is also a major achievement in itself,” a spokesperson for the development association said, adding that on the Friday, there will be a sneak preview into what the plan holds for residents.

Following the official opening, there will be entertainment from ‘The Badgers’ a traditional music group and as this is a Gathering event, the organisers hope that people will come along and enjoy the refreshments and entertainment, meet people from days gone by, reminisce about what Knocklong used to be, look forward to what it will become and bring some old photographs for people to enjoy.

Bringing the events on through the weekend, there will be a walk and historically based stroll through Knocklong on Saturday, August 24 with a youth disco that evening in the community centre.

Then wrapping up the weekend on Sunday, there will be a family fun day with fancy dress, a reptile zoo, children’s sports and entertainment, games and matches, market stalls and the stretcher race.

To keep up to date with events, contact any member of the development association, or watch out for posters in the lead up to the events.