Kilkenny city’s longest running community bingo is back

placeholder image — Locals return to bingo at last!

Kilkenny city’s longest running community bingo is back.

Running for more than 60 years and having survived storms, foot and mouth disease and other national disasters, the Butts bingo welcomed back many locals in the Neighbourhood Hall last week.

Beaming locals, some who had not seen each other since before Covid were delighted to catch up with old friends.

They also praised the strict Covid policies in place to ensure that all attending are kept safe.

Masks, hand hygiene and Covid passports all played their part in making people confident in the Tuesday night social event.

But, unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions children for the moment cannot attend.

Manager of the Neighbourhood Hall Project, Jenny Cooke, said ‘This local bingo has been such an important social event for more than 60 years that it was a priority to bring it back as soon as their volunteers felt it was safe to do so.’

She thanked the key volunteers behind the Bingo club – Mick and Valerie Reade, Phil Brennan, Jimmy Neary and Martina Ralph Kiely.

The Neighbourhood Hall project has been managed and developed by the voluntary board of the Fr. McGrath Family Resource

Centre for the last ten years and over that time they have invested very large sums in modernising, upgrading and refurbishing the building.

It is now a not-for-profit first class community meeting, training and social support facility and their investment means it can be there to serve as many generations in the future as it has in the past 80 years of its existence as a community space.

Jenny thanked Kilkenny, County Council, Kilkenny Leader Partnership and Lotto funds as just some of those who helped match the Fr.McGrath Centre board’s funding in the last decade to save this priceless community space for future generations.