Gabriel and Grace Come Up with A Winner.
Work is almost complete on the construction of Clanmil Housing Group’s 20 much needed new family homes at Downpatrick Street in Crossgar.
Clanmil, who are redeveloping a formerly derelict site in the village, recently approached two local schools, Glasswater Primary and Cedar Integrated Primary, in a quest for an original name for the new housing scheme.
Pupils were asked to come up with an imaginative name that would reflect the site’s surroundings or some other interesting aspect of the local area.
35 entries were received from primary 7 pupils at the two schools, the most imaginative of which were submitted to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council who chose the winning name.
The new development will be known as Everogue Lane. This reflects the original name for the village, Everogues Bridge, before it became known as Crossgar.
The winning name is a combination of ideas from former Glasswater Primary pupil Grace Chapman and Gabriel Gormley, a former pupil at Cedar Integrated Primary.
Philip Whyte, Clanmil Community Cohesion Officer, presented the pupils with Amazon Fire tablets in recognition of their creativity. He said: “We are delighted by the interest that the children have shown in our development and very impressed by the standard and range of names suggested. Well done to everyone who got involved and thank you to the schools for helping with the competition.
“Congratulations to Gabriel and Grace who have together come up with the perfect name for the scheme. These new homes will add to the vibrancy of this lovely village and we’re really looking forward to welcoming families to their new homes at Everogue Lane in a just few weeks time.”
Everogue Lane is being promoted as a Housing for All scheme where people can choose to live with others regardless of their religion or race, in a shared neighbourhood that is safe and welcoming to all. The 20 new homes, including 6 houses and 14 apartments, will be allocated to people from the social housing waiting list.
Noel Ellison, Vice Chairperson of Crossgar Community Association said: “Crossgar has been waiting a long time for the development of this site and it’s very fitting that the name chosen for it looks back to Crossgar’s long history. Village residents have expressed how pleased they are with the design and high quality finish of this much needed social housing and we look forward to welcoming the new tenants to our village. We hope they’ll be happy in their new homes and consider getting positively involved in village life.”
The Everogue Lane shared housing scheme is being delivered through the (Draft) Programme for Government Shared Housing Programme, ‘Housing for All’. The Department for Communities provided £1.5m funding towards the cost of developing the scheme and to support the development of the shared scheme’s five-year Good Relations Plan.
Rowallane Councillor, Terry Andrews, welcomed the Everogues Lane development and said: “It is hard to believe where the years have gone since Carraigview in Raholp was handed over to tenants in April 2013. It was then that the availability of an open space in the centre of Crossgar was highlighted with Clanmil.
“Following lobbying by myself and Margaret Ritchie, it is good to see the end result, with Everogue providing much needed homes in the area and part of the shared future scheme all of which is an excellent idea. I would like to congratulate tenants and wish them all the best for the future as they prepare to settle down in their new homes.”
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Clanmil Housing is one of Northern Ireland’s leading housing associations and currently owns and manages more than 5,200 homes throughout Northern Ireland including family homes, homes for single people, independent living schemes for older people, housing with care for frail older people and supported housing for older people with dementia. Clanmil aims to provide great homes that strengthen communities with service that matter.
