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Kells, Co. Kilkenny

The essence of BNS's goal is to improve the quality of life for rural communities and their individual members. Therefore people are central to all activities. Assisting communities to realise the full potential of all the resources open to them is a basic aim of BNS's community animation. Often the time and commitment of all players involved in a community project or process is the greatest asset. BNS is committed to responding to the needs of communities. The environment of rural dwellers, in all its aspects, was protected and enhanced by BNS through LEADER funding. This approach served to improve the quality of life for the rural communities. In addition, BNS has succeeded in harnessing an increased range of opportunities for communities.

The assistance of BNS in the restoration of one of the many disused water-mills on the Kings River is a typical case. A local community group in Kells, Co. Kilkenny approached BNS with their proposal to preserve 'Mullins Mill' a landmark building near the centre of the village, as a community run interpretative centre of the importance of the mills to Kilkenny. Kells Region Economic & Tourism Enterprise group (KRETE), had the support of the community in their proposal to restore the mill to working order and to offer tours to visiting groups of this vital part of social and industrial heritage in Kilkenny. The Board of BNS approved the group for a grant through the Preservation of the Environment and Living Conditions measure and in the Summer of 2000 the group completed the often painstaking restoration.

The process of successful restoration of the mill led the group to look at the other aspects of their environmental heritage worth preserving and celebrating. KRETE became the official host of the sculpture exhibition for the international Kilkenny Arts Festival, hosting a series of world renowned artists in the large and spectacular grounds of the disused Augustinian Priory close to the village. The group also restored a large part of another disused mill as an exhibition space for art works, BNS also grant-aided this restoration. In the summer of 2000 organised 'A River Thru Time' a mediaeval themed festival based on life in Kells from that period. As a result of all this activity the small village of Kells and KRETE have become a model for other, at home and abroad for sustainable rural development through the maximisation of their environmental heritage. LEADER assistance through the Preservation of the Environment and Living Conditions was essential to this process.