Mayo Abbey Parish Dev. Co. Ltd.

ST COLMAN'S TRAINING CENTRE
How far we've come…..

2004

The St Colman's Training Centre was officially opened on September 23rd 2004 by Eamon O'Cuiv, Minister for Rural Community & Gaeltacht Affairs. The overall aim was to bring adult education into the Community.
The Management Committee obtained funding from AIB Better Ireland Awards, South West Mayo LEADER Company, and Department of Social Community & Family Affairs which went towards kitting out a state of the art IT room with 14 Windows PC's, ancillary IT equipment & software and a DSL Broadband Connection.

Along with the IT facilities the centre also had 3 conference rooms, one which seats 200, a fully equipped training kitchen (Health Board Approved) & full bar facilities.

An application was made to the Department Of Education under the Back to Education Initiative to run a number of funded courses for young people and adults. The aim was to give participants an opportunity to combine a return to learning with family, work and other responsibilities. Mayo Abbey was successful and continues to run a number of funded courses annually.

2005

In its first year the centre ran a number of courses including Childcare, Failte Ireland Food Service Training, Failte Ireland Bar Service, Care Of The Elderly, a number of Beginners Computer Courses, Safepass & training for teachers on PowerPoint and use of the Internet.

2006

The Organic Training Service was established in 2006 under the Mayo Abbey Community Council with the support of the South West Mayo Development LEADER Company.

This led to the erection of two polytunnels and a glass house and the use of one acre of land to provide training in Organic Horticulture.

The organic garden has also supplied fresh produce for over 200 meals a week for the elderly, which are provided within the centre or delivered to some of their homes on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.

2008

In 2008 St Colman's was successful in becoming a FETAC Accredited Centre. This allowed the centre to run and certify courses from Levels 1 - 6.

St Colman's began running a number of its own FETAC Accredited Courses the most popular being Organic Horticulture at beginners level, Childcare, ECDL & Beginners Computers.

2009

By 2009 the centre had added a range of new training courses in accordance with demand by the community.
St Colman's is the only training centre in Mayo offering FETAC accredited training at Levels 3, 4 and 5 in Organic Horticulture.

As well as this renovations had been made to update the kitchen facilities to allow for the introduction of training courses in Cookery and Nutrition at beginners level which proved very successful and has been thriving since.

This year also saw the introduction of Manual & Computerised Accounts and Payroll as well as Train the Trainer, which all achieved great success.

2010

St Colman's Training Centre has come along way since 2004 and is dedicated to continuous improvement with the main focus being to deliver quality training in adult education to the wider community.

Facilities

• IT Room equipped with the latest training aids.
• DSL Broadband Internet Access.
• Wi-Fi network.
• LCD projectors and hi-tech sound systems & a recently updated suite of PC's with Windows 7
• Audio & Video Facilities
• Open Access Computer with DSL Broadband for public use
• Community office (printing, photocopying, fax, laminating etc)
• Parking Facilities
• Wheelchair Accessible