New home for Ballynahinch charity heralds a new dawn

New home for Ballynahinch charity heralds a new dawn

4 October 2023

A POPULAR Ballynahinch non-profit charity is “absolutely ecstatic” having signed a 25-year lease for the town’s Market House.

For nearly six years the vegan cafe Harry’s Place CIC has been a beacon of inclusivity and friendship for people with learning disabilities and autism.

Harry’s Place employs and gives work experience to people with learning disabilities, with co-owners Gareth Little and David English bringing the ethos of friendship to the Market House which will be home to Harry’s Mates — a charity and day centre that will offer respite for people with learning disabilities three days a week.

“The town needed something more bespoke for local people who live with learning disabilities,” Gareth explained.

“We’ve been going for nearly six years and in that time our members – or as we call them our ‘mates’ — has grown from nine to over 100. Harry’s Place would not be what it is without our mates, but we have outgrown the cafe and wanted something bigger to give more to our mates.”

Gareth and Danny’s ambition to find a facility to establish the Harry’s Mates charity coincided with Newry, Mourne and Down Council seeking to lease the Market House premises.

“We noticed that the council was looking for someone to lease the building so we approached them around Christmas last year,” said Gareth.

“They liked the ideas we had for the Market House and we negotiated a lease which we signed last Friday. We are beyond excited.

“We have so many ideas planned for the Market House that we are so eager to start,” co-owner Danny said.

“We are going to establish Harry’s hangout, which will run for three days a week, where people with autism and learning disabilities can come and socialise with each other during the day and have a bit of craic. And we hope to expand Harry’s hangout to six days a week in the near future.”

As well as being a day centre, the new owners of the Market House have other ambitions for the prominent town centre building.

They want to convert the bottom floor into a cafe and install a training kitchen so the employees can come up with new ideas for Harry’s menu.

In addition, the owners also have ambitions to build a gym on the ground floor as well as a hang out suite for all to enjoy.

To raise money, the owners will continue to rent out function rooms to other organisations.

“There is a real support from the community for the work we and our mates do – people really believe in it,” David said.

Gareth explained: “When we first had the idea for Harry’s Place, I wanted to name the cafe after my uncle Harry who had a learning disability. To me, he was just like anyone else, even though he had a learning disability, so I wanted to name it his honour.

“We treat the people who work for us with autism and learning disabilities just like anyone else, with respect, care and we listen, just like you would anyone else.”

David added: “People who come and work for us are just as capable as anyone else and they can do jobs just like everyone else, irrespective of their disability.

“We really encourage our employees to come up with ideas for our cafe and get involved as much as they can – they are the backbone.” 

Last year,  Gareth, Danny and 24 members of Harry’s Place attended the Social Enterprise Awards and won accolades for Best Staff and Volunteer team and Best New Start in Two Years.

“We had two tables and were the only group that actually brought our members with us,” said Gareth. “We all had an absolutely fantastic time.”

The work of Harry’s Place has gained much attraction from various media outlets.

Over the past year a Crossgar filmmaker, Chris Heath from 3FortyFive Films, has made a half an hour documentary about Harry’s Place CIC.

“It was meant to be a 30 second advertisement, but Chris said that what we had could make a documentary and that he would do it for free,” Gareth explained.

“We have seen the documentary recently and it made me quite emotional – it really is unbelievable how far we have come and the amount of friendships we have made along the way.”

The name of the documentary is ‘Harry’s Place: A Documentary About Friendship, Acceptance and Community’, which is being shown in the Market House, today at 7pm.

“Everyone is welcome to come and see the documentary and celebrate with the remarkable people that have made Harry’s Place the success that it is and who will make Harry’s Mates a place for all the community to enjoy,” Danny added.

Anyone who wants to make a contribution to Harrys Mates can do so at justgiving.com/harrysmates.