A vibrant community at Malin Head

At the northernmost tip of Ireland, Malin Head is an area with stunning views over the vast, grey-blue Atlantic ocean in one direction, and the rugged landscape and rolling hills of Inishowen in the other.

On a good day, you’ll even see Scotland!

It’s a place like no other.

As Ali Farren, manager of the Malin Head Community Centre, says: “We’re Ireland’s most northerly point; we’ve got fantastic views and we’re on the Wild Atlantic Way too.

“We’ve got our weather station, we’ve got the Malin Head coastguard, the oldest radio station in the world, we’re a filmmaking location and we’ve got a great heritage.”

Although Malin Head may seem remote, all the way up on the tip of the Inishowen peninsula, it’s a well-connected and popular area.

In fact, the community centre receives more than 25,000 visitors every year.

As a social enterprise, Malin Head Community Association’s mission is not only to increase national and international exposure to the area, but to bring the people of Malin Head together to secure a sustainable and inclusive future, acting as the community’s hub.

To assist with this goal, the association has a dedicated Board of Directors, Management Committee and a team of employees and volunteers; the Community Services Programme (CSP), administered by Pobal, co-funds the employ of a full-time manager and a caretaker and the association also creates invaluable work experience opportunities for local people via the government’s CE and Tús schemes.

Malin Head Community Centre is open to the public and is the hub of the community, as the designated Failte Ireland Visitor Information Point.

Here, you can learn about the area, discover must-see spots and find out about
community activities and events.

For the local community, the centre is host to Playdays Community Childcare, which provides pre-school and after-school childcare services in their self-contained playschool, as well as running summer schemes and special events.

There’s also a range of spaces available for hire for any kind of event, from parties and concerts to conferences and exhibitions, to courses, fitness clubs, aromatherapy clinics and even counselling services.

Courses, Classes, and Events

At the heart of the Malin Head Community Centre is, of course, a community bringing together people of all ages and interests through educational and entertaining activity.

The centre runs or hosts an extensive range of clubs, courses, and numerous events throughout the year.

In fact, everything on offer is too numerous to list here, so be sure to visit its website and Facebook page for more details.

Weekly offerings include a whist club, a luncheon club, and the Malin Head Heritage Group for the more laid back.

For the more active, there’s a youth club, self defence classes, set dancing, indoor football training, hip-hop, a dance club, and the Sinead McGonagle School of Irish Dancing.

The centre also regularly runs courses that are funded/subsidised by Donegal ETB and other organisations on everything from computers to basket weaving, to beekeeping, to yoga.

The Bocan Drama Group from Culdaff comes to the Malin Head stage on its annual tour, which has previously included performances of ‘Don’t Tell The Wife’, and ‘It’s The Real McCoy’.

And then we have the Living History Awards, International Marconi Day, a Star Wars festival, a summer camp, Malin Head Sports Day, Halloween events, craft fairs, the Christmas Bazaar, and so much more.

Since its inception, the Malin Head Community Association has been committed to bringing the people of Malin Head together and to establish, promote and drive programmes, projects and initiatives that will help the area thrive.

That’s not going to change any time soon!

The centre plans to deliver even more services, stimulating enterprise, creativity and innovation and delivering social, economic and cultural change in a bid to truly regenerate the local area.

So if you’ve not yet been, it’s time to change that.

Visit Malin Head and see for yourself the inspiring work that the Malin Head Community Association does.

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