Sir Reg Empey MLA visits Greenlight Gateway

Greenlight Gateway had the pleasure and honour of hosting Sir Reg Empey, MLA Minister for Employment and Learning thanks to it's nationally recognised innovative social enterprise with and for adults with learning disabilities, with their 'can do' philosophy of looking at people's ability and not their disability.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Aug 2010, 16:25 BST

The thriving Ballycastle based social enterprise is owned and run by it's members and has grown from strength to strength, as Sir Reg witnessed at first hand as he met the volunteers, workers and staff of Greenlight Gateway and heard the stories of the diverse areas of recycling and work undertaken by them.

Ann McIlroy, one of the founders and Director of Greenlight Gateway welcomed Sir Reg along with Jayne Mconaghie and Frank Nealis and they shared with him the story of their evolution and growth. One of the young adults who made an instant impression was the ever enthusiastic Jason McBride who took great pride in explaining to Sir Reg the process of sorting and crushing the cans. He also introduced the minster to Allan McCraken and Michael Reid who proudly demonstrated their can crushing machines. It was then on to the Team working with the Textiles and separating and sorting the many tons of recycled clothes. As ever, another of the founder members Marian McIlroy was in the middle of the action and the minister was in awe of the amazing efforts and tireless work of the whole team.

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Sir Reg then took the opportunity with his hosts to be the first official visitor to the Memory in a Bottle, Glass Recycling Project, which has received invaluable start up support from Unltd and Awards for All. As Minister for Employment and Learning he was particularly interested in this very unusual and exciting project, recognising immediately its great business potential and the development and employment opportunities for the adults who will work in this area. It was also explained to Sir Reg about the new and developing partnership with The Northern Trust as part of its Day Opportunities Programme.

Finally, before lunch it was on to the Garden Centre and Horticulture Project where the minister was especially impressed by the efforts of Ian Mc Cracken and Billy Watson as they recycled some of the thousands of pots used in the past year in the growing of the 20,000 plus plants and flowers at the Centre. Ann and Frank also took the opportunity to share with the Minister the exciting developments of their Space to Grow Project which has just been supported by Moyle District Council and the Healthy Minds Fund and their partnership and great support from North Antrim Business Agency.

Speaking of the impact and success of the visit, Ann McIlroy, of Greenlight Gateway said: "We are absolutely delighted to have received this prestigious and significant visit. It is hard to believe that on the tenth Anniversary of the Moyle Gateway Club where we had our humble beginnings that only five years ago a small group of young adults began with a big dream and just two can crushers and a few clothes banks as we sought to recycle and provide something different to traditional day care opportunities. Although we are based in Ballycastle, these young adults from right across rural Moyle simply wanted the opportunity to work and learn and experience the value of being part of something and making a valuable contribution.

On days like this we are all so grateful and humbled to meet Sir Reg and his team from Stormont and Belfast which gives recognition to everyone in Greenlight Gateway, our young people, adults, volunteers, partners and friends. Lobbying for funding and financial support is for another day and as Sir Reg outlined today we are all entering into challenging financial times together. Today, for us, is about building relationships and gaining recognition and support for projects and organisations such as ours on a bigger stage. This gives us so much encouragement for now and fires us up even more for the future".