Hearth continued to carry out its work with one paid member of staff, our Heritage Development Officer, Mari McKee, whose salary is largely funded by the Dormant Accounts Fund and who joined us in September 2022. We work closely with the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in our mutual office at the Old Museum Building and we also maintain good relations with the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities.
We continue to manage and let out houses at Alexandra Park Gate Lodge and College Green House, both in Belfast and People’s Park Gate Lodge in Ballymena, as well as two holiday let properties in College Green and Curry’s Cottage, Derrylin, County Fermanagh. Sion Mills Stables continues to be let to Sion Mills Building Preservation Trust and our commercial lease with Molly’s Yard continues. As the long-term tenant of People’s Park Gate Lodge left the property we undertook a major refurbishment there before it was successfully relet.
Our activities are now focused on Riddel’s Warehouse in Belfast, which we acquired with a loan from Ulster Garden Villages. We are grateful to National Lottery Heritage Fund which has given us development funding to enable us to appoint architects for the project and to appoint a Community Engagement Officer. Additional helpful grants for the project came from the Sylvia Waddilove Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund which is providing loan assistance for the present phase of work. The building has been used for a number of different events throughout the year and we continue to seek funding for the next stage of the project.
Alastair J Rankin MBE Chair
The Old Museum | 7 College Square North | Belfast BT1 6AS E: chair@hearthni.org.uk | W: hearthni.org.uk President: Hugh Dixon MBE, MA | Chair: Alastair J Rankin MBE, BA | Secretary: Dr Verity Faith BArch VAT No. 375745907 | Charity Registration No. NIC 107793