Fears for future of mothballed outdoor activity centre

Sports enthusiasts have voiced their disappointment and frustration that Tollymore National Outdoor Centre in County Down will be closed for up to a year, while a review of the centre’s future is carried out.

The Bryansford-based activity centre has been closed since January, following damage from Storm Éowyn.

Sport NI, which operates the centre, said the current operating model was no longer financially sustainable and would result in “a small number of local redundancies”.

Kath Maguire, who trained as an instructor at the centre, and is founder of The Feel Good Factor, a multi-sports club for women, said her group had “really missed” the facility.

Located on the outskirts of Tollymore Forest Park, the centre provides a range of courses in rock-climbing, hillwalking, canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, mountaineering and orienteering.

“The Tollymore staff team have been exceptional and supportive to The Feel Good Factor over the 10 years and we are disappointed at the redundancies for local staff,” she said.

“We are hopeful that a solution will be found to help this fabulous resource in the heart of Mourne thrive.

“I have been an instructor for 25 years, since getting my qualification there.

“Hopefully this will not see the centre closed on a permanent basis and it will be brought back stronger and much better used.”

Ms Maguire said the club had been invited to take part in the Sport NI review.

“I have sent an email to Sport NI saying I am concerned,” she added.

“It is a facility we love and our community hub.”

Sport NI said the review would look at a wide range of options aimed at reimagining the role and function of Tollymore National Outdoor Centre “in a financially sustainable way, and ensuring it continues to develop our outdoors sector in an impactful and effective way”.

Maxi Scullion, secretary of Gilford Youth Climbing Club, said she was disappointed, describing the centre as “a brilliant and unique place”.

She said more than 50 members had stayed at the facility two years ago and participated in a range of activities.

“We slept in the accommodation, used the climbing wall and high ropes, and also had some food there,” she said.

“They supplied instructors to help with the climbing wall and the high ropes course that we did.

“We had a great time, a lot of the children in our group had never done a high ropes course before.

“The feedback was hugely positive, it was brilliant.”

Alliance Party assembly member Andrew McMurray said his first association with the Tollymore centre, was as a teenager learning how to kayak.

Romance later blossomed when he met his future wife Shalene there as a trainee instructor.

They got married at the centre in 2011.

He has since introduced his two children to the facility.

“You have to see these centres as living organisms, they are a residential centre, so there’s always people about them, they are a 24/7 operation,” he said.

“As a trainee, it is almost like a second home, to a certain degree.

“A lot of happy memories, and a lot of associations and I know a lot of other people will have similar memories, so it is very disappointing to see that it has got to this stage.”

McMurray previously worked as an instructor at the outdoor learning centre at Ardnabannon in County Down, which closed in 2017 and said staff facing redundancy should be engaged with in a “respectful manner”.

He highlighted the important role Tollymore played in training instructors and facilitating activities for clubs and schools.

“Tollymore National Outdoor Centre is the last remaining bespoke outdoor centre that trains coaches left on the island of Ireland,” he added.

He said it was “incumbent” on Sport NI that whatever model it decided on was implemented quickly.

The Education Authority confirmed that after a review of its outdoor education facilities in 2017, the decision was taken to close the outdoor education centres at Ardnabannon, Bushmills, Killowen and Killyleagh “based on economic viability and proximity to other outdoor education centres”.

Shimna Integrated College principal, Steve Pagan, said he was “very concerned to hear about the challenges facing the centre”.

The school is near Tollymore and pupils are regular users of the centre.

“No less than many other schools across Northern Ireland, the centre has been a fantastic resource down the years, facilitating practical activities as part of examination courses, supporting our extra-curricular programme and providing essential staff training for the Duke of Edinburgh Award,” he said.

He described it as a “tremendous asset”.

The trade union Nipsa has expressed “deep concern and disappointment” at news of the review into the future of the outdoor centre.

It said six staff had been identified as being at risk of redundancy.

Nipsa assistant secretary Alan Law said it was an “exceptional waste of resources because the centre was deemed to be the jewel in the crown of Sport NI provision”.

Richard Archibald, interim chief executive of Sport NI, said “very regrettably” the organisation had started redundancy consultation with some of the centre’s permanent staff.

He added that while the centre was never intended to be profit-making, Sport NI had “a duty to ensure value for money for the public purse and for the whole sports sector”.

Sport NI said the centre generated an income of about £250,000 in 2024, while it cost over £1.3m to run.