Towards the end of the 1980s it became apparent that all was not well with Durrow church. Large patches of dampness were appearing, especially in the wall near the graveyard. A major investigation of the church commissioned by the parish and carried out by Robinson, O’Keeffe and Devane showed that the church required major attention in the very near future. A number of public meetings were held to discuss the problem and the ways it could be solved. A number of options were open to the meetings, including building a new church either on the same site or on a different site, probably nearer to Tullamore to augment the Church of the Assumption. The second option and the one finally chosen would be to renovate the church and restore it to as close as possible to what it was. At the third public meeting a group of twenty-six people were chosen to form a working committee. Their brief was to renovate the church and were given full responsibility for all fundraising and all decisions relating to the programme of work. The meeting was told that £125,000 would come from the Parish Finance Committee. The first meeting of the Renovation Committee was held on 9th December, 1991. The following officers were elected: Chairman, Gerry Walsh, Secretary, Frances Berry, Joint Treasurers, Owen Wyer and Brendan Ward and P R O., Louis O’Dwyer. The Committee were informed of an anonymous donation of £7,000 to start off fundraising. The initial fundraising by the committee was a major draw launched in March 1992 and held in July. This draw raised over £55,000.
A second opinion on the condition of the church was obtained and the committee also discussed the building of a new church on the same site. The second opinion confirmed the poor condition of the building. The committee decided to continue with their brief of renovation and Dermot O’Keeffe Associates were appointed Consulting Engineers and Stephen Ahern as Quantity Surveyor.
The Durrow Golf Society under Captain Dermot Coen organised a golf classic in Tullamore Golf Club on June 15th. An event that was to raise a fantastic £30,000 for the building fund. Chris Ryan, liturgical artist was asked at Fr. Cleary’s request to give his ideas on the reordering of the interior to church requirements. After a series of discussions with the building committee, Chris Ryan was appointed to do the reordering in May 1993. In September and October 1992 a bill of quantities was prepared and seven contractors, four of them local, were invited to tender. Sean O’Farrell of Rosemount was the successful bidder and he was later appointed main contractor.
A public meeting was called by the committee and was held in Durrow hall with a very large attendance on February 22nd, 1993. At this meeting the committee presented their plans, their budget and plans for raising the shortfall. In a document circulated to the meeting the chairman outlined the recommendations of the renovation committee. Option number one at a cost of almost £300,000 was put forward, this would include, a new roof, new ceiling, replace mouldings, new inner leaf, dash finish outside, new electrical system and improved heating , as well as all site works.
The figure for reordering the sanctuary was £28,000 and professional fees and seating would bring the total budget to £383,126. The Tullamore Parish Council allocated a further £50,000 in addition to the £125,000 already agreed and a sum of £20,000 was allocated from a diocesan trust fund. The committee at that meeting had £100,000 in the bank plus the money pledged from the parish and diocese and this brought the total to £295,000, leaving a shortfall of £88,000. To start the job and ensure that the contractors would be paid the committee borrowed £100,000 from the diocese in the form of low interest loans. The plans were overwhelmingly approved and a weekly envelope collection levying £3.00 per family was given the go- ahead. This collection would be collected house to house weekly by a team of collectors, many being members of the committee.
The contract was signed in the Parochial House on Thursday, 8th July, 1993 by Sean O’Farrell on behalf of Sean O’Farrell and Sons Ltd the main contractor, and by Fr. Willie Cleary P.P., on behalf of the parish and building committee. The signing was witnessed by Dermot O’Keeffe, the supervising engineer for the project. The final mass was celebrated in the church on Sunday, 11th of July and work commenced on Monday, 12th July, 1993. Sunday and Holy day masses were celebrated in the local hall while work was in progress. The length of time proposed for the job was six months, with completion in mid-January, 1994. Due to the mouldings taking longer than expected and the winter of’93-’94 being the wettest on record, this slowed down the site work and the drying out period of the reconstructed building. Chris Ryan presented his plans on the reordering of the interior to the committee on the 22nd of September. The plans were accepted , but the baptismal font was moved from the centre aisle to the right-hand side of the sanctuary. Mr. Ryan was also asked by Fr. Cleary to give his views on the colour schemes. The new liturgical elements were delivered in March ’94 and immediately put in place. The renovation was completed in the last week of April. The restored seating was returned and the churchyard finished in tarmacadam.
The first ceremony in the completed church was the marriage of Siobhan O’Connor from Kildangan and John Conroy from Tullamore. In the week prior to the official rededication a number of preparation ceremonies were celebrated. The church was re-dedicated on 22nd May, 1994 by his Lordship Dr. Michael Smith, Bishop of Meath. The homily was given by Fr. Nicholas Walsh of Beaufort, Co. Kerry, a native of Coniker. A huge crowd ensured that the re-opening of St. Colum Cille’s Church would be remembered as a very special day in Durrow for many years.
Committee Elected
The committee would like to thank its large group of collectors; the captain and members of The Durrow Golf Society; the members of the Durrow Pattern committee and Durrow/Kilbeggan Vintage Club for their support.
