The Story so far.
Gracehill Old School Trust is a charitable Building Preservation Trust and is legally constituted as a company limited by guarantee and accepted as a charity by the Inland Revenue under reference XR59054, and more recently NI Charity registered (Northern Ireland Charity Number NIC102190 ) The Trust was incorporated on 6th August 2002 with the initial aim of saving one of the historic former schools in the village. The Trust incorporated the Environmental Improvement Association. The Trust is run by Trustees drawn from the local community and also the Moravian Church. It is entirely made up of volunteers. Gracehill Old School Trust quickly became known as GhOST, a name that has become popular and stuck ever since. More recently it has become known as “Gracehill Trust.”
The Trust’s first project was to developed plans for the former Gracehill primary school, a historic listed building in the village which had suffered a fire and become redundant. The Trust worked with Ballymena Borough Council to acquire the building and subsequently sought funding in the region of £1.5 million to make the plans a reality.
Some of GhOST’s first Trustees with early plans for the Old School
Happily, the plan were successful and since then the Trust have been involved in a number of projects and activities that have promoted the village and which have realised an investment in the village of almost £2.5 million.
Activities include everything from organising Open Days, producing publications, the provision of a defibrillator in the village and of course many “Projects”. These include the Old School Restoration (C 1770), the Village Square restoration (C1770) and creation of “The 1798 Walk”, the Village Shop restoration (1778), the creation of a new walk around the village known as “Bishops Walk” and the installation of a Victorian Style Penfold Postbox to mark the villages historic postal links with the USA.
In addition, since 2003, the Trust have spearheaded Gracehill’s aspirations to become a World Heritage Site. This will see a number of Moravian Settlements around the world work together to develop a transnational nomination to UNESCO and hopefully in time be inscribed as a World Heritage site.
The Trust is always seeking support so if you would like to contribute in anyway do please get in touch! We would be delighted to hear from you.
Email : info@gracehillvillage.org