Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey explores sensory rooms at High Rise in Lisburn

Employers For Childcare was pleased to welcome Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey to visit High Rise, its fabulous family adventure centre in Lisburn. High Rise, which has been designed to be inclusive and accessible including for guests with additional needs, reopened earlier this summer, having been closed for over two years due to Covid-19.

During her visit, the Minister toured the centre, viewing the stunning Clip ‘n Climb indoor climbing arena, soft play area and sensory rooms, as well as the Changing Places accessible toilet facility. She was especially interested to meet and chat with High Rise’s new Sensory Assistant Aimee Murphy, whose appointment has been made possible through funding from the Department for Communities Employment and Skills Initiative, delivered in partnership with the Rank Foundation.

Minister Hargey said: “I am delighted to have been able to visit High Rise to meet with Aimee and see first-hand the excellent facilities that are on offer through the sensory rooms, to support guests with additional needs. It’s vital that we support our community and voluntary sectors as we emerge and recover from the pandemic and I’m pleased to have been able to provide support through my Department’s Employment and Skills Initiative that will, through the work at High Rise, make a real difference to people’s lives”.

Welcoming Minister Hargey to High Rise, Employers For Childcare’s Head of Charity Services Aoife Hamilton said: “We are very proud of what’s on offer in High Rise, particularly the way the centre has been designed to support guests with additional needs and are thrilled to have an opportunity to show the brilliant facilities to Minister Hargey. We are grateful for the support we have received from her Department’s Employment and Skills Initiative, which has enabled us to appoint our dedicated Sensory Assistant to work with and support our guests. Aimee is hard at work planning a programme of activities within the centre for the autumn. As a social enterprise, 100% of our profits are invested in the work of our charity, which supports parents with dependent children to get into and stay in work, and every single visit to the centre helps us to do that, at a time when our services are needed more than ever.”

High Rise is open Friday-Sunday for Clip ‘n Climb and soft play – guests are advised to pre-book online at www.highriseni.org. The sensory rooms within the centre will reopen later.