The Gathering Rooms is a project which was initially funded by The National Lottery under the ‘Empowering Young Peoples Fund’ and is supported by The Southern Health and Social Care Trust. Based on Vicar’s Hill in Armagh our building includes two social enterprises – The Print Room which specialises in the design and print of greeting cards and ‘The Eating Room’ a Cafe, which welcomes all customers but particularly people and their families with autism.
During lockdown we diversified and worked with a takeaway business model. This proved very successful and we continue to develop our outside catering venture. Our greetings cards are available in retail shops throughout Northern Ireland and online. We also offer personalisation on cards and frames.
We are proud of our project and our young people and are keen to develop both Social Enterprises to become sustainable with non-reliance on funding.