St Patrick's Hall is built
One of the biggest parochial halls in Northern Ireland, and the parish's only hall: home to its dances, concerts, bingo and plays. Everyone calls it the Canon's Hall.
Our purpose, in our own words
To improve the lives of children and young people in Downpatrick without distinction of sex, political, religious or other opinion.
A safe place
Registered charity. Qualified youth workers. Open Monday to Friday.
Real development
Learning that feels like fun, built on the Department of Education's Priorities for Youth framework.
Cross community
Amplify and CRED bring young people together across communities, with Cooperation Ireland, Lecale, Trinity Grammar and Blackwater Integrated.
Our story
From dance hall to youth centre
1930s: The Canon's Hall
1935
1960s: Showband years
1960s
Sunday night dances
Showbands every week, dancers from Belfast and all over, and a floor open to every background and tradition. Plenty of couples met here.
Photo: A night at the Canon's Hall
Memories from Yvonne Maguire
1970s: Lost to fire
1974
The hall is lost to fire
The youth club leaves at ten that evening. By the early hours of 19 March the hall is gone.
Photo: The Canon's Hall after the fire
1977
A new parish priest
Fr Joseph Maguire becomes Parish Priest of Downpatrick, moving from Drumaroad and Clonvaraghan.
1980s: The Centre opens
1980
Making the case
Fr Maguire tells Downpatrick Crown Court what will rise on the site:
"A commodious youth club of about 8,000 sq ft, catering not only for parishioners but for any young people between the ages of 10 and 21 who would care to join."Fr Joseph Maguire, January 1980
1980
The old hall comes down
Its rubble is taken from John Street for the foundations of a new hall at St Patrick's Avenue, so its future users will have "firm links with the past under their feet".
Photo: Down Recorder, 24 January 1980
1981
Patrician Youth Centre opens
A purpose built home for young people. The discos draw teenagers from near and far.
Photo: The new Centre, around 1981
1980s
The curtain goes up
Patrician Youth Theatre stages its first show. Panto for years, then musicals, with casts of fifty or more.
1990s: The wider world
1990
Two hundred a day
The summer scheme averages 200 young people a day, and the club gives £500 to BBC Children in Need.
1991
Ten years, 400 members
Open five nights a week, with archery, netball, hockey, crafts and discos, for £2 plus 30p a night.
Photo: PYC Table Tennis Championships, 1990
1992
Panto season
The pantomime, Hansel and Gretel, plays Down Leisure Centre in January.
1990s
Awards and exchanges
Duke of Edinburgh and trainee leader awards, and exchanges from Shannon and Leitrim to France and Germany.
Photo: Members at the European Parliament, Strasbourg
2010s: Amplify
2017
Amplify begins
The only youth centre chosen to deliver Amplify, a cross border good relations programme funded by PEACE IV.
2020s: Still here
2021
Nobody goes hungry
Holiday Hunger, with Children in Northern Ireland and Finnebrogue Artisan: 12,867 meals, 6,340 snacks and 810 food parcels in one year.
2026
Still for everyone
More than 1,000 members aged 4 to 18, on the same corner where the showbands played.
Photo: PYC on John Street today
Throwback
Photos from the Centre's own albums. In one of them and would rather not be? Get in touch and it comes down, no questions.
Management and staff
Management committee
Appointed by the Centre Trustees, accountable to our members.
Qualified youth workers
A Senior Youth Worker and a Centre based Youth Worker.
Part time team & volunteers
Twenty part time workers, specialists and volunteers. Many grew up here.
Want to volunteer? Our in-house young leaders programme is open from age 13. Get in touch
Come and see for yourself
We're on John Street, open Monday to Friday.
Safeguarding comes first. All staff and volunteers are vetted and trained, with named Designated Officers for child and adult protection.