St Columb’s Cathedral, Derry

Due to the pandemic, St Columb’s Cathedral was closed and has been forced to maintain contact with the congregation via social media and live streaming of their services.  The church is keen to continue this even when the buildings re-open, but would like to upgrade their recording equipment from a mobile phone to a PTZ camera and a studio box in order to provide better resolution and a more stable set up.  They will also need to upgrade their Wi-fi connection and hard-wire it to the studio box and existing sound system.  Councillor Dobbins suggested that the average age of churchgoers in NI is 70.  She added that, although churches were starting to re-open, many older members of the congregation were too afraid to return yet and relied on the live streaming of services.  On this note, a grant of £1,200 was agreed to contribute to overall costs of the project.