As part of the Crescent’s refurbishment project, our colony of swifts is being protected and the building stonework restored and cleaned. Our main funders have provided for much of the cost of this work, but there is still a shortfall to make up and we’d like to offer the public a chance to contribute.
Ways you can donate
Sponsor a Swift Box
Swifts are remarkable birds capable of flying continuously for up to three years! Believe it or not they eat on the wing, drink on the wing and sleep on the wing! They are masters of the air and flight. Anyone who visits the Crescent Arts Centre in fine weather between May and early August may be treated to the sight of the birds dashing on scimitar like wings around the building screaming loudly as they go.
Peter Cush, Senior Scientific Officer at the Biodiversity Unit of the NIEA, has been working with us to provide dedicated housing for the swifts when they return, so their generations-long tenure at the Crescent is not disturbed by the refurbishment work. Read his comments on the swifts in our news archive.
Swift boxes can be sponsored with a £100 donation via Justgiving.com
Sponsor a Stone
The entire facade of the Crescent is being cleaned and restored as part of the refurbishment project. After almost 140 years’ exposure to the elements and local pollution, the stonework was in need of some attention. To that end, the sandstone blocks, originally from Scrabo Quarry in Newtownards, are being cleaned, refaced or replaced as necessary. The original quarry is no longer open, so some new stone has been sourced from similar stock in Cumbria, just across the Irish Sea. Expert stonemasons are working on-site, fitting and chiselling the new blocks by hand to match the existing stonework.
Stones can be sponsored with a £50 donation via Justgiving.com
Make a monthly donation
Monthly donations can be made via justgiving.com:
£10 monthly donation | £20 monthly donation
Other donations
If you would like to donate a different amount, head to our Justgiving page and enter the details there.