Situated on the second level of the Westmeath Recreation Centre, the Westmeath Hall has a large stage and a hardwood dance floor perfect for waltzing the night away. The hall exists today because generations of community members have worked hard to build, rebuild, repair, and maintain their community rink and hall.

In 1907, following the success of two outdoor rinks, Westmeath built one of the first covered rinks in the region. This rink was the place to be on Saturday nights. Friends gossiped in the wood-heated anterooms as they laced up their skates, children lined up for treats at the snack bar, and boys worked up their nerve to ask their skating partners to after-skate Coca-Colas at nearby Shea’s Café. Upstairs in the meeting room, members of the curling and snowmobile clubs gathered for coffee and homemade donuts.

In 1975, a new rink was built with a banquet hall, stage, and kitchen. Only eight years later, fire damaged much of the hall. However, with the same herculean effort they had shown in building the hall, the community threw themselves into repairing it. Now, the descendants of the original builders and fundraisers carry on with the same optimism and hard work as they maintain the Westmeath Recreation Centre for future generations.
 

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