A Co Down club which supports people with special needs, is celebrating 50 years of work at the heart of the community.
The Newry Gateway Club, started in November 1973, coming as a natural progression from a group of parents who had previously successfully lobbied for a special needs school in Newry, which became Rathore School.
Paddy Duffy has been with the club for over 40 years and is its current acting treasurer.
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He told Belfast Live that the club came about through a man called Willie McGivern and that UTV broadcasting legend Gerry Kelly had actually suggested the idea to him, while Willie was studying at a teaching training college.
"Willie came along to a youth club that I was a part-time leader in, the Bosco club," Paddy said.
"I was the one making the tea at that meeting with Willie and Jack Macken, and Jack gave them all the advice they needed, to the concerned parents that were there that had young people with learning difficulties.
"They got the use of the old Abbey Grammar School in Newry and got the use of it free of charge on a Thursday night."
Paddy said he eventually became part of Gateway over 40 years ago after an unconventional recruitment pitch.
"I joined the club back in 1981, Willie had nabbed me one day while I was in buying a newspaper," he revealed.
"I took it on reluctantly because my experience wasn't at that stage in dealing with people who had learning difficulties.
"And eventually I was on the management committee and we started to look for our own premises, so the building we're in now was an old Christian Brothers school in the early 1900s.
"Since then it was used as a scouts hall, it was used as a dance club, a badminton club but we as a committee managed to get a long lease from the then Bishop of Dromore, Dr Brooks.
"He gave us the lease and we started fundraising with a "Be a brick, buy a brick" campaign along with Pat Jennings helping us and we raised a quarter of a million pounds in 18 months and we got £30,000 each from the local council, the Department of Education and from the local Trust and the rest was fundraised.
"It was officially opened by Pat Jennings then in 1987."
Paddy added that they have been very fortunate to have secured so much of their funding through the generosity of the Newry community and many of the services rendered to them have been free of charge or heavily discounted due to people's desire to help.
"Our mission statement is to give people with learning difficulties the opportunity to take part in social, cultural, educational and recreational activities as would take place in any other youth club," he said.
"In 1973, they mightn't have got out of the house and sadly sometimes, they might have been laughed at or sneered at.
"Now they have the respect of the community and they're well received and that's what Gateway has done for special people in Newry, that's the legacy."
It has been quite the journey for 72-year-old Paddy, from his reluctant recruitment to passionate devotion to all things Gateway.
"I've a great sense of pride in Gateway, I'm passionate about it and I love talking about it," he said.
"I was a youth leader for many years, then chairman and I handed over the reins because I think you shouldn't hold onto them too long, then became a trustee and now I'm acting treasurer up until the next AGM.
"From making tea at a meeting in November 1973 to 50 years later, being a youth leader, a chairman, a trustee and acting treasurer, it's hard to believe!".
Growing up as a boy in the Drumalane Park estate in Newry, Paddy lived a few doors down from another boy of a similar age to himself, Joe McDonald, who had some learning difficulties.
He said he took an interest in Joe because he could see that he was different, but at the age, didn't fully understand why or how.
From there a lifelong friendship was formed and the seeds of his passion for helping those with differences grew.
"I had no affinity or knowledge with learning disability in any shape for form barring Joe McDonald in Drumalane Park," Paddy said.
"I grew up in that housing estate in Newry and Joe lived a few doors up from me and I grew up with him.
"I couldn't understand why Joe was different and why people would laugh at Joe, but I sort of took an interest in Joe and when I was asked to join the Newry Gateway Club, I knew Joe was in Gateway.
"Me and him have travelled a fair part of the country and further afield together, but he's up in a nice care facility in Dungannon now because he needs a bit more care and I would go up and visit him often.
"When I saw the improvement in him growing up coming to the club, that's what it's all been about."
He said the club's commitment to giving opportunities to people who might otherwise not have them was extremely rewarding work.
"It's heart-lifting to come in here on a Thursday night," Paddy added.
"You can leave the house after being in bad form about something in work or some other thing and you come in here and it's a different world.
"They lift you and they send you home happy.
"Since 1973, we have come on leaps and bounds, developing our members to be a part of their communities."
Paddy has also spent the last few decades volunteering and working with the Special Olympics, something he said that being involved with Gateway introduced him to.
He will travel to the World Games in Berlin in June and says "after that I'm bowing out".
There have been many families that have benefitted down through the years from the Gateway Club staffs dedication and compassion.
Colm Fearon's daughter Zoe, 20, is one of those who have come through the club and she still attends.
"She goes to Gateway Club and the special needs unit there are so good to her," he said.
"They're absolutely great, she's come on leaps and bounds through going to Rathore School and the Gateway Club.
"The club has helped her and so many other people throughout the Newry and Mourne area over the years, it's just fantastic support they give people."
Colm said they have had their scares down through the years with Zoe's health but are so thankful for all those who have shown her such love and care to add to that of her parents.
"She had severe epilepsy when she was a child, she started taking very bad seizures from when she was about two and a half," he said.
"She would have been in and out of Daisy Hill Hospital and the RVH and she actually was on life support twice due to taking a cardiac arrest and the staff in the RVH children's side were fantastic.
"She's doing really well now though and a lot of that's down to Rathore and the Newry Gateway Club.
"It gives Zoe a wee bit of independence in the evenings, a social life and a chance to mix with other kids that are all on the same spectrum as such.
"The staff are outstanding down there."
Colm has made a firm friend in Paddy and together the two have joined forces in fundraising ventures for the club down through the years.
Paddy acknowledges that raising funds has never been harder, but that the pair are determined to do all they can to ensure the vital club continues for may more years.
Colm has combined his love for the mountains with helping the Gateway Club.
"The last few years, we've been trying to raise funds for the club, I've done a marathon and a half marathon over the Twin Peaks, usually Slieve Gullion and Camlough mountains and this year we're doing the Camlough Triangle Walk to raise a bit of money," he said.
The event is on Saturday 29 April, and will consist of an 8km off-road walk on Camlough Mountain starting at 9-9.30am, with the option of a shorter walk for those who wish to do so.
It will raise funds for both Newry Gateway Club and Special Olympics Ireland ahead of the World Games in Berlin this summer.
The link to register for the event is here and more info can be found here.
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