April is National Spring Clean Month and we are encouraging people in the parish to get involved.
We are having a Spring Clean day on Saturday 26th at 12.00
– anyone interested please meet in front of the Library.
If the date and time does not suit then don’t panic! Pick another date and time that suits you – get family/friend/neighbours and arrange to pick up litter in your area, along your road, in your estate.
We plan to arrange collection of rubbish on the Saturday and the days after if required.
If you need assistance you can contact the Committee and we will help anyway we can.
We would like people to take some photos and send them to jmcgerr@gmail.com so we can publicize your efforts.

https://youtu.be/u-qNsRGUV54

We have an exciting new proposition for the people of the parish today, something we are calling ‘ Own Your Road’ where we invite you to get involved in Tidy Towns in a way that suits you. We have some volunteers who already are doing this – cleaning up in their own areas, setting their own schedule that works for them and benefits us all. If this interests you then you can read through the post or download a copy in PDF format here. Link
Our chairman Tom Dooley will be the main contact for this. You can ring him at at 087 2405 387 but please read the material first, it contains some good practical advice and might already contain the answers you need.

Own Your Road

Tidy Towns are inviting people in the Parish to Own Their Roads. We currently have a number of volunteers who clean up in their area at a time that suits them on their ‘Road’. Your ‘Road’ might be your housing estate, it might be a lane, it might be outside your door, it might be a stretch of road on which you live. One, two or more people would decide to join up and set a rota that works for them. A day and time that suits some might not suit others.

So how do you begin:

You request a picker, hi-viz vest, bags and gloves from Tidy Towns. Get yourself good boots or wellies (or both). You set yourself a goal of maybe an hour every week, or every couple of days (you set your own schedule) and you go out in your area and pick up rubbish. You can arrange with Tidy Towns to have this rubbish collected.

Seems simple – is there anything else:

Yes, your area might benefit from some flower planting or have areas where fly tipping (illegal dumping) is occurring. If you want to plant flowers in a location come and chat to Tidy Towns and we will see what we can do. A larger group of people might get together, have a bake sale or some other fund raiser and use the money to buy flowers and set them, or they might buy paint to brighten up gates, walls or fences. Where Fly tipping had occurred a larger group might arrange a day to remove as much of the rubbish as possible.

Tracking progress:

If, for example, you have a schedule that involves you going out twice a week for two hours. You can record the number of bags collected for each week and see does this start to reduce in time. If you report/clean up and fly tipping areas you can record this and then see if they stop, or if they move to a new location. Same with planting flowers or doing painting but keep a record of what you did. These can be sent onto Tidy Towns who can include them in our entry form as a way of recording community involvement.

Can I use machinery:

This can be a tricky area – if you are familiar with strimmers, mowers and other equipment and feel confident using them in your area then speak to Tidy Towns and we will advise you.

Other things to Note:

Above all else – BE SAFE! We cannot stress this enough, you will be on public roads where you might get hit by traffic. Make sure to wear your hi-viz coats or jackets, even in day light. Rubbish maybe in ditches or fields, unless you can access this easily it’s best to ignore it. If there is a lot of it you can notify Tidy Towns and we will see what we can do. If you use equipment make sure to take precautions if you need to, such as gloves, goggles, ear protection, foot protection etc.

Some people might arrange to be collectors – a person with a van, or a car and trailer might arrange with different groups to collect their rubbish at regular intervals, maybe once a week for example he or she might collect from a number of groups.

To contact us you can ring Tom Dooley at 087 2405 387

Chairman Tom Dooley gave a recap of some of the groups’ projects and achievements over the past year and thanked volunteers and scheme workers for their contributions and local people for their support. A special mention was made for Margaret Hayden, our treasurer, who stepped down from her role. Tom also remembered those who passed away in the past year.

John Cahill, secretary, then presented a comprehensive report from the previous AGM as well a summary of notable events through the year.

After this Margaret Hayden presented her Treasurer’s report, also comprehensive. We would all like to thank Margaret for her work with the finances and her advice and assistance with various projects through the year. We wish Margaret well for the future. John Farrell and Beatrice Patterson were both nominated for the post of Treasurer and with John declining Beatrice was elected. Beatrice is very involved in all that the group does and we wish her well in her new post.

The rest of the meeting was taken up with discussions of plans that did not get completed for various reasons as well as plans for the future. It was noted that a development plan for the town had been prepared by another group some years ago but has never been acted on. This should be dusted down, updated and together with other community groups and local politicians (it was noted that Town Teams did not get off the ground) should be the focus of developments for the future.

A lot of focus was on recent announcements of plans for road works and various other projects to be undertaken in the new year. There was some disappointment expressed about delays that have occurred with these plans in the past and further meetings will be held with local authorities to try to get these jobs completed in the new year. With that and with no other business to be discussed Tom called the meeting to a close and another year is officially over.

We will continue our clean up activities as usual and we are still keen to recruit new volunteers to help out so please get in touch.