The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
SHANNON Tidy Towns carried out a litter pick in conjunction with the An Taisce National Spring Clean recently which enjoyed a high level of community engagement.
Derek Clune of the Tidy Towns said it had gone very well and there had been a good level of support.
“It was a great day, an enjoyable day. I’d say we had around 50 people, maybe a few more. There were people from different parts of the town and a group of Ukrainian people came out as well.
“We met at the Town Park and from there we headed out north, south, east and west for two hours. Over the course of it we collected 35 bags of rubbish.
“We came back again to the band stand and had some refreshments, we had tea, coffee and some cakes and biscuits.
“It was a great day, an enjoyable day and it was a successful day that we got that much rubbish collected off the streets and green areas.”
The group tackled a litter spot on the river walk in Drumgeely, while Derek said local schools will be involved in another concerted effort next week.
“There’s an area on the main Airport Road where there’s a lot of overgrowth. It’s on the main road in front of the Drumgeely flats, with a lot of overgrowth and a lot of rubbish.
“It’s visible from the road, there’s bushes and scrub so we need equipment to get in there. We have the equipment got and we’re going to bring the schools next week to do that area. It’s an important area, it’s on the main road to the airport.”
Having a day like Saturday when quite a lot can be achieved in a relatively short space of time provides a great boost, he said.
“It makes a huge difference to have a day like that, to get the community involved as much as possible. It’s only when you’re out and walk the areas that you see how much litter can be around.
“A lot of people would be walking a road and you mightn’t see what’s inside in the green area until you actually walk in there.
“It’s like everything, if you’re looking for something you’ll find it, if you’re not looking for it you’ll pass it out and not see it.”
Much of the work to take place in the coming months will involve building on the progress already made, said Derek.
“It’s brilliant to have that much done. We have the heavy lifting done and it’s a matter of maintaining it now. We’ll be organising litter picks at least once a week to keep everything good for the rest of the year.”
He added, “The Tidy Towns competition is being launched so we’ll be busy now with our application. We have a new supplier, Bernie Culligan in Sixmilebridge, she has the contract this year to do all our planting. We had her doing our hanging baskets last year and she did a wonderful job, so we’re getting her to do all our pots and plants.
“The great thing about it is she has her own business in Sixmilebridge where she grows her own shrubs and flowers and it’s great to be getting it all from a local person.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
