Blog Archives

Events For May 2014

Some events of interest coming up in the month of May!

Jamestown Nature Reserve Workshops in May
Jamestown Nature Reserve, Oylegate hosts a series of workshops in the months ahead.

  • Saturday 3rd May “Growing Food and Making the Best Use of Space” presented by Trevor Sargent.
  • Saturday 10th May. Mary Bulfin presents “Learning About Wild Food Foraging”.
  • Thursday 15th May you can take a walk on the wild side at “Wildflowers for Beginners & Improvers” with Zoe Devlin.

For further info contact Will Warham @ 087 2052266 or see Jamestown Nature Reserve

National Walk to School Week May 12th to 16th
National Walk to School Week: May 12th to 16th 2014 will see students from Green-Schools all over Ireland coming together to show their support for a greener, healthier environment by encouraging pupils, parents and teachers to walk to school wherever possible during National Walk to School Week and promoting walking and other sustainable travel modes to school.

Biodiversity Week 2013
Celebrate Ireland’s unique nature and wildlife during National Biodiversity Week, 17 to 25 May! There are dozens of free and exciting events happening around Ireland.

European Neighbours Day – Fri, 30 May, 2014
Wexford celebrates European Neighbours Day with a tea/coffee morning at Redmond Park. This event has proved hugely popular over the past number of years with local residents and friends of Redmond Park.

In Other News…
Our friends at Ballygarrett Tidy Towns have been doing Trojan work in keeping their village looking in tip-top shape. Following the release of the film The Sea (written by John Banville), which was part-filmed in the area, Ballygarrett can expect to attract loads of curious visitors both to the bean and to nearby Oldbawn Beach. Ballygarrett Tidy Towns meets 7pm every Tuesday and Thursday at the church carpark.

Well done also to The Mercy School, John’s Road, Wexford on being awarded by An Taisce with its 7th Green Flag (Biodiversity)

We also would like to say well done to the residents of Piercestown who got together and decided to clean up their Parish Collecting over 100 bags of rubbish well done to all involved. See some photos of the cleanup here.

Posted in Biodiversity, Events

April 2014 Cleanups

In April we covered several major areas of the town with our clean-ups and thanks to all our volunteers for their hard work and time given to help keep Wexford clean and beautiful. You make all the difference to our town.

paintingbullringgate2014Our first Saturday cleanup of the month met 10am April 12th on the Quay and we covered the area from Redmond Square out to the garage in Carcur. There were 21 volunteers on the day and they made a huge difference to this area collecting over 44 bags of rubbish. Some of our lovely volunteers gave a gate in the Bullring a new coat of paint which really brightened up the look of the place. Photos of the cleanup taken on the day can be accessed here.

On Saturday April 19th we had our biggest spring cleaning day of the year as April is National Spring Clean Month. We met in the Ferrybank carpark and cleaned from there out to Crosstown including litter picking, weeding, sweeping and whatever else needed doing in that area. Luckily it was a beautiful sunny day and had some fantastic volunteers involved who gave Ferrybank area a great face lift. Thanks also to the Riverbank Hotel for the much appreciated tea/coffee and scones.

Our last Saturday cleanup of the month was on 26th April we met in St. Joseph club and cleaned up the Whiterock Hill area with photos taken on the day here. Our next Saturday cleanup will be in the Kaat Strand area on the 10th of May.

sweepingwhiterockhill2014 Wexford Tidy Towns have been holding regular one hour cleanups meeting in the Bullring at 6 pm Wednesday evenings to focus on the main street of the town. We are hoping to expand these cleanups to everyday of the week and get more people involved. At the moment we are looking for 28 volunteers to give us one hour a week so we can have a team of 4 able to go out every night to keep the main street clean. If you would be interested in getting involved get in touch on Facebook or send us a email info@wexfordtidytowns.com

Posted in Cleanups, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

2014 Biodiversity Campaign Launch “Let’s Bee Friendly”

On Thursday the 10th April 2014, there was a large attendance at the new Wexford Town Library for the launch of the “Let’s Bee Friendly” campaign. This is being sponsored jointly by the “Biodiversity” Volunteers attached to the Wexford Tidy Town effort and is supported by Wexford County Council as an action under the Wexford County Biodiversity Action Plan 2013-2018.

Speakers were introduced by Wexford Librarian Linda Horan. Niamh Lennon of the Planning Section explained the purpose of the exhibition, which will continue on display at the Library for the next few weeks. The principle aim of the project is to invite the wider public to support the effort to arrest the decline in recent years of the bee population. The idea is simply to ask people to plant some “bee friendly” shrubs and flowers in their gardens.

Pat Murray, the Chairman of the Wexford County branch of the Irish Farmers Association outlined the importance of the bee to the local and national economy with regard to agricultural production. He informed us that their Wexford branch had 3500 members and that the local economy has a value of €134M. The IFA is very appreciative of and fully supports the efforts of all measures to arrest bee population decline.

John Morgan of South Wexford Bee Keepers Association gave a very interesting outline of the state of affairs with regard to managing bees. John has been working with bees for over thirty years. His outline of the subject ranged from a brief description of the main types of bees and that there were 101 known bee species some years ago which have now been reduced by one third. He also covered some of the political and legal complexities attached to bee management in the modern world.

On the brighter side, he informed us that, as a consequence of the fine summer last year, the Forth Mountain honey had a lovely deep colour and excellent flavour. A “very good year”, as the wine experts might put it!

Why do we need to save the decline of the bee? Of the 100 crops that provide 90% of the world’s food supply, 71 of these crops are pollinated by bees, fascinating or what? So, no bees 71 crops disappear, a frightening thought wouldn’t you agree? So the little bee is vital to our survival and now is the time to take action. Find a quiet corner in your garden, plant a flower to feed a bee and help save the planet, we kid you not!

All are invited to visit the exhibition which includes fascinating facts about bees which are on display at Wexford Town Library. There are very colourful brochures with advice on the different plants, including daffodils, willows, heathers, rosemary, lavender etc., which are available at all local gardening stockists and which are bee friendly.

Pledge your support to the ‘Let’s Bee Friendly Campaign’ by planting at least one of the recommended pollinator friendly flowers in your garden or following some of the gardening tips to help our bees. Email your pledge to bees@wexfordtidytowns.com or fill out the form on our campaign page to let everyone know how you are helping our bees. Help us save the bees and possibly the planet.

(Written by: Ambrose Madders)

Posted in Biodiversity, Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

WTT Cleanup 29th March 2014

Wexford Tidy Towns had another great cleanup on Saturday 29th March. Thank you to everyone who turned out on the day to help out. We met in Woodies carpark and focused on the Clonard Road area first and then moved over to Kileens to clear up some of the dumped rubbish there too. Afterwards we moved over to the Paupers Graveyard where we are currently involved in a project there to dig, clear and plant some new plants in the Paupers Graveyard. We were delighted to get so much work done on the day. Thank you to everyone who donated their time, Wexford Tidy Towns really appreciate it. Some great photos on our Facebook page of the days cleanup including before and after photos of the Clonard/Kileen Roundabout area we focused on and photos of the planting in Paupers Graveyard too.

paupers graveyard

Here we have some of the people who helped out on the day planting in the Paupers Graveyard. Between the Clonard Road, Kileens and the Paupers Graveyard, there was 21 bags of rubbish and a truck full of scrub removed. Thank you so much to the people involved. Well done everyone.

Posted in Cleanups, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

Free Electrical Recycling Day Wexford

weeeirelandThere will be a free electrical recycling day held in Wexford Town on Saturday the 5th of April 2014. Collection takes place in the Tesco carpark in Wexford from 10am – 4pm. Anything that is household related with a plug or battery will be accepted.

This Includes:

TVs & Aerials | Microwaves
IT Equipment
Dishwashers | Fridges & Freezers
Power Tools
Battery Operated Toys
Kettles & Toasters
All Waste Batteries
& Many More……

www.recyclefree.ie

Posted in Events

Volunteers Needed for Planting

We are looking for some man power to help us out at our project for the Paupers Graveyard. We have been given all the shrubs for the area we now need to plant them on the bank in Graveyard. We are looking for volunteers to help dig the bank and plant the shrubs. Please if you can help us, even just for an hour Thursday next 20th March and the following week whatever you can offer we would be very grateful. Please get in touch with us by messaging our Facebook page or by emailing info@wexfordtidytowns.com with your number or email and we will get in touch with more details. Thank you

Posted in Events, Tidy Towns News

Weekly Wednesday Evening Cleanups

bullringwednesdaycleanup Wexford Tidy Towns Group will now be holding a regular Wednesday evening cleanup every week. We will be meeting at 6pm every Wednesday in the Bullring for an hour cleanup to have a sweep and litter pick on the main street of the town.

We would love for you to come along and join us for an hour to help keep the town and Quay clean. Everyone is welcome, would love to see you there. If you can make it let us know on Facebook or just turn up at the Bullring on the evening. Check out Facebook for any updates on the day.

Posted in Cleanups, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News