Blog Archives

Big Beach Clean – Kaat Strand 20/09/2014

This week’s clean up 20th September we found ourselves at Kaat Strand as Wexford Tidy Towns were involved with the Clean Coasts Big Beach Clean weekend 2014. This event was taking place all around the nation on the weekend of the 19th, 20th and 21st of September. Clean Coast teamed up with the International Ocean Conservancy again for this International Coastal Cleanup event. Last year 645,015 volunteers in 92 countries removed 5,580 tonnes of marine litter from the world’s oceans. You can find out more about this international initiative at Clean Coasts Website

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Our Big Beach Clean was a massive success, 25 volunteers met at Kaat Strand at 10am and over the next two hours collected 52 bags of rubbish, a TV, a mattress and lots of other debris. There is always a good deal of litter washed up in this area so every pair of hands that we have will be greatly appreciated. We would like to say a big thank you to Slaney Branch, Inland Waterways, who also joined it was a pleasure to work with them. Also thank you to the Riverbank House Hotel who looked after us all again providing lovely fresh tea, coffee and scones after our clean up.
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We would like to remind you to dispose of your waste responsibly, don’t let it end up in our waters where it can do harm to the wild life and damage our coastline.

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

Green Dog Walker Campaign

We are looking for some dog owners to join us on the Quay opposite the Bank of Ireland Offices at 10.30am Friday 26th September 2014 for the launch of Green Dog Walkers Campaign. Please come along and join us with your dogs or if you can’t make it on the day make a pledge to support this campaign.

The Green Dog Walker Campaign is a positive and pro-active way to encourage and support responsible dog ownership in Wexford. It aims to increase awareness of the problem of dog fouling which is among the most common forms of littering.

This is a campaign promoted and funded by the Environment Department of Wexford County Council, and supported by Borough District of Wexford, Wexford Tidy Towns, WSPCA, Visit Wexford.ie to combat the dog fouling in Wexford Town through public pledges, the local papers, facebook and South East Radio.

If you are a dog owner please come along with your dog and make a pledge to be a responsible dog owner, if you are not a dog owner we would welcome your support. When you sign up to the scheme we will send you a complimentary Green Dog-Walkers high-vis vest, Green Dog-Walkers armband and a ‘doggie bone’ poop-bag dispenser with a roll of bags.

By signing up you have ‘Taken the Pledge’ to always clean up after your dog, to carry extra doggie bags and to gladly give others a bag for their dog if they ask for one. By wearing the green armband you are indicating that you are a responsible dog–owner participating in and supporting the scheme.

Join our Green Dog Walkers campaign today by signing the pledge and together we can reduce dog-fouling in our community.

Dog walkers can take the pledge by signing the form Green Dog Walkers Leaflet and returning it to Environment Section, Wexford County Council, Carricklawn, Wexford.

Download the application form here Green Dog Walker Leaflet
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Posted in Biodiversity, Cleanups, Events, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

Whiterock Hill Cleanup 13/09/2014

We had 16 volunteers out on Saturday 13th September and we got some amazing results due to the huge amount of work that the volunteers did on the day. They were out litter picking, cutting back brambles, nettle and branches sticking out onto the footpaths and hoeing and digging to retrieve the footpaths from leaves and dirt. There was 19 bags of rubbish and 4 large trailers full vegetation collected during the two and a half hours cleanup. It was a great mornings work on what is becoming one of the busiest approach roads to the town.

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Congratulations to all the volunteers for their hard work and to the Council staff who were out supporting us. This shows just how keen Wexford Tidy Towns volunteers are, we recently achieved Bronze Medal status in the National Competition and on Wednesday and Saturday our team was out continuing to keep Wexford Tidy. Thank you everyone. And a special thank you to Gaelic Bar Wexford for lovely tea coffee and biscuits afterwards.

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As enthusiastic and hard-working as we all are, we could always do with new volunteers, so if you have a couple of hours to spare why not become a Tidy Towns’ Volunteer. Our next clean-up is Saturday 20th at Kaat Strand as part of Clean Coast’s Big Coast Clean. We will gather at 10am and spend two hours cleaning the beach. There is always a good deal of litter washed up in this area so every pair of hands that we have will be greatly appreciated.

Posted in Cleanups, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

Wexford Tidy Towns Summer 2014

Thank you to our all volunteers who have helped out at the clean-ups and in other ways this summer. We have continued with our weekly clean ups meeting every Wednesday at 6pm in the Bullring. We have also had several Saturday clean-ups around Wexford town where there has been some fantastic work done by our volunteers from litter picking, sweeping, weeding, and more, all helping keep Wexford clean, tidy and beautiful. Special thanks to Michael Hayes for the fantastic hospitality he has showed us all, in O Brien’s on the main street after the Saturday clean-ups it is much appreciated.

The Tidy Towns competition judging has been going on during the summer months around Ireland. Thanks to all those who also make a special effort to keep our town clean by ensuring the areas near their own homes and businesses are kept clean and clear of rubbish. We love to hear from people about the clean ups they undertake to do themselves and if any individuals or groups would like to organise a clean up get in touch with us here at Wexford Tidy Towns to see how we can help.

Some key problems we keep seeing is the dog fouling around the town especially on the Quay. Remember to pick up after your dog and use the bins provided. Also a huge portion of the litter we pick up continues to be cigarette butts discarded on the ground please put them in bins or containers provided. We can also provide special pouches for individuals to store them in to be disposed of later. Please help us by disposing of all your waste correctly and responsibly.

If you would be interested in getting involved follow us on Twitter, get in touch on Facebook or send us a email info@wexfordtidytowns.com We are always looking for more people to join us here at Wexford Tidy Towns, everyone is welcome. Just come along to our regular Wednesday evening clean-ups 6pm in the Bullring or join us for our next Saturday clean up, which is on the 23rd August meeting at Ferrybank 10am. We would love to see some new faces there, litter pickers, gloves, bags etc. are provided.

Posted in Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

May 2014 Cleanups

There was some great work done during May by Wexford Tidy Towns. Our first Saturday cleanup was held at Kaat Strand on 10th May where we had a great cleanup and cleared lots of rubbish from the area and grass. Well done all who did an amazing job, see some more photos of the cleanup here.

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Our next Saturday cleanup met early at 8am on May 24th, outside Aspels Pub on the Quay. We wanted to get an early start as we were focusing on the main area of the town streets and laneways and it was easier to clean, to sweep and litter pick in the early morning before the shops opened. We had a very good turnout even with the early start and covered a lot of ground that day. We found some not so nice surprises though during our cleanup including a double sized chest freezer filled with dirty nappies and other rubbish, a microwave and a door dumped at 3 locations on the streets of Wexford town! It’s incredible what people think they can just dump wherever they want! Everyone did a great job on the day, well done and special thanks to Michael Hayes for the fantastic hospitality he showed us all, in O Briens on the main street after the cleanup it was much appreciated. Some photos of the cleanup

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We have continued with our regular Wednesday evening cleanups, anyone is welcome to join us we meet every Wednesday at 6pm in the Bullring, litter pickers, gloves, bags etc. are provided. We are still looking for more people to do an hour once a week to cover the main street, laneways and quay, on different days of the week, would be great to get some other evenings covered if you are available and interested get in touch.

As the Tidy Towns competition is getting near and judging for the competition is taking place very soon we would really appreciate it if you would all help us by keeping outside your home or business clean and clear of rubbish.

Posted in Cleanups, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

Special Thanks

As well as thanking all those who turn up to the cleanups we would also like to thank all those for the voluntary work they do cleaning near their own homes and businesses. So thank you Carmel, Oliver, Anne and Frank, Chris, Ger, Margaret, you know who you are and what you do. And thank you to all of you who do your own bit to keep our town clean. We always love to hear from people and the cleanups they undertake to do themselves.

Special thanks to Ger this month who spent the week cleaning up the knock on his own. Thanks to those who joined him on 31st of May to help bag all the rubbish Ger uncovered in his cleanup of the Knock. Phil, Sean, Mary, Debbie, and her little girl Kayla. The Knock is looking fantastic now and a great for the summer months ahead. More photos here.

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As the Tidy Towns competition is getting near and judging for the competition is taking place very soon we would really appreciate it if you would all help us by keeping outside your home or business clean and clear of rubbish.

Posted in Cleanups, Tidy Towns Competition, Tidy Towns News

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