Category Archives: Tidy Towns

Skerries Tidy Towns Committee look back on the last year

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In the run-up to the SCA AGM on Fri, 11 September 2015, all committees are reviewing the past year. Here is what Maeve McGann wrote about the work of the Tidy Towns Committee:

Another busy year for Skerries and we are eagerly awaiting the 2015 results of the National Tidy Towns Competition. These will be announced on 28th September.  Watch out for Nationwide on RTE that evening and hopefully you will spot Skerries.

In 2014 having won the County Award and a Gold Medal in the competition, we closed the gap on the overall winners. We are now only 4 points behind last year’s winner Kilkenny. So it really is nail biting time now.

Tidy Towns Awards 2014 01

At the Skerries Tidy Towns Awards, December 2014

Community involvement is an important element in achieving marks in the national competition.  The bird and bat nesting boxes made by Foróige and placed in appropriate locations by our local BirdWatch Ireland group, together with the multiple green flags obtained by the local schools, and the Adopt-a-Beach scheme, count in a big way.  Well done and many thanks to all.

Patch 2015 (4)The fifth year of Adopt-a-Patch was re-launched in March 2015, and there are now 50 patches adopted. We do have a few more looking for volunteers to adopt them so if you think you can help contact us through Facebook or speak to any member of the committee.

Our work programme runs from the end of January early February until September each year. We have regular work parties on a Monday morning meeting at 9.30 am in our store on Quay St – new faces always welcome.

Many thanks to all our volunteers and for all the support the Committee receives from residents and businesses in Skerries.

Maeve McGann, for Skerries Tidy Towns.

Contact: tidytowns@skerriesca.com.

Tidy Towns ask: Join Cleaner Communities Competition!

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Skerries Tidy Towns Committee write:

Entry forms are now available for the Fingal County Council “Cleaner Communities Competition”.
They can be downloaded from the Fingal County Council site, click on the link below or phone 018905453.
There are entries accepted from both Commercial and Residential.
Commercial includes: presentation of premises, Waste Management Initiatives, Energy Management Initiatives and Biodiversity.
Residential includes: best presented gardens, thatched cottages, estates, apartments, community centres.
There is also an award for Green Business: special effort to be environmentally friendly.
This is our own county competition and we as a town have lots to offer so please download a form and enter your residential area, house or business.

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/…/c…/community-clean-up-and-awards/

Bike Repair and Maintenance Course organised by two of our committees

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Fix that bike! Want to learn how to fix punctures and brakes and lots of other practical stuff to keep your bike working safely and efficiently?
Two of the committees of Skerries Community Association have come together to bring you this course:
Sign up now for a free bike repair and maintenance course coming to Skerries in May. The course is open to Skerries residents over sixteen years old and is being organised by Skerries Cycling Initiative and Skerries Tidy Towns.
The course involves six sessions and will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings (9am-12 noon) over a three week period starting on Tuesday 5 May and ending on  Wed 20 May.
Any questions? Contact Michael, Skerries Cycling Initiative, via  cycling@skerriesca.com
Sponsored by Fingal County Council under the Local Agenda 21 Environmental Grants scheme
bike in front of harbour

Launch of 2015 Skerries Adopt-A-Patch

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Skerries Tidy Towns Committee, in association with Fingal County Council and Supervalu, re-launched “Adopt-a-Patch” at Skerries Mills last Tuesday (24 March 2015).

This successful scheme is now in its fifth season. New and continuing volunteers take charge of an open space, laneway or pedestrian area, and keep it clean and litter free. Fingal County-Council provide bags, and collect full bags from convenient points around the town. Our local Supervalu act as the depot for new bags, gloves etc.

Frances Owens and Breege Madden, the Tidy Towns “Adopt-a-Patch” coordinators, thanked all their volunteers. They added: “With your help, Skerries continues to achieve a high place in the national Tidy Towns competition.”

It was particularly good to see a strong contingent from Skerries Community College, who are ever increasing their involvement in the community. They regularly cooperate with SCA committees – Soundwaves, for instance, hugely benefited from a good number of Transition Year volunteers during their festival last September.  The SCC students have adopted a patch around the Community College.

 

Patch 2015 (1) Patch 2015 (2) Patch 2015 (3) Patch 2015 (4)

If you would like to join those who already have adopted an area, contact y member of Skerries Tidy Towns Committee, in particular Frances Owens (087 241 7017) or Breege Madden (087 770 0449).

  • Big areas can be divided between a number of volunteers.
  • The area can be cleaned at a time that suits you.
  • Gloves, bags and a picker will be provided.
  • Fingal County Council will collect bags from convenient points

Photographs: Brendan Sherlock, SCA.

Tidy Towns: Adopt-a-Patch

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Skerries Tidy Towns (a committee of Skerries Community Association) invites you to the relaunch of their ‘Adopt-a-Patch’ scheme at Skerries Mills on Tuesday, 24th March between 2.30 and 4 p.m.

We hope our existing volunteers will continue the wonderful work they do in helping to keep Skerries litter free and welcome new volunteers to Adopt-a-Patch. Come along and check out the areas we hope individuals and families will adopt!

  • Big areas can be divided between a number of volunteers.
  • The area can be cleaned at a time that suits you.
  • Gloves, bags and a picker will be provided.
  • Fingal County Council will collect bags from convenient points

Could you spare an hour or two each week to keep a space clean and litter free? If you can, please come to our relaunch and register.

Contact any member of Skerries Tidy Towns Committee, in particular Frances Owens (087 241 7017) or Breege Madden (087 770 0449)

 

 

Submissions by our Committees re Town Park

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There is considerable interest in Skerries in the redevelopment of Skerries Town Park, and rightly so. In addition to the direct submission made by Skerries Community Association to Fingal County Council, a number of our committees also made their thoughts known. Some of them can be accessed here on our website – see rough summaries and links below.

Active Transport

Skerries Cycling Initiative made a comprehensive submission to Fingal County Council regarding the Town Park redevelopment. In summary:

Skerries Cycling Initiative (SCI) welcomes this plan in principle. The proposed new entrances and paths have the potential to create better access to amenities in the park and more importantly, to provide links between the North, South, East and West of the town.
The Town Park serves many purposes and its redevelopment gives Skerries a unique opportunity. Our comments in this submission are directed towards improving the Town Park as an active travel hub as well as improving access to the many amenities -existing and planned- in the Town Park. As such our focus is on extending the capacity of the Park to provide safe routes of travel for persons walking and cycling, using wheelchairs and other mobility vehicles including cycles adapted for persons with disabilities. We want the end result of the redevelopment to be the creation of an inclusive, age friendly and attractive space. We wish also to point out that increasing numbers of battery powered mobility vehicles are in use around the town and it is important that the users of these vehicles are catered for through well designed pathways in the Park.

Click on the following link to open the full submission, which includes maps and tables, in a new window: SCI Submission Townpark Redevelopment

 

Community Food Garden

Adding a community food garden was at the heart of the submission made by our Sustainable Skerries Committee. They write:

Sustainable Skerries wishes to submit a proposal to Fingal County Council with respect to the Skerries Town Park development to allow an area for a Community garden in the plans.

Site specification: Good drainage Easy to secure 600 -1000m2

We believe that the ideal location for the community garden would be beside the Bowling green, where the shipping container is at present. This area has easy access for young and old people alike, and is somewhat secure.

You can read their submission in full here: Community Food Garden Proposal to FCC Sustainable Skerries

Skatepark

The Skerries Skatepark Committee, also part of the SCA, wrote:

As part of the new Town Park Development Plan we would like to see a skatepark included in the overall plans. It has been the vision of the committee to construct a skatepark that is sensitive to its surrounding from a visual and environmental viewpoint. … Ideally 700 m2 area would suit a skatepark, this give enough room for mixed ages and abilities to participate at the same time. As a comparison a football pitch is around 7,000 m2.

See the full submission here: Town Park Plan – skatepark

Skerries Tidy Towns  also had direct input to Fingal County Council in this regard; we will add their submissions as they become available to us.

Bird Boxes set up – Tidy Towns, Foróige and BirdWatch Ireland

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On Saturday 15th November, BirdWatch Ireland members invited representatives of the Fóroige group and the Tidy Towns Committee (one of the committees of Skerries Community Association) to come along and help erect the boxes.
The sites selected were in the grounds of the Church of Ireland and in the park adjacent to the Mill. The sites chosen for the bat boxes are close to known existing roosts.
The bird boxes were placed in areas of high bird activity.

The bird boxes will be monitored for activity in spring by Birdwatch Ireland who has undertaken to clean them each year after use, to make them ready for the following year’s occupants.

Installing a bird box

Paul Denny on ladder, Jim English, Breege Madden, Abbey Holland and Paul Lynch.

Source: Skerries Tidy Towns

Tidy Towns Annual Awards Night 2014

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The annual awards night of Skerries Tidy Towns (one of the most active committees of Skerries Community Association) was held recently in Joe Mays. A large crowd came to see the prizes being presented and celebrate a great year for Tidy Towns in Skerries.
Tidy Towns Awards 2014 01The best-presented business went to The White Cottages, sponsored by Tom and Denyze from Skerries Art School.
The best floral display went to Ollie’s Place, sponsored by the Tidy Towns committee, who also sponsored the best signage, which went to Da Vino’s.
The best window display went to VIP (Very Important Parties) and was sponsored by the Red Bank.
The award for the best-presented private house in the town went to O’Leary’s in the Square and was sponsored by Tidy Towns.
The best-presented house in an estate went to Gerry Boardman at 16 Mill Hill Park, sponsored by Shay Kelly Auctioneers.
The best estate award was shared by the Heights, Jetty, Tide, Harbour and the Rise areas of Kelly’s Bay, sponsored by Skerries Community Association.
 Photographs by Skerries Tidy Towns / Brendan Sherlock.

 

Tidy Towns Success 2014!

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Maeve McGann from Skerries Tidy Town writes:

“We won the county award and a gold medal. We went up 7 points and are now only 4 points behind the overall winner, Kilkenny. This is the highest we have ever been in the competition.” Well done indeed!

tidy towns May 2014 terns

The following is an extract from the 2014 report, which we have also posted in full on a separate page:

Skerries is a lovely coastal town that is a pleasure to visit. Its charms are numerous, but its buildings, coastal location and beach, harbour and high quality open spaces stand out.

The high level of participation of volunteers is a reflection of the pride that local people take in the town

It was a very great pleasure to revisit Skerries and experience its many delightful charms on a perfect summer’s day.

tidy towns May 2014 oyster cormorant

Over the past number of years, the projects of Skerries Tidy Towns have included:

  • Commissioning sculptures of The Cormorant, Terns, Oyster Catchers and, in conjunction with Skerries Tourism, the Percy French seat
  • To commemorate the centenary of the opening of the Carnegie Library in Skerries, they commissioned a three-faced clock for the library tower
  • They erected three plaques to mark areas of local interest: “Walker’s Corner,” “The Bay Wall” and “The Ovens”

The very successful Adopt a Beach initiative by Skerries News – which got a well-deserved special mention in the adjudication report – and Adopt a Patch initiative by Skerries Tidy Towns ensure that the beaches and green spaces in the town are kept virtually litter free, thanks to the involvement of local residents.

Do find their Facebook page, and see what else they do!

Skerries Community Association would like to congratulate the Tidy Towns committee – also all those mentioned in it (we hope we didn’t miss anyone):

Skerries Tourism & Town Information Office, Skerries Mills, Skerries Adopt-A-Beach, Olive Skerries, Parachute Cafe-Skerries, Foróige Skerries, Fingal County Council, Fingal Leader Partnership, the Skerries Community Association – SCA (that’s us), Skerries Cycling Initiative, Sustainable Skerries, Skerries Guerrilla Gardeners, Skerries Reaching Out, Skerries Bookshop, Venezuela, The Shoe Horn ltd, EBS Skerries, Blooms, Rockabill Restaurant, Divino, Present Company, Nealons Pub, Gladstone Inn, Kelly’s Solicitors, @Red Island Wine, The Parlour Bar, Ritz, The Steakhouse, SuperValu, Skerries, The Church of Ireland, Bring Back The Pole , Sea Memorial Skerries, BirdWatch Ireland, Irish Seal Sanctuary, schools, youth groups, scouts

… and of course all the people living and working in Skerries.

flower display at the monument

The flower display at the monument – one of the many things the adjudicators liked!

 

Skerries Tidy Towns are Asking For Your Help

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Maeve McGann of Skerries Tidy Towns writes:

tidy towns 3Now we are in judging season for the national Tidy Towns Competition. This begins every year on 1st June and continues until the end of August. We have no idea when the adjudicators will arrive, so we need to be prepared every day.

Please lend us your support during the coming months.

Now is the time to get the window boxes and hanging baskets out. Make sure you keep them watered.

Stephen from Wisteria is offering a deal which includes a watering service – check it out.

Some premises in the town could do with a touch of paint. Check yours out and see if there is anything you can do to improve the presentation of your business. Ensure that the windows are clean and free of posters.

A well-presented business encourages customers and certainly helps us to gain more marks in the competition.

If there are any weeds near your home or business, in the kerb or at the base of buildings, please remove them.

Grass verges in front of houses need to be neat and tidy.

No litter is acceptable to the adjudicators.

Let’s all work together to show what a great town we have to live, work and grow up in.

Contact details for Skerries Tidy Towns are on their page here.

You could, of course, also join one of the regular work parties which meet every Monday evening at the old fire station on Quay Street at 7 p.m. until further notice.

tidy towns 1 tidy towns 2