Skibbereen Tidy Towns

Reflections of a Tidy Towns volunteer

What is it they say about all good things coming to an end? Or ‘as one door closes another door opens’. I’m not so sure about these sayings since the Tidy Towns movement is now into its seventh decade of the national competition and Skibbereen has entered since 1961 – if that’s not continuity I don’t know what is.

I joined the local team as a volunteer in June 2018, rolling up my sleeves on a Tuesday evening, weeding, watering, doing whatever I could wherever I was needed. In parallel, I started researching adjudicator’s reports from previous years to identify projects that might earn a few more marks in the competition in future years. That September I was privileged to attend the national competition results event in Dublin, where Skibbereen was awarded another bronze medal. Over the winter months that followed, together with my colleague, Susan, we dissected the adjudicator’s report from 2018 and earlier, identified potential grants and private funders for projects that might earn Skibbereen a silver medal and perhaps even a gold at some point in the future.

The road to gold was an interesting journey, certainly not a linear one, and is documented in these pages of newsletters, blog posts and campaigns. The journey involved extensive collaboration and cooperation on a variety of levels, and in 2023, much to our surprise, all our efforts were rewarded with the announcement of the elusive gold medal.

Reflecting on six years of volunteering with Skibbereen Tidy Towns, whenever I am asked what it is that I do, I respond that it’s not all litter picks, planting flowers and weeding. Yes, these are the images that we are familiar with when thinking about the work of Tidy Towns. However, it is so much more than that, and above all it is a community, a community that contributes positively to its local environment, and beyond, through embodiment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In recent years, the completion of the national competition entry form requests alignment of projects to the goals and is an important mapping exercise, helping us think about our projects in new ways, from SDG3 – Good Health and Well-Being through SDG12 – Responsible Consumption and Production to the better known SDGs 13, 14, and 15, Climate Action, Life below Water, and Life on Land respectively.

For me, of the 17 goals, the one that is most important is SDG17 – Partnerships for the Goals, since without partnerships across private and public sectors, individuals and organisations, there would be no Tidy Towns community. About 900 Tidy Towns groups enter the national competition each year, from Bantry to Buncrana, from Doolin to Delgany, so wherever you live, there is most likely a group with a hardworking committee that would appreciate your help, whatever your area of expertise. It might be an hour at the work evenings, or researching and writing newsletters and blog posts, liaising with local schools on projects of mutual interest, researching and writing grant applications, managing the social media communications, or a role as a committee officer. As the saying goes, ‘there is something for everyone’. Most groups have a website or social platform, so if interested, do reach out to them to see what you and the group might mutually gain from a partnership. For anyone interested in volunteering with Skibbereen Tidy Towns, please send an email advising your areas of interest to Sandra at SkibbereenTidyTowns@iCloud.com or telephone Francis on 087 622 0132.

As for me, well, since I will soon take up a full-time teaching role at the University of Limerick, all my volunteering activities will be curtailed, but perhaps there is time for one last summer adventure…

Until next time, Sandra

Featured image courtesy of Pixabay

Changing of the guard

Followers and supporters of Skibbereen Tidy Towns may be aware that until recently, Sandra Flynn has been the volunteer responsible for all our written communications, in both print and digital media.

Since 2018, on her return to Skibbereen, Sandra devised and implemented a communications strategy that has served the work of this small group of volunteers well. The number of Facebook page followers increased exponentially within months, and had more limited success with Twitter/X and Instagram engagement. Since her PhD topic related to the digital skills of older adults, it is hardly surprising that she also wrote regular short pieces for the community notes of the Southern Star weekly newspaper, appreciating that not everyone goes online to find information, particularly amongst older age groups.

While social media is useful for transient communications, the blog/webpage https://skibbereentidytowns.com/ holds an excellent summary of the group’s activity since 2018 and provides record for a wealth of Skibbereen related information. Over the years Sandra has researched and collated information for newsletters and blog posts across a variety of projects and interests. In 2023, content was viewed 3,396 times by 2,369 unique visitors.

As her post-PhD workload increases, Sandra retires from her role as Social Media Officer effective 31 May next and will no longer be responsible for writing social media posts. Today, when posts are published, followers often reach out to Sandra directly for more information, therefore it makes sense to announce the change in account management. The social accounts on Twitter/X and Instagram will also be retired on 31 May. She will however, continue to manage the group’s email address (SkibbereenTidyTowns@iCloud.com) and write occasional guest posts for the blog that automatically post to Facebook.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Sandra for all her efforts in this role and wish her well in her future endeavours.

– Jerome and the committee of Skibbereen Tidy Towns

Featured image courtesy of Pixabay

A journey with Abbeystrewry NS, AY 2023-24

Choosing a title for this blog post was difficult since there has been so much wonderful work undertaken by staff and students at Abbeystrewy National School in the academic year 2023-24 to support the ethos of the Tidy Towns movement across multiple competition categories. These include Community, Green Spaces and Landscaping, Nature and Biodiversity in your locality, Sustainability – Doing more with less, and not forgetting Tidiness and Litter Control. Each category maps to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are also central to the themes of the Green Schools flags.

On 17 November 2023, armed with a food waste caddy we spent the morning at Abbeystrewry National School talking with students about a variety of topics. Their contributions to the Young Chefs Recipe Booklet the previous year have been helpful for many people to learn more about avoiding food waste. During our time together the students were all able to advise what household bin the items in the caddy should go into. Sometimes it is difficult to know so a website called mywaste.ie is a useful reference. In the caddy that day were the items listed in the left hand column of the table below with the current disposal guidance from mywaste.ie in the right hand column. Needless to say, the students were correct with all their answers!

Paper napkins	Clean and dry paper napkins or towels can be placed in the recycle bin. If they have been used for wiping your hands or contain any food residue they can be placed in the food waste compost bin.
Kitchen foil roll and foil tray	Tinfoil is a metal like tins and cans, but lighter. If clean and free from food residue it can be placed in the recycle bin.
Cling film roll	Cling film is also known as clear wrap and is categorised as a soft plastic. If clean and dry it can be placed in the recycle bin. If not, then place in the general waste bin.
Box of teabags	The cardboard box can be placed in the recycle bin. Many tea bags currently contain small amounts of plastic so tear them apart, place the empty bag in the general waste bin, and the tea leaves in the food waste compost bin.
Packet of crisps	Soft plastic that you can scrunch in your hand can be placed in the recycle bin.

List of waste items and disposal guidance

Next, we were treated to an original song created by the students and accompanied by a few of the teachers playing a variety of musical instruments. We thought our visit could not get any better until we met with the Green Schools committee to tell us about their work and give us a tour of their ‘Junk Art’ project supporting efforts towards a Green Schools Litter and Waste flag. The creativity was wonderful to see and rather than keep it to ourselves we include a photo gallery of the students’ creations.

The Green Schools committee also shared details of the litter picking that they do not only in the school grounds but also at home and in their communities. We shared this with the local Litter Warden who kindly supplied us with pickers and bags for the school. We are reliably informed that these are put to very good use and students who take the pickers home and use them at the weekend in their area are rewarded with a homework pass. This sounds like a good tradeoff to us!

Christmas came and went and in the spring the students embarked on a new campaign, an artwork project with the title ‘Keep Clean, Go Green’. Well, the submissions from Junior Infants right up to Sixth Class were remarkable, displaying a combination of creativity and care for the environment. There are far too many to show in a photo gallery so we created a flipbook for readers to peruse. Do take a look, these students are an inspiration to their school and their families.

‘Keep Clean, Go Green’ campaign flipbook

We love working with all the schools in our community and consider it an opportunity to share our goals, whether progression in the national Tidy Towns competition in our case, or supporting the efforts towards a Green Schools flag. Working together is so much better than working alone.

Thank you all and we look forward to continuing this journey with you in the years ahead.

The Skibbereen Tidy Towns committee