Skibbereen Tidy Towns

Since our midsummer newsletter the community biodiversity project has been a key focus with much work done, and more to do. Cork Nature Network hosted an online webinar during Heritage Week in August to replace the original in-person training session scheduled for the previous March. Attendance was good and participants were invited to contact us to get involved in the creation of the community biodiversity plan for Skibbereen. In the weeks that followed, the three sites (O’Donovan Rossa Memorial Park, Riverdale wildlife plot and Schull Road wildlife garden) were surveyed for suitable opportunities to support wildlife and biodiversity in the years ahead.

The first focus project was the O’Donovan Rossa Memorial Park. Earlier in the summer, once restrictions were lifted, an army of GAA volunteers from the club next door came to kickstart the maintenance effort. This was followed by a planting plan for biodiversity in the central memorial section of the park, planned and planted by the team at Deelish Garden Centre included in the photo collage below.

Weekly weeding, regular salting of the pathways and brushing the stone chips from the white birch beds followed thanks to a few new volunteers until the evenings grew shorter. Since the original white birch trees were planted in 2015, 15 had been damaged or had died. We were thrilled when our grant application for funding to replace the trees was successful. No sooner had the ink dried on the cheque from Save our Skibbereen (SOS) than the trees were planted by the team at Deelish.

Another successful grant application came from Cork County Council’s Community Enhancement Programme for 6 benches where visitors to the park can sit and enjoy the relaxing surroundings. These benches are scheduled for delivery and installation early in 2021. Once again, we appeal to everyone using the park to take your litter home and leave no trace behind you.

Also forthcoming, to encourage wildlife in the park, is a project that involves the planting of 250 native hedging species along the 50m wall from the main entrance to the adjacent GAA grounds. The hedging is kindly sponsored by Trees on the Land, one of two sites, the second being the Riverdale wildlife plot. As soon as public health restrictions allow for outdoor groups of more than 15 people to gather, we will be calling on our army of GAA volunteers to assist with the ground preparation and planting. Let’s hope this can happen before the end of the bareroot planting season later in the spring. If not, then plan B will involve smaller groups of socially distanced planting teams over a number of weekends, subject to public health guidelines in place at the time.

Readers could be forgiven for thinking that all our efforts this autumn were concerned with the Rossa Park, but enough about nature and biodiversity for now.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters who have helped us continue our work in this most challenging of years. Whether you donated time, skills or money, whether individual, charitable, corporate or public service, however you helped, we very much appreciate it all.

On behalf of Jerome, our Chair, and the committee of Skibbereen Tidy Towns, may we wish you a peaceful and safe Christmas, and hopefully a brighter year ahead.

Featured image courtesy of Pixabay

It has certainly been the strangest of times in the Tidy Towns calendar. During the spring of what would be Skibbereen’s 60th year of participation in the national competition, in the interests of public health and safety, the 2020 competition was cancelled. Delving into the archives of the Southern Star newspaper, we found these snippets from spring 1961 pertaining to Skibbereen entering the competition for the first time.

Fast forward six decades and the work of Tidy Towns groups all over the country continues in a considerably expanded format, with something for everyone’s interests. The competition judging categories in recent years have extended beyond the traditional litter and attractive streets for the times we live in, to include nature, wildlife, sustainable practices and more. At its heart is the concept of community and it was with this in mind that representatives from the Skibbereen Tidy Towns committee participated in the SECAD led, LEADER funded community development ‘My Town My Plan’ initiative over the autumn and winter months. The initiative was finalised in May and June with sessions facilitated online. The output was a comprehensive document of ideas for the future development of the town contributed to by findings from an online survey with over 500 responses. This document was submitted to the Cork County Development plan for the period 2022-2028 on 1 July just ahead of the closing date for submissions. Click on the following link to download: Skibbereen ‘My Town My Plan’.

In March, plans were being finalised for a biodiversity planning workshop facilitated by our friends at Cork Nature Network and part funded by the Community Climate & Biodiversity Project Fund from Cork County Council. Unfortunately the workshop had to be cancelled and is currently being redesigned for an online delivery format during National Heritage Week in August, so watch out for the advertising, all with an interest in nature and wildlife and the development of a community biodiversity plan are welcome. In the meantime, the proposed sites have been surveyed and ideas are being gathered to for these areas. The theme for the resulting biodiversity plan will be one of ‘Nurturing Nature’.

April is the traditional Spring Clean month when we partner with KWD for the West Cork and Kerry County Clean Up day. Although scheduled for Saturday, 28 March, needless to say it was cancelled as the public health restrictions on groups gathering came into effect. Nevertheless, our friends at Deelish Garden Centre came up with the idea of a lockdown litter challenge that could be undertaken by individuals and family members. This was hugely successful with many bags of litter picked from our roadsides and in the case of two families, the scenic lakeside within the 2km exercise radius.

Speaking of Deelish Garden Centre, what more can we say about the wonderful edible roundabout that they have designed and kindly sponsored? It was a project that started its planning process in the autumn of 2019 following the successful adoption of the Baltimore Road roundaout by Skibbereen Garden Centre. Just one year old now, the planting on this roundabout is establishing very well. Back to the Cork Road roundabout, the collaboration with Cork County Council through its Adopt a Roundabout scheme and with electrical works undertaken by John O’Sullivan, this is another wonderful view on the N71 approach from Cork.

Also on the Cork Road, the team at Cork County Council undertook a marvellous project along the right hand side of the approch road, locally known as Coombes’ ditch. It involved planting cherry blossom trees and beech hedging just ahead of the lockdown. We understand the pink blossoms looked truly wonderful and appreciate the council’s efforts to keep the trees regularly watered until they were better established. Unfortunately we do not have photos to share since it was marginally outside our photographer’s 2km exercise radius. Roll on spring 2021 for a photographic shoot!

Another project undertaken by Cork County Council over the winter was the overgrowth and partial replanting of the sloped area at High Street opposite the Garda station. As with any planting project, maintenance is required and Tidy Towns volunteers tackled the weeds here recently.

The horticulture classes of Skibbereen Further Education and Training Centre did a massive refresh job at the beds outside their Sutherland Centre building at North Street over the last academic year. Some weeds have built up during the lockdown period (see photos below) and we hope to have a few volunteers attend to these soon. If you’d like to help please contact us through our usual channels.

In June, the rejuvenation of the O’Donovan Rossa Memorial Park kicked off to mark the five year anniversary of the visit of Uachtaráin na hÉireann to the park five years ago to mark the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa. A huge project was undertaken at the time and an army of GAA volunteers led by James Fitzgerald have been instrumental in our project to refresh the park for all to enjoy. In case you missed it, here’s a short video clip of the volunteers in action one sunny June evening.

Finally for now, heartfelt thanks are expressed to all who have in any way supported the group’s efforts this year to date. Two special mentions, firstly, to the employees of Cork County Council who have worked tirelessly during the lockdown period to keep Skibbereen looking well with severely limited resources when volunteer activity was not possible. Secondly, a special mention to those who kindly responded to our recent Adopt-a-Planter appeal and we trust you have everything you need to keep the planters regularly watered (and no, we don’t mean heavy rainfall!).

For updates please subscribe to this newsletter or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. If you are interested in supporting the work of Skibbereen Tidy Towns please contact Francis at 087 622 0132 or Sandra by email at SkibbereenTidyTowns@icloud.com

Featured image courtesy of Pixabay